VENTURA : City to Reconsider Footbridge Plan
Residents opposed to a pedestrian crossing approved last month near California 126 and the Ventura Freeway have succeeded in persuading the Ventura City Council to reconsider the $1-million footbridge.
The footbridge plan was approved after developers of two nearby subdivisions agreed to pay more than $600,000 of the cost. The city already has secured $400,000 in state and federal funds for the project.
But homeowners along Citadel Avenue and nearby streets complained that the overpass would attract transients and crime to their neighborhood.
They suggested that the bridge plan be scrapped altogether or built just west of the proposed site, leading into the southeast corner of Camino Real Park.
“One hundred percent of the people don’t want it at all,” Citadel Avenue resident Deborah Harvey told the council Monday night. “But a good number of people, if they have to have it, want it in the park.”
Police are concerned that a footbridge leading from a dark corner of the park would lure drug dealers and gang members to the area and prevent officers from pursuing criminals.
Putting the bridge east of the park, along Citadel Avenue, would allow police officers to patrol the area by car, officials said.
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