City May Reconsider Closure of 3 Streets

The Ventura City Council will be asked to decide at its Monday meeting whether to review the closures of Palomar Street, Sunset Drive and Poli Street.

During the past several weeks, the city has received numerous requests from hillside-area residents and the Concerned Citizens of Ventura to reopen these streets during school days.

The streets were closed to increase safety at Ventura High School shortly after the January 1993 stabbing death of 17-year-old Jesse Strobel.

But it has been three years since the city has done an in-depth review of the closures and traffic-control measures.

Residents of the hillside area above Ventura High School have complained that the closures have dramatically increased traffic along the area’s residential streets.

City Manager Donna Landeros said in a document sent to the City Council that the city should reexamine its traffic control and safety efforts around the high school campus.

“My preliminary thoughts on the matter is that it may be in the public’s interest to revisit traffic controls on hillside streets,” she wrote. “Over the passage of time, driving habits may have changed, particularly with traffic signal improvements of Catalina and Main streets and Seaward Avenue and Main Street.”

Landeros added that Poli will remain closed and is not part of the reopening proposal.

In 1994, the Concerned Citizens of Ventura put Measure E on the November ballot to repeal the closures, but the measure was soundly defeated by voters.

If the City Council decides to make the street closure issue a priority, city administrators will develop a plan of action and a funding proposal to be submitted at the council’s April 7 meeting.