The Proud Land : Survey: Most residents like living in Ventura County; they praise its good schools, safe streets and abundant parks. But many parents are leery of the future.

When Colleen Briner-Schmidt and her husband, Doug, pulled up stakes in the Chicago suburbs to move their family to Southern California, they could have lived anywhere in the region.

They scouted Agoura, Valencia and family-oriented cities in Orange County to find a community that was safe, secure and literate--and which opened its arms to children.

But they settled on Thousand Oaks, a tree-lined Ventura County community of color-coordinated homes separated by the rugged Simi Hills from the sprawl of Los Angeles County.

“We made a really good choice,” said Briner-Schmidt, a 40-year-old teacher. “For Southern California, Ventura County is a good place to live. The air is cleaner, the schools are better. And there are lots of opportunities for children to learn and explore.”

For three decades, thousands of Los Angeles County residents a year have escaped the growing ills of the big city and sought refuge in the new commuter communities of Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley and Moorpark and along the fertile plains near Oxnard and Ventura.

About 20,000 Los Angeles County residents moved to Ventura County during the last year, the state reports. And that pace of migration is only half as rapid as the 1980s boom.

Have they found what they came for?

Despite growth that has doubled Ventura County’s population to 720,000 since 1970, a study by a team of Times reporters and a Los Angeles Times Poll found that parents and their children overwhelmingly believe the county is still a good place to live and to raise families.

They consider their streets safe, their schools good and their parks abundant.

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

But--in high numbers--Ventura County families are satisfied with their lives today. And their points of comparison are often Los Angeles or Orange counties.

“I’ve done some work in L.A., and the feeling is big city, people packed shoulder to shoulder,” said Arnie Aviles, a narcotics sergeant for the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department. “We haven’t experienced the crunch that makes people afraid to know their neighbors or afraid to walk at night.”

Susan H. Pinkus, assistant director of the Times Poll, said the degree of satisfaction among parents is unusually high. “Overall, parents in Ventura County . . . think it’s a really good county to raise their kids,” she said.

The 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.

Yet the poll found a wariness of crime and youth gangs--and a nagging feeling by families that their small slice of paradise is in jeopardy.

“It’s much better than the place I used to live,” said Ingrid Alarcon, a former Marina del Rey 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.”

Ventura County’s problems, however, remain small compared with those of the region and the state.

Even poverty is generally more benign than in much of California because problems are not so great that they have overwhelmed institutions that hold society together: police, schools, health and social service agencies, churches and charitable groups.

“Collectively, we’re determined not to become just another suburb of L.A. County, with all its problems,” said Sheriff Larry Carpenter, a lifelong resident of Fillmore. “We feel that it’s not too late, that we can still make a difference.”

The fact that Ventura County consistently ranks as the safest urban area in the West is not lost on those who live there.

“This is sure a different place than when I came here 20 years ago,” said Dr. Gary Feldman, county public health director, who raised two children in Ventura. “But people still care about each other. And it’s safe.”

As is often the case, safety and affluence go hand in hand. Ventura County ranks sixth among the state’s 58 counties for family income, with a median of $57,900, according to an update of the 1990 U.S. census.

Thirty-nine percent of parents responding to the Times Poll say the simple fact that their children live in Ventura County gives them a stronger moral and ethical base. Teen-agers also overwhelmingly say their parents have taught them right from wrong.

The flip side of such declarations is that the county’s wealth sometimes makes it easier for teen-agers to get alcohol and drugs. A majority of 460 teen-age poll respondents say at least half of the students in their schools regularly drink alcohol. More than one-third say at least half of their schoolmates regularly use illegal drugs. And 55% say youngsters their age have a good amount or great deal of prejudice against homosexuals.

The Times Poll found that nearly three of every five local working mothers would rather stay home and take care of their children than hold down a job. And 38% of fathers said they would make the same choice if they could.

Ventura County’s good life comes with a steep price tag many poorer residents just cannot afford.

As a result, communities are divided sharply between the haves and have-nots, which usually means between white citizens who speak English well and Latino immigrants who do not. Overall, the county was 66% white and 26% Latino in 1990.

Geographically, this division reflects the difference between the emerging white-collar cities of the east county and the historic west county communities of the Santa Clara Valley and Oxnard Plain.

Even in the more diverse west county, the census showed that races are segregated more than ever before--the rich in one part of town and the poor in another.

The pay-as-you-go nature of most local youth activities--from swim clubs to marching bands--emphasizes the same economic disparity.

More than one-third of parents say they cannot pay for their children’s play in local recreation programs, the poll found. Seventy percent of white parents can afford most or all of the activities in which their children want to participate; 56% of Latino parents can afford only some or none of those activities.

For years, the county’s public schools have rated among the best in the state. Its dropout rate is lower than the state average, and students consistently outperform their peers on standardized tests and college entrance exams.

But only 11.3% of graduates enroll in four-year colleges, well below the statewide average.

Some educators attribute those low numbers to the absence of a local Cal State university. Ventura has long been the largest county in the state without a public four-year college.

Many Ventura County residents--old and new--also reluctantly acknowledge a lingering racism in the county.

Susanna Arce, a descendant of a Spanish soldier who arrived here in 1781 and whose great-great-grandfather once owned all of the Ojai Valley, said even her children have felt the sting of prejudice.

“There is an insularity here that often breeds a certain type of superior attitude, sort of a white superiority attitude,” she said.

Even residents such as the Briner-Schmidts, who are generally pleased with the county, note an unsettling change in the air. And they complain of a lack of financial support for schools and youth.

Despite recent changes and emerging problems, Ventura County residents still think their county is a good place to live, and Los Angeles County residents are still lured by the promise of a better life.

“This is such a lovely place,” said Carrie Rothstein-Fisch, a child development professor at Cal State Northridge, who with her dentist husband, Bryan, made a decision to emphasize family over career and moved from Los Angeles to Ventura to do it.

“It was a perfect decision for us,” she said. “I feel very lucky that my children can grow up in a time and place where they are safe. That is astoundingly important.”

Times staff writers Fred Alvarez, Miguel Bustillo, Mack Reed and Tracy Wilson contributed to this story.