Mayors Cast Votes for Some Very Green Candidates

It’s a lazy summer afternoon--a perfect day to take the kids to the park. But which one?

After all, Ventura County is endowed with hundreds of public parks, which run the gamut from the combination pistol range and Father Serra cross high above the mission in Ventura to the sprawling Wildwood Regional Park near Thousand Oaks, where dozens of deer roam free.

And that doesn’t include the madre of all parks, Los Padres National Forest, which acts as sort of a 2-million-acre roof over the northern half of the county, or Channel Islands National Park, which can be reached by any watercraft larger than a surfboard.

Most people have a favorite park, even if it’s just the one closest to home. But a successful park must provide more than a plot of public grass.

“For a park to work, it needs an intrinsic natural feature that calls people to it,” said county parks Supt. Pam Gallo. Thousand Oaks parks Administrator Tom Sorensen agreed, adding that to him, water is the most popular attraction.

“People love water--to watch it, to listen to it,” Sorensen said. Sorensen’s favorite park, Conejo Creek in Thousand Oaks, fills that bill with its two ponds, fountain and a meandering creek. Sycamores, tables, barbecues, playgrounds and cute little footbridges also dot the parcel, which lies a stone’s throw from the Moorpark Freeway.

On the opposite side of the spectrum--and county--is tiny Seaside Wilderness Park (once known as Hobo Jungle), which lies next to the Ventura River mouth and takes some doing to reach.

And it’s a sizable jump from Hobo Jungle to Ojai’s renowned Libbey Park and bowl. At Libbey, a park goer can sit on a bench by the fountain and people-watch the day away--perhaps sneak peeks at a tai chi workout or a group chant, tune in to some improvisational music or watch a Sunday artist at work at an easel.

Then there is always the comfortable-old-shoe type of park. Pack up the cooler, the kids, the in-laws, the wieners and the marshmallows and make tracks for, say, Port Hueneme Beach Park, with its picnic tables, grills, sandy beach and its bonus of a pier on which to stroll or off which to drop a fishing line. Do the same at Oxnard State Beach (really a city park) or Ventura’s Marina Park, minus the pier.

Whether the park is free depends on who runs it. Generally, city parks have free admission (if you don’t count that little thing called taxes). Most of Ventura County’s parks have resorted to leasing to private vendors, which charge admission; state parks seem to love parking fees. Then there are those darn national forest fees that have popped up lately.

But back to the question of which park to head for. In an effort to answer that, The Times contacted each city’s mayor and a few parks officials. The query: “If you were showing out-of-state relatives your town, what park would you take them to?

Oxnard Mayor Manny Lopez didn’t hesitate.

“Oxnard State Beach,” he said. “It was deeded over to the city of Oxnard. It is so peaceful there, with the palms and dunes. People in wheelchairs can wheel out on a ramp to see the water.”

Jack Tingstrom of Ventura is a mayor who also knows his mind--and his parks.

“If I were going to take a visitor to a single place in Ventura, it would be Grant Park,” Tingstrom said. “It’s the answer when someone asks you to ‘take me to a place that shows why you live in Ventura.’ It says ‘Here’s our city.’ You can see the islands, the ocean, the surf line, the west and east sides.”

Ojai Mayor Steve Olsen said, “If I had visiting relatives, I’d walk them from my house to Libbey Park. It has to be Libbey. We’d go to the Wednesday night concert in the Libbey Park bandstand.”

Ojai City Manager Andy Belknap agrees. “There was a Libbey Park before there was an Ojai,” he said. “Edward Drummond Libbey gave the park to the civic association in 1917.”

Libbey Park stages the nation’s longest-running amateur tennis tournament in April and the world-renowned Ojai Festival in June.

And, Belknap points out, “We still have the first Ojai jail there.”

The honorable Mayor Don Gunderson of Fillmore gives all his votes to his city’s postage-stamp-size Central Park. “You can come to that park at night with the lights on and you can imagine yourself any place you want to be.”

The city’s recreation department supervisor, Tom Ristau, couldn’t agree more: “I have to say Shiells Park is our most popular because it’s the only large one. It has a ball diamond, snack bar and picnic shelters. But our most beloved park is Central Park, in front of City Hall. It’s the cutest park there is.”

Sporting a fountain and brick plaza designed with an early 1900s feel, the pocket park offers seating on the ledge of the fountain as well as on its benches.

“Some weekends, it’s SRO waiting for a piece of ledge to sit on,” Ristau said.

Speaking of history, Laurie Beltran of the Oxnard Parks Department is high on her city’s old-fashioned block-square Plaza Park on C Street.

“Plaza Park is a pass-through, a gathering spot in the center of town,” she said. “We have the farmers’ market there. And it’s just pretty to look at.”

The park is undergoing a slight face-lift as its surrounding streets are reconfigured. “A couple corners have been rounded off somewhat and there will be more lighting at night,” Lopez said. “People will feel safer there now.”

Ventura also has a Plaza Park. In 1869, the newly incorporated San Buenaventura bought it for $1 from the San Buenaventura Commercial Manufacturing and Mining Co. For the rest of the century, livestock grazed on its square. Now it is home to the monthly “First Sunday in the Park.”

Rancho Tapo Community Park in Simi Valley gets Mayor Greg Stratton’s vote as the city’s best, although he did diplomatically add, “But we have four nice parks.”

In Port Hueneme, Mayor Anthony Volante punched his ballot for Richard Bard Bubbling Springs Park because it is central. Then he hedged by adding, “But I’d take visiting relatives to Hueneme Beach Park . . . it does happen to have the Pacific Ocean, you know.”

Up north in Santa Paula, Mayor Robin Sullivan said, “My favorite is Mill Park. It’s historic--an old mill site. It’s small, not a typical park. I love Steckel, too, but it’s not a city park.”

For Moorpark recreation Supervisor Shelly Shellabarger, “Poindexter Park is the one I like most. It’s based on a rural theme.”

It took some prodding to persuade Moorpark Mayor Pat Hunter to winnow out one favorite from the city’s dozen parks, but he finally did.

“I guess I’d have to pick Arroyo Vista,” he said. “It’s the largest--70 acres--and half undeveloped, but it’s become the real community park. We held the celebration there when we welcomed our Little Leaguers back from Williamsport, Pa., last year. And it’s got all those sports facilities.”

Camarillo Mayor Stan Daily didn’t even pause when he heard the question. “It’s Camarillo Grove Park, for sure. I grew up with it. I feel at home there.”

Camarillo Grove, a county park, is also Pam Gallo’s favorite. “It used to be called Oak Grove. It’s a real getaway--lots of shady trees.”

Thousand Oaks Mayor Judy Lazar comes down on the side of Conejo Community Park in her city. That is not to be confused with Conejo Creek Park, although they aren’t far from each other.

“It’s a slice of Americana,” Lazar said. “A creek runs through it, we have summer concerts and Shakespeare in the Park. This is my favorite.”

And in Ventura, parks Supervisor Jerry Revard says he would have to go with Arroyo Verde Park in Ventura’s east end, simply because it is so popular.

“We’ve got at least 28 parks in Ventura, and probably our highest-use park is Arroyo Verde. It has a natural feel, more passive, nestled, almost like an island.”

But Arroyo Verde is also Revard’s biggest headache because of its popularity. “We sometimes have to close it off to traffic by noon on a Sunday, especially on Easter,” he said. “We really have to gear up . . . patrol it . . . deal with traffic jams.”

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In case the mayors’ choices aren’t inspiring enough, perhaps the dramatic view from the Ojai area’s Dennison Park, where Ronald Colman caught his first glimpse of Shangri-La in the 1937 movie “Lost Horizon,” would be the aesthetic choice. The scene looking out over the valley from the Upper Ojai park is just as lovely today as it was in the ‘30s.

Parks aren’t just for show, says Pat Weinberger of Ojai, past director of the Ventura County Parks Foundation and 1980’s National Environmentalist of the Year. They are a necessity.

“The more urbanized we get, the more necessary it is for our soul, our being, our mind, to have a natural environment to escape to,” she said. “It’s better than medicine.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Favorite Location

City: Ventura

Mayor: Jack Tingstrom

Favorite location: Grant

Acreage: 123

Amenities: Great view

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City: Simi Valley

Mayor: Greg Stratton

Favorite location: Rancho Tapo Community

Acreage: 17

Amenities: Sports fields, youth clubs, camping

*

City: Ojai

Mayor: Steve Olsen

Favorite location: Libbey

Acreage: 17

Amenities: Libbey Bowl, tennis courts

*

City: Port Hueneme

Mayor: Anthony Volante

Favorite location: Bubbling Springs

Acreage: 21

Amenities: Creek

*

City: Port Hueneme

Mayor: Anthony Volante

Favorite location: Port Hueneme Beach

Acreage: 50

Amenities: Pier

*

City: Santa Paula

Mayor: Robin Sullivan

Favorite location: Mill

Acreage: 3

Amenities: Old mill site

*

City: Camarillo

Mayor: Stan Daily

Favorite location: Camarillo Grove County

Acreage: 25

Amenities: Shady seclusion

*

City: Thousand Oaks

Mayor: Judy Lazar

Favorite location: Conejo Community

Acreage: 27

Amenities: Shakespeare in the Park

*

City: Fillmore

Mayor: Don Gunderson

Favorite location: Central

Acreage: 1

Amenities: Town Square

*

City: Oxnard

Mayor: Manny Lopez

Favorite location: Oxnard State Beach

Acreage: 62

Amenities: Great dunes, wheelchair ramp

*

City: Moorpark

Mayor: Pat Hunter

Favorite location: Arroyo Vista Community

Acreage: 70

Amenities: Football, soccer, basketball, softball