County Issue / Southwest Museum :...

Jim Monahan, Ventura city councilman

I would say that there is no way that I would approve of a $35-million commitment to the Southwest Museum. However, there are other proposals that may be acceptable to the museum that we would like to explore. I would like to be better informed. I would like to see them come to Ventura and talk to us. I would think that if they were interested, they would come and talk to us, but I have spoken to no one. We’re chasing our tail here trying to get them some money, and I think that they ought to at least come to a meeting and answer some questions in public. I think (the museum) would be an asset, but it is very low (among) my priorities of needs for the city. There are so many other things that need to be done that are demanding our attention and money. We have a $20-million deficit in our road maintenance and construction; there are deficits in our police and fire departments. I could go on and on. So if we have an additional $35 million (lying) around, I think we certainly have some need for it. It would be a wonderful asset to have here in Ventura. But I don’t think we can afford it, at least not at this time.

*

Frank Schillo, Thousand Oaks city councilman

I’m not certain that the city of Thousand Oaks will be able to do that. I don’t know where the money would come from. However, as an alternative, I’m meeting with (environmentalist) Jean-Michel Cousteau on Dec. 8 and with members of the various Indian tribes and local people in the city of Thousand Oaks to discuss the possibility of an Indian-type museum in the city. It could be a branch of the Southwest Museum if they decided to locate elsewhere, or it could be a stand-alone Indian museum. It would certainly be of economic benefit to the businesses of the community. I perceive there is a great deal of interest (among) the citizens for this type of facility. It’s a prestigious name and organization, and because there’s that interest, I’m willing to spend my time looking at that possibility or an alternate if that’s necessary. We wrote to the museum and said that it would have to go through a public process before we could say yes or no. If somebody wanted an answer today, we’d have to say no, because we couldn’t give an answer before we go through that process.

*

Scott Montgomery, Moorpark city councilman

That’s a real judgment call. Each city has to assess the benefits that will be derived by having the facility in their city. Those can be quantified in terms of visitors spending money on food and the purchase of other goods and services that will generate sales tax revenue to the city, and the assessment needs to be made over a period of time. Obviously, you’re not going to recover $35 million in a year’s time, but the museum’s going to be there for a while. A shortsighted city may say, “We have the money but we’re not going to spend it.” The city with more vision would make an assessment based upon the potential return of an investment of $35 million. We’re in neither category. We’re not shortsighted, nor are we a city that is able to have that vision because we simply don’t have $35 million and there’s no hope or technique that we have that could help us raise that money. So that precludes us from being in the running. It’s unfortunate, but I hope museum officials recognize that Ventura County is still the area in which to locate and will decide on either Thousand Oaks or Ventura.

*

Greg Carson, Ventura mayor

I don’t believe the city is going to be spending $35 million. That is the amount of money that the museum says it’s going to take to build the new museum and make it operational, so the city can act as a facilitator, enjoining public and private partnerships to provide an opportunity for the museum to relocate. Ventura has a Native American cultural history, and this is a perfect tie-in with where we’ve come from and with our city as a tourist destination. I think it would be a great asset to our city--and we are being proactive in trying to attract business that will help expand our tourist-base economy and overall economic development. I think it’s a fallacy that the city is going to spend $35 million, but we have to be creative in going about providing opportunities for our city. It’s also up to the citizens. If they want to float a bond measure to attract facilities such as this, then they need to have an opportunity to do that. We as a city have attributes that other cities aren’t able to provide--with our cultural heritage, with our ocean and some of the environmental qualities that we have, we have that to offer.

*

Thomas H. Wilson, Executive director, Southwest Museum

I think that the response that we got from Ventura County indicated what the communities of Ventura County believe that a museum such as the Southwest would bring to the artistic and cultural life in the county. We know that it would have more than that kind of an impact, though. It would have a significant economic impact as well, because we anticipate annual visitation on the order of 300,000 people. Those visitors would be staying in the hotels of the community, eating in the restaurants, purchasing in the shops and taking in other visitor attractions, and I think that the communities of Ventura County understood both the cultural and economic impacts the Southwest Museum would have. The fact is that it also comes with a price tag. We were looking for a location that would have a population and a donor base that could sustain the museum. We did not ask for $35 million in cash; we asked for land and other incentives to move the museum to a new location. We said the price tag was going to be $35 million.