‘96 Was a Very Good Year, Says Tingstrom in State of the City Speech

Saying his vision of a healthier municipal economic climate had evolved into such accomplishments as the downtown theater project, an ebullient Mayor Jack Tingstrom offered an optimistic appraisal of Ventura on Tuesday during his annual State of the City address.

Tingstrom’s unabashed boosterism drew a standing ovation from more than 180 business and civic leaders attending the combined 1996 review and 1997 preview at the Holiday Inn’s rooftop banquet room.

“It truly was a Chamber of Commerce speech on a Chamber of Commerce day,” Deputy Mayor Rosa Lee Measures said afterward. “The message was reflective of many, many accomplishments the ’96 council has forged. It took a good 45 minutes to express the many reflections of the good projects.”

Tingstrom spent much of that time accentuating the positive in a speech that was more promotional pastiche than substantive analysis.

“It has been a year of achievements and a year of triumph over adversity,” he said. “But most impressive has been our city’s leadership and strong track record in forging effective partnerships with other agencies and neighborhood groups to solve complex challenges that have faced our community for years.”

He pointed to a long-range master plan unveiled last month by the Ventura Unified School District that addresses how the schools will accommodate population growth to avoid overcrowding as an example of a cooperative endeavor involving the City Council. The plan, crafted by a committee appointed by school officials and council members, is designed to ensure that Ventura maintains a solid economic base.

Tingstrom rejected criticism that Ventura is growing too rapidly, noting that the city has had a 1% annual growth rate during the past six years.

“Good schools are the foundation of a healthy economy, and vice versa,” he said. “Yet our community has not invested in our school facilities in 30 years. Our schools are close to capacity, classrooms are overcrowded and funding solutions are needed to address enrollment growth, modernizing aging facilities, building new schools and reducing class sizes.”

The school plan, which Tingstrom called one of the “most important public policy undertakings of the last decade,” contains $120 million worth of recommendations that include the construction of four schools. An $81-million bond measure, to help pay for those improvements, will be on the June ballot.

In addition, Tingstrom pointed to other examples of successful cooperative planning, including the 250 people who participated in a grass-roots “visioning” process that he believes will lead to improvements in the city’s “woefully inadequate” libraries. Moreover, it is partly due to the efforts of the more than 11,000 residents who belong to Neighborhood Watch groups that property crimes declined for the second straight year, he said. Burglaries dropped 16% and thefts 14% in 1996, Tingstrom said.

The city’s efforts to increase tourism are paying off, Tingstrom said, announcing that revenue from the transient occupancy tax levied on hotel rooms increased 10.2% to $2.09 million last year. Aggressive marketing efforts and events such as last fall’s Ventura Offshore Grand Prix powerboat races are being credited for a 21% bed-tax increase in the last two years.

Tingstrom expects the trend to continue, pointing out that a 10-screen cinema complex scheduled to begin construction this summer is expected to draw up to 600,000 additional visitors downtown annually. In addition, the planned $100-million expansion of the Buenaventura Mall, which has been held up in court, will finally move forward this year, he predicted.

Ventura’s improving economic climate is getting national recognition, Tingstrom said, noting that Money magazine has ranked the city 38th out of 300 metropolitan areas nationwide in future job growth.

The mayor even managed to put a positive spin on the aborted Centerplex baseball stadium project as evidence of the city’s aggressive economic strategy.

“We took a shot--it didn’t work out--but we will continue to take those shots and support those projects that serve the needs of the community in the future,” he said.