VENTURA : Poli Street Closure Committee Formed

A committee has been formed to suggest ideas on how to close Poli Street at Ventura High School without angering nearby residents who are forced to contend with increased traffic in their hillside neighborhoods.

Ventura Mayor Tom Buford will chair the committee, which is composed of hillside residents, parents, students and school district officials.

The committee will wrestle with the problem of whether to permanently block off Poli Street at Ventura High School and how to deal with hillside residents’ concerns about traffic problems that result from the closure.

The council earlier this month voted to install metal gates to block off Poli from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on school days. The closure is only temporary.

After a Ventura High School student was fatally stabbed earlier this year several blocks from campus, school district officials asked the council to permanently close a block-long section of Poli Street as a safety precaution against possible drive-by shootings. The street cuts through the middle of the high school campus.

The committee is scheduled to come back in April with long-term solutions on how to balance student safety concerns against traffic problems.