Planning Initiative

* Re “Seize the Future Initiative,” Ventura County letters, Aug. 1

David Burleson is certainly entitled to his own opinion of the March 16 slide show and workshop at the Laurel Theater, which was sponsored by the Downtown and Midtown community councils. But I think it’s important for your readers to know that the meeting he described was just one of dozens of meetings held last winter and spring as part of the Seize the Future process--a process that drew the participation of several thousand people.

As a member of the Seize the Future Citizen Outreach Committee, I did the same slide show (and workshop) for the Eastside and Westside community councils during March. The Citizen Outreach Committee assisted dozens of other organizations in conducting similar meetings, including six workshops with senior citizens, several with churches, bilingual workshops in both the west end and the east end, and on and on.

In the past couple of months, the Citizen Outreach Committee has been sifting through the vast number of resulting ideas, looking for the common themes, ideas and priorities that emerged from this extensive community conversation. Around Labor Day, we’ll be releasing a proposed community vision--not to the City Council for its approval but to the people of Ventura for their review.

There will be plenty of ways to discuss it, critique it, endorse it and so forth, including more community workshops, the Seize the Future Web site, and (I hope) more letters in The Times.

BILL FULTON

Ventura