Empowering the Fearful Isn’t a Substitute for Guiding Change

Ventura is caught in a frustrating paradox.

I participated in the “Seize the Future” visioning meetings, and I am confident that our community collectively has reaffirmed what it values and wants.

Most of all, we value our small-town feel, our unique and diverse neighborhoods and our natural environment and beauty. We recognize the need to protect our fertile agricultural land, improve transportation and ensure that we have quality housing for all economic levels.

We agree that if we focus on the needs of Venturans, visitors inevitably will come and support our economy.

Yet despite this consensus, too much time at many planning meetings is dominated by a vocal and organized few.

They are suspicious of all who are involved in the planning process. They fear change because they are not convinced that we can control our destiny--yet they are unknowingly causing what they don’t want to happen.

In my 16 years in Ventura, the three worst mistakes made at the polls were made out of fear or mistrust.

We voted down a sales tax increase to build mass transit, fearing that hordes of people might come. We voted down a college in Ventura, fearing that we could not control growth around it. And we voted down midtown redevelopment, fearing its intent and not trusting our community’s ability to manage.

Now that some of the worst traffic in the region is on the stretch of the Ventura Freeway through the city, many of us are working hard to form ties with the new Cal State Channel Islands.

Now that the Pacific View Mall is finished, approximately $2 million in taxes has been paid to the state that redevelopment would have left in our city for midtown improvements. In future years, tens of millions of dollars more will flow to state government that would have funded our efforts to widen sidewalks, plant trees, bury utilities, aid first-time home buyers and improve store facades.

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Why do I rehash these issues?

Because we will continue to make the same mistakes unless we keep our minds open, ask questions and avoid falling prey to what seems politically correct.

Among the many dilemmas facing downtown Ventura, the most challenging is housing.

Many of the people who were against improving midtown are also against higher-density housing downtown.

Several are fighting a development on the downtown triangle parcel for that reason. And now many have said no to housing on the hillsides without discussing the possibilities and possible solutions to problems.

Ironically, many of these same people complain that housing is too expensive in Ventura--as if high cost wasn’t a direct result of scarce supply.

But if we can’t redevelop what we have, and we agree to save our farmland, and we don’t want higher density even in the hills, then how do we house future Venturans, not to mention others who move here? What price are we willing to pay to tinker with a basic law of supply and demand?

If we continue as we have, these questions may be moot because many of us will be working and maybe living elsewhere, where there are jobs and affordable housing. These questions will be left for the people from Santa Barbara and Camarillo who will continue buying our homes in record numbers.

We must encourage our leaders to make good decisions and not succumb to political correctness.

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We can’t continue empowering those who seek to disrupt the public planning process because they don’t want change. We need to seek solutions and work together to guide change.

Most importantly, we must create a strategy to enhance what we love about this city, change what we don’t and add what we are missing.

The alternative is continued nonproductive long meetings, lost opportunity and continued victimization by those we don’t trust.