Ventura Council OKs Westside Plan

It was a big night for the westside.

First, Westside Community Council Chairwoman Lauri Flack presented to the City Council the results of a three-session “Take Part” workshop--a grass-roots effort to lay out residents’ vision for the future.

And afterward, the City Council unanimously approved more than $2.5 million in federal funding for the westside, also known as The Avenue, and endorsed, in concept, an ambitious westside revitalization strategy that could bring in millions more in the future. Council members also set aside about $425,000 in local matching funds.

About 40 westside residents stood to express silent support for Flack as she spoke. And when the council voted to endorse the revitalization strategy, they broke out in applause.

“The westside has my vote because this is the right kind of partnering,” said Councilman Ray Di Guilio. “We have the money. But what they have is the people power.”

News of the city’s efforts to use federal funds to support the westside plan has traveled far. Herbert Roberts, director of the Office of Community Planning and Development from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, attended Monday night’s meeting.

“I have been extremely impressed about the words I have heard about the Westside Community Council. I hope this will be a model for other projects,” Roberts told the council. For the Westside Community Council, the evening proved that its work can reap political and financial dividends in the long run. Much of that work was done in the Take Part workshops held in October, November and December.

Funded by a $25,000 grant from the city, and run by Barry L. Wasserman, a Cal Poly Pomona professor, the workshops were attended by 94 residents and property owners, and several city officials.

“We put our heads and hearts together to dream a future for the westside,” Flack told the council.

Participants spent one Saturday walking the streets, looking at maps, and talking about what they would like to see The Avenue community become. On the second Saturday, they offered specific suggestions for land use, circulation, public facilities and urban design. And on the final Saturday, they came up with a consensus plan for The Avenue--with an emphasis on doable projects.

The resulting plan formed the basis for the Westside Revitalization Plan, presented to the council by Tom Figg, the city’s planning and redevelopment manager.

The plan involves a four-pronged approach--program development, which includes demographic and land use analysis; housing preservation, which includes housing rehabilitation; neighborhood stabilization, which includes code enforcement and neighborhood cleanup; and redevelopment, which includes urban design improvements and capital projects.

Through the revitalization strategy, the westside is poised to receive the bulk of Ventura’s federal funding to eliminate blight, and benefit very low- to moderate-income families.

The council approved $1.3 million in Community Development Block Grant funds for programs on the westside, and $1.2 million in federal housing funds, which the city has been accumulating since 1993, aimed at low-income residents.

In addition to code enforcement and rehabilitation, the money would be used for upgrading library and community facilities, and improving trash collection in The Avenue area. The city will spend $75,000 of the funds updating economic and demographic datato determine whether The Avenue should be designated a redevelopment district.

About $482,000 of the funds will be used to rehabilitate The Avenue’s “symbol of squalor”--the crumbling Casa de Anza building.

Calling the money the fuel to implement the westside’s vision, Flack thanked the council.

Westsiders who attended the meeting to show their solidarity were thrilled with the city’s decision.

Marvyn McQuatters, who lives in one of the pink houses on the hill overlooking Ventura, said she is very interested in The Avenue and very interested in seeing that the plan is carried on from here.

Council members said they intend to do just that.

“Let’s clear this place up, not just patch it up,” said Councilman Jim Monahan, who runs a welding business on The Avenue. “It’s time to consider it as important as downtown.”