Council’s Freshmen Bring Wealth of Experience

They may not come armed with political experience, but the three newcomers on the City Council bring a wealth of community involvement and a commitment to reviving the city’s downtown.

In addition to returning incumbent Jim Monahan to the City Council, voters in Tuesday’s election installed three political newcomers: restaurateur Sandy Smith, businessman Brian Brennan and attorney Donna De Paola.

“The biggest difference in this group is everybody is an experienced community leader,” said Bill Fulton, an author and urban planner familiar with politics in California. “Monahan has been on the council for 20 years. Smith and Brennan have devised their own leadership development paths and managed to groom themselves not only to run for office, but to hold office.”

Likewise, attorney Donna De Paola has served on several civic committees.

The new members will be sworn in Dec. 1., joining Mayor Jack Tingstrom and Councilmen Jim Friedman and Ray Di Guilio on the seven-member panel.

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As the three council rookies prepare to assume office--and Monahan settles into a sixth term--all four are promising to finish the downtown revitalization, to apply the same planning and revitalization energy to the rest of the city, and to get to work now revamping the city’s blueprint for development--or Comprehensive Plan--that is up for renewal in 2000.

De Paola, the only woman on the new council, said she hopes to lure more high-technology businesses to Ventura, to upgrade Thompson Boulevard and the Seaward Avenue corridors, and to set up more programs for senior citizens and children. She is strongly committed to getting an east end park built soon.

Monahan wants to work on repairing Ventura’s streets, concentrate more on the neighborhoods throughout the city and trim the city’s overgrown trees.

Monahan said he also wants to make Ventura safer.

“I want to be right up at the top when it comes to being the safest city in the nation,” Monahan said. “Other cities in the county have done that. I’d like to see our city added to that list.”

But above all, Monahan said he wants to work on bringing more high-paying jobs to the city.

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Caught Tuesday night just after the final precinct came in, Brennan was bubbling over with ideas to get the community more involved.

He said much of his support comes from nonprofit organizations that make immense contributions to the city in terms of volunteer time and efforts. He wants to showcase them and introduce one at each meeting. He also hopes to set up a youth council.

“We make a lot of decisions for youth,” Brennan said. “But there are no youth involved.”

He suggested setting up a mentoring program between council members and local young people, and encouraging them to attend council meetings.

As the former head of the Ventura chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, Brennan said he will focus on environmental and coastal issues such as beach erosion, saving the crumbling bike path at Surfers Point, and replenishing sand at area beaches.

Smith, who is currently on the city Planning Commission, said his top goal is to start laying the groundwork to renew the Comprehensive Plan--to ensure there is sufficient time for public participation.

“We need to get the community involved in long-term planning that will involve economics, vision, street beautification and more. . . .,” he said. “If it is going to be as complete a document as I would like before 2000, the time to start is now.”

Across the city, candidates, current council members and voters alike voiced their hope that this next council will bring a more centrist, cooperative tone to local politics, and leave behind the contentious debates of the past.

“It looks like it’s shaping up to be a moderate council that will show the public that you don’t have to beat each other over the head to get things done,” said Councilman Jim Friedman, who predicted the new council will make decisions more quickly than the last--which often debated minutiae until the wee hours of the morning.

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The new council members will replace council members Steve Bennett, Gary Tuttle and Rosa Lee Measures on the seven member panel. Smith and Brennan, the two top vote-getters in the race--with 17.5% and 15% of the vote respectively--were the first candidates in Ventura’s polarized political history to receive the endorsements of both the pro-business Chamber of Commerce and the pro-environment Voters Coalition and Sierra Club.

Brennan and Smith threw their arms around each other in a victory embrace Tuesday night at City Hall as the 38th precinct out of 39 flashed up on the board, and assured them victory was imminent.

De Paola, who lost her bid for the council two years ago by less than 500 votes, stood looking up at the screen quietly, twisting her corsage nervously.

“I think we can breathe again,” she said, smiling quietly.