Council Orders Footbridge Terminus Moved Into Park : Ventura: A four-year campaign by residents forces the planned freeway overpass out of their Citadel Avenue neighborhood.

Residents of a mid-Ventura neighborhood won an uncommon reversal from the City Council on Monday, persuading the panel to move a proposed Santa Paula Freeway pedestrian bridge away from their homes and into a nearby park.

The $1-million crossing was approved in May to link two middle-income neighborhoods about a quarter-mile east of the Ventura-Santa Paula freeway junction.

But residents of the Citadel Avenue area north of the Santa Paula Freeway persuaded the council to move the bridge crossing from undeveloped land south of the freeway into Camino Real Park.

Through an aggressive campaign, the group last month succeeded in getting Mayor Tom Buford to reconsider the council decision.

More than 100 residents crowded City Hall late Monday--the vast majority opposing the bridge.

Most homeowners from the quiet community said the bridge would lure transients and gang members to their neighborhood, increasing crime and exposing their children to sex offenders.

“If you build this bridge they will come,” resident Lois Terry said. “Have a heart and listen to ours. Please do not build this.”

The decision to relocate the crossing came on a 5-1 vote, with Councilman Jim Monahan opposed and Councilwoman Rosa Lee Measures absent. It ended nearly four years of debate between city officials and residents.

Monahan said he voted against building the bridge at all because he thinks it should be included in a broad redesign of the nearby freeway interchange. He also said residents’ concerns were legitimate.

“I understand their grief with the whole issue,” Monahan said before the vote.

The City Council approved the footbridge two months ago despite loud complaints from residents who live within walking distance of Buenaventura Mall, nearby schools and Ventura College.

Acting on a recommendation from Police Chief Richard Thomas, the council then voted to build the bridge where officers could patrol both ends by car. The alternative to put one end in Camino Real Park would make it easier for criminals to escape from police, he said.

On Monday, the council addressed Thomas’ concerns by voting to close the bridge after dark.

Police officials said two other footbridges over the freeway have not increased criminal activity in their east Ventura neighborhoods.

But Citadel Avenue-area property owners are convinced that building the bridge in their neighborhood would cause problems.

“We don’t want the overpass at all,” Lynne Cloud said. “But we would rather it go into the park and not onto Citadel.

“Once a bridge is built, there’s going to be gang warfare to establish territorial rights,” Cloud said. “It endangers our whole area. It’s going to be a potential time bomb.”

But homeowner Linda Logan, who has fought for the overpass for years, said the footbridge would allow cyclists, children and others much needed access to shops, schools and parks.

“This is a community benefit issue,” she said. “To visit friends, to play in parks, to walk to schools--that’s what this issue is about.”

When the bridge was first proposed four years ago as a way to stop children from running across the freeway, residents organized against it. A year later, the City Council approved the crossing but backed away from deciding specifically where to erect it until financing was secured.

Now, developers planning to build scores of homes and apartments south of the freeway have agreed to pay most of the cost, and the city has received $400,000 in state and federal grants to finance its share.

Mayor Tom Buford, who grew up in the area, said he changed his mind and agreed to move the bridge to Camino Real Park in the interest of his former neighbors.

“There’s a legitimate concern about the impact on the neighborhood,” Buford said.

“But that’s not unusual,” he said. “A lot of the decisions of the council have to balance the benefits of the community as a whole against the burden of a particular neighborhood.”