VENTURA : Council to Consider Gates to Close Streets

Hoping to decrease chances of a drive-by shooting at Ventura High School, the City Council today will consider approving chain-type gates to close two hillside streets and swinging metal gates to block a section of Poli Street at the high school.

Residents who live near the high school are expected to protest the gates because the Poli Street closure would detour traffic onto residential streets. Residents fought hard against the closure in September, when the council decided to block access to Poli between Catalina Street and Hill Canyon Road from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on school days.

Poli is a major thoroughfare that runs through the heart of the high school campus. School officials requested that it be closed to prevent drive-by shootings in the wake of the fatal stabbing of a Ventura High School student in February. The stabbing occurred several blocks from campus, but it raised fears of gang violence.

In an effort to lessen the expected traffic congestion and direct vehicles toward Main Street, gates will be placed at Palomar Avenue and Sunset Drive. A traffic signal at Catalina and Poli streets will also be replaced by a four-way stop.