TIMES POLL : Local Residents Paint Picture of Contentment : Survey: Ventura County wins unusually high marks with families, despite concerns of some for the future.

Voicing a rare level of contentment, Ventura County parents and children overwhelmingly believe that Ventura County is a good place to live and to raise families, according to a Times Poll.

Both parents and children say they have found a high quality of family life in their communities because streets are safe, schools are good and parks are abundant.

Some parents, already refugees of big-city grit, are leery of the future. And many, especially those who have seen rich farmlands paved over and gang violence escalate, think things are changing for the worse.

But--in unusually high numbers--Ventura County families are satisfied with their lives today.

“I know my son is free to maneuver within our town without having trouble come to him,” said poll respondent Cathy Severson, 43, of Thousand Oaks. “I feel very blessed that we can afford to live in an area like this.”

Arnie Aviles, 46, a third-generation Venturan, said he, too, is completely satisfied with his children’s schools and the small-town feel this county has managed to keep so far.

“We haven’t experienced the crunch that makes people afraid to know their neighbors or afraid to walk at night,” he said.

The youngsters themselves are even more upbeat about their lives.

More than nine of every 10 children say they are satisfied with their lives, and more than eight of 10 say their neighborhoods have been good places to grow up.

Defying an age-old instinct to move away from home, most teen-agers also say they want to live in Ventura County when they grow up.

“For me, it’s a great place to live,” said Skye Peterson, 16, of Camarillo. “The weather’s perfect, and the town’s clean and nice.”

The Los Angeles Times Poll interviewed 1,224 parents and 460 children between the ages of 12 and 17 in Ventura County. The poll, conducted July 29 through Aug. 7, has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points for parents and plus or minus five percentage points for children.

Regardless of age, race or income, most parents and children in the suburban east county and the agricultural west were in no mood to complain much about their lives.

Susan H. Pinkus, assistant director of The Times Poll, said the degree of satisfaction among local parents is unusually high.

“Overall, parents in Ventura County are satisfied with their lives,” she said. “They think it’s a really good county to raise their kids.”

But there are some sharp differences in perspective, depending mostly on how much of Ventura County’s good life parents and children can afford.

Families of the emerging white-collar cities of the east, where incomes are high and crime rates minuscule, are more favorably inclined than those who live in the older, more racially mixed communities of the west, where crime, income and educational levels are closer to the statewide norm.

Whites are more upbeat than Latinos, but also have a greater fear of change. And newcomers, carrying fresh images of other locales, are more apt to count their blessings than longtime residents, who have seen this county grow and change.

Categorized by any group, however, Ventura County’s report card from its families is dotted with high marks.

According to the poll, 88% of parents are satisfied with the communities in which they live and 92% of children are satisfied with their lives overall--a degree of contentment far higher than the 71% satisfaction level found by The Times in a 1994 poll of Los Angeles County parents.

Almost as many parents, 86%, find Ventura County a good place to raise children. Nearly as many, 84%, say the county’s parks and recreational facilities are good or excellent. And 87% say their neighborhoods are safe.

Citing not only good schools and low crime, but also clean air and mild climate, most parents said they see Ventura County not just as an incubator for their offspring, but as a place to sink roots and grow old.

Nearly two-thirds of parents say they want their children to live here when they grow up. And about 55% of the children say they want to stay in the county.

Echoing their parents, the children said they like their neighborhoods because of good schools and recreational facilities, good friends and safe streets.

Still, despite a strong sense of security, the poll found a wariness in the east and west county of crime and youth gangs--and a nagging feeling that their small slice of paradise is in jeopardy.

Gangs and crime were rated the top problems countywide by both parents and children, with Latinos and west county residents more concerned about both.

“It’s much better than the place I used to live,” said Ingrid Alarcon, a former Los Angeles County resident who lives in Oxnard Shores. “But it’s growing faster than I would like. And with that influx, we have all the undesirable aspects--traffic, crime and graffiti.”

“I hate to sound so negative,” she said, “but I’m afraid if we’re not careful it will get away from us.”

A few miles away, Lisa Razo, 31, says it is already deteriorating, even though her south Oxnard neighborhood is far superior to the one she left 11 years ago in San Bernardino County.

“There’s just more gang activity, more drug dealing,” she said. “A lot of things that used to be done in secret, now it’s out in the open.”

She feels safe walking in her neighborhood, but her home was burglarized for the first time three months ago. Her three children like their schools, but her daughter told her last year that classmates were bringing drugs to school.

“When did you ever hear of sixth-graders carrying drugs?” Razo said.

In the east county, Westlake High School junior Sean Velazquez said he does not see gangs and crime as much of a problem yet. “But probably in five or 10 years it will be a problem,” he said. “A lot of kids see stuff on TV and they want to be like that. And a lot of parents bring kids out here from worse areas, and they keep being like they are. They don’t change.”

The Times Poll found that a sizable minority of parents saw no change in the quality of life in their communities over the past 10 years. And 43% said they expect their communities to remain about the same over the next decade as places to raise their children.

But 30% of parents said their communities have changed for the worse, compared to 20% who saw an improvement. The split among parents about future change is similar--32% saying their communities will be a worse place to raise kids in a decade, and 19% saying they will be better.

Still, from Simi Valley to Ojai, large majorities of parents and children say they like their communities the way they are now. And in interviews, their points of comparison were often Los Angeles or Orange counties.

It is partly from that perspective that Aviles, a narcotics sergeant for the Sheriff’s Department, sees his east Ventura neighborhood as just about perfect for his wife, Amanda, also a Ventura native, and their three children.

“I’ve done some work in L.A., and the feeling is big city, people packed shoulder to shoulder,” he said. “It’s like they don’t want to talk to anybody because they fear them. But here you can go down to the mall and say ‘hi’ to a perfect stranger, and they’ll say ‘hi’ back.

“I am exposed to probably the worst part of any community,” the sergeant said. “And I still feel that we are head and shoulders above the L.A. area. I feel safe in my community.”

KIDS: The Times today begins a special six-part report on children and their families in Ventura County. B1

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Ventura County: Satisfied Parents and Kids

A Los Angeles Times Poll of nearly 1,700 Ventura County parents and children found a high degree of satisfaction with the quality of life in local communities. But many respondents said crime and gangs threaten to erode that quality. A selection of questions:

Parents

Q. How would you rate your community as a place to raise children?

Good: 86%

Not Good: 14%

****

Q. What do you think is the best thing about raising your children in Ventura County today?

TOTAL

Good schools: 25%

Less crime: 18%

Clean air: 11%

Rec. facilities: 11%

Community feeling: 9%

Safe to play: 8%

****

Q. What do you think is the worst thing about raising your children in Ventura County today?

TOTAL

Gangs: 25%

Nothing: 19%

Crime: 13%

Schools: 11%

Crowded: 8%

Expensive: 6%

****

Kids

Q. How would you rate your community as a place to grow up?

Good: 83%

Not Good: 16%

Q. What’s the best thing about growing up in Ventura County?

TOTAL

Like schools: 15%

Rec. facilities: 14%

Like friends: 12%

Like ocean: 9%

Safe: 9%

Nice people: 9%

****

Q. What’s the worst thing about growing up in Ventura County?

TOTAL

Gangs: 24%

Crime: 19%

Like everything: 15%

Boring: 14%

Kids use drugs: 6%

Entertainment too far: 3%

Note: Bars represent top selections

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Family Life in Ventura County

In its most extensive survey ever of the attitudes of Ventura County residents, the Los Angeles Times Poll found parents and children overwhelmingly believe that the county is a good place to live and to raise families. East county respondents were somewhat more content than those who live in the west, however. And nearly one-third of parents said the quality of life in their communities has declined over the last decade.

SATISFACTION LEVEL

In unusually high numbers, Ventura County families expressed a high degree of satisfaction with their lives, regardless of ethnicity or city of residence. In the east county, 43% of parents cited raising their children as one reason they moved here.

Parents

Q. All things considered, would you say you are satisfied or dissatisfied these days with the community in which you live?

*--*

WHITE LATINO WEST EAST ALL Satisfied 88% 89% 86% 91% 88% Dissatisfied 9% 7% 10% 7% 9%

*--*

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Q. Did you move to Ventura County more because you thought it would be a good place to raise you children, or for other reasons?

*--*

WHITE LATINO WEST EAST ALL Raise children 23% 16% 15% 32% 21% Other reasons 56% 46% 57% 47% 53% Both 6% 3% 3% 11% 6% Always lived here 15% 34% 25% 10% 20%

*--*

****

Kids

Q. All things considered, would you say you are satisfied or dissatisfied these days with the way your life is going these days?

*--*

WHITE LATINO WEST EAST ALL Satisfied 93% 90% 91% 93% 92% Dissatisfied 7% 6% 7% 5% 6%

*--*

****

Q. Generally speaking, in your community, how well do you think things are going today for children your age?

*--*

WHITE LATINO WEST EAST ALL Well 79% 81% 77% 83% 79% Badly 18% 19% 22% 13% 19%

*--*

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THE DOWN SIDE

Although upbeat about their lives overall, many county parents said their communities are not as safe or as comfortable as they used to be.

Parents

Q. Over the past 10 years or so, would you say the quality of life in your community has gotten better, worse or has stayed about the same?

*--*

WHITE LATINO WEST EAST ALL Better 17% 26% 21% 19% 20% Worse 32% 29% 33% 27% 30% Same 44% 38% 39% 49% 43%

*--*

****

Q. Over the past five years or so, would you say gang activity in your community has increased, decreased or has stayed about the same?

*--*

WHITE LATINO WEST EAST ALL Increased 42% 36% 39% 41% 40% Decreased 5% 15% 9% 4% 7% Same 16% 16% 16% 15% 16% Not sure if change 4% 1% 3% 5% 4% No gangs 25% 27% 26% 27% 26% Not sure if gangs 8% 5% 7% 8% 7%

*--*

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How The Poll Was Conducted

The Los Angeles Times Poll contacted 4,848 adults living in Ventura County by telephone July 29 through Aug. 7. Interviews were conducted among 1,224 parents and 460 children between the ages of 12 and 17. Telephone numbers were chosen from a list of all exchanges in the county. Random-digit dialing techniques were used so that listed and unlisted numbers could be contacted. The sample was weighed slightly to conform with census figures for sex, race, age and education. The margin of sampling error for parents is plus or minus 3 percentage points and for children, plus or minus 5 percentage points; for certain sub-groups the error margin may be somewhat higher. Poll results can also be affected by other factors such as question wording and the order in which questions are presented.

Some columns do not add up to 100% because of multiple responses or “not sure” and declined responses. Also, only the top answers are listed for some questions.