VENTURA : New Palm Trees Planted Along Main Street

One week after a landscaper tried to plant some trees that were too short for city officials, five taller queen palm trees were planted along Main Street in downtown Ventura on Tuesday.

The trees were planted between five honey locust trees on the north side of Main Street between Fir and Chestnut streets.

City officials watching the renovation of downtown Ventura said the now-completed block will showcase what the rest of downtown will look like once the four-month restoration is completed.

They said the 16-foot trees received last week were too short, and sent them back in favor of 20-foot palms.

“The city likes the trees so far,” said Albert Larios, a landscaper for Joe Scholle, who won the city contract to plant the trees along California and Main streets. “They have no complaints now.”

The City Council agreed to spend $3.5 million to renovate most of the downtown commercial core, an area that has become rundown in recent years.

City officials hope the new trees, wider sidewalks and new street lamps will attract more shoppers, tourists and visitors to the historic downtown, which last year generated more than $50 million in retail sales.

Workers are renovating one block at a time, installing better-decorated sidewalks and antiqued street lamps. The entire project is scheduled to be completed in July.

The palm trees pleased at least one observer.

But Cathy Penprase, who was collecting signatures in support of libraries outside the Foster Library, questioned the decision to chop down the decades-old ficus trees that used to line Main Street.

“So far it looks all right,” she said. “But the whole process seems a little unnecessary to me. I thought it looked OK the way it was.”