SUN VALLEY : Venture Council Surveys City Needs

After taking a 50-site tour of the best and worst of Sun Valley, members of the Sun Valley Community Venture Council will take the knowledge and craft a plan for residents to improve the city and combat gangs and crime.

“We want to organize the community to advocate for a better community,” said member Michael Schaffer, a county probation officer.

The council--made up of community activists, clergymen, educators and business owners--was given a $20,000 United Way grant to start projects aimed at serving the social and educational needs of residents.

Before spending the money, the council wanted to find out exactly what those needs are in the community of 80,000, where more than half the population is Latino.

“We’re digging for information and ideas,” said Luis Wagenveld, pastor of Sol del Valle Church, who served as tour guide Tuesday for the group of eight. “We want to know what’s out there.”

What they saw “out there” ranged from shuttered churches to new office buildings to housing that ran the gamut from shabby bungalows to pricey ranch houses. And they passed the former “Valley drug store,” a strip of apartments where drug-dealing was rampant until lights and fences were installed.

The tour also took a first-hand look at People in Progress, a drug- and alcohol-abuse treatment center, and the air-conditioned headquarters of Waste Management’s Bradley Landfill facility, one of the city’s largest employers.