After Quarter-Century, Leader of Ventura Chamber Retires

Jim Barroca has had his share of milestones as executive vice president of the Ventura Chamber of Commerce.

There was the chamber’s vocal support of the Buenaventura Mall expansion, its support of the proposed Centerplex sports and entertainment complex, the arrival of the chamber on the Internet and the formation of the chamber’s political action committee.

But after 25 years on the job, Barroca has decided it is time to move on. He has announced his retirement from the chamber effective Oct. 1.

On Monday, Barroca officially turned over the chamber reins to Zoe Taylor, who in August resigned her position as president and chief executive of the Burbank Chamber of Commerce.

“A lot of members ask why I am retiring,” Barroca said. “I’m 63 and I want to do something a little different for the next two years before I file for Social Security.”

Barroca will look back at his tenure as the featured speaker at today’s chamber luncheon at the Ventura Holiday Inn. He also will be honored at a chamber mixer Oct. 4.

When Barroca took over the top position at the chamber in 1971, it had 400 members. Membership peaked at about 1,500 early this decade and now stands at about 1,200, dipping as a result of the recession.

Over the years, Barroca said, he has seen the types of businesses involved with the chamber change as Ventura has changed.

“When I got here, Ventura was very much an oil town and the chamber had a lot of oil companies that supplied the offshore oil platforms,” he said. “Now the chamber is 85% small business, mom-and-pop retail stores. In the last eight or nine years there’s been a surge in office service-type businesses, professional service businesses like computer consulting.”

Regardless of the chamber makeup, Barroca said, its goal has remained unchanged during the past quarter-decade.

“Our primary role is to be a watchdog for businesses, looking at how legislation affects businesses,” he said. “We formed the political action committee [in 1991] and have been quite an influence when candidates come along.”

Barroca said the chamber’s local clout has been visible, too.

“We were vocal about not increasing the business license tax and we were vocal in making the sign ordinance more reasonable,” said Barroca of city proposals within the past 10 years. “We encouraged the city to hire an economic development director. Almost everything that goes on with the city, the chamber is involved.”

Barroca, a native of Oakland, has worked for various chambers of commerce for most of the past 33 years. He was assistant manager of the San Leandro chamber from 1962 to 1964 and headed the Canoga Park chamber from 1964 to 1966, the Oxnard chamber from 1966 to 1968 and the Conejo Valley chamber from 1969 to 1971. Barroca was assistant manager of the Ventura County Economic Development Assn. from 1968 to 1969.

Taylor, Barroca’s replacement, has been directing chambers of commerce since the early 1980s. She managed the Pico Rivera chamber from 1982 to 1989 and served as manager of the Burbank chamber beginning in 1989.

She said she sees a lot of similarities between Ventura and her last city of employment.

“Quality of life is very important to the businesses and residential communities in both cities,” Taylor said. “And the downtown of Ventura has started on a renaissance. That is such a parallel to Burbank.”

Indeed, she said, the developer who helped revitalize Burbank’s downtown area in the late 1980s by constructing a theater complex there has proposed a multiplex for Ventura’s recently renovated downtown area.

The Ventura City Council has given preliminary approval to a proposal by Burbank’s Victor Georgino to develop a 10-screen theater and 14,000 square feet of adjacent retail shops on Main Street, along with a parking structure on Santa Clara Street.

“I was very fortunate to be in Burbank during the rebirth of the downtown area,” Taylor said. “That’s what Ventura is on the brink of doing.”

Meanwhile, she said, she has already begun meeting with chamber members to determine their needs.

“As industry and technology changes, the needs of business change,” Taylor said. “We need to identify those types of businesses that maybe are not here in Ventura and that would be a benefit to the community. We’ll work with the city and community to find the appropriate locations for them and continue to create jobs. Economic development, to me, is job creation.”

At the same time, Taylor said, she will emphasize the importance of communication between the local business community and Ventura schools.

“I have worked diligently with schools in Burbank and am looking forward to creating a relationship with the educational community here so we can be a partner in making sure our young people are prepared for the working world of tomorrow,” she said.

Barroca anticipates exciting times for his successor.

“If the Centerplex goes through and the regional mall happens and the downtown theater and retail expansion happens,” he said, “it will show a vibrancy about the city of Ventura.”