MY FRIEND KATHY is never one to miss a good shopping experience. If I want to go to the mall, she's always up for it. But I was surprised to learn awhile back that she avoided shopping Downtown.
Why? I asked her. "The people down there creep me out," she told me, referring to the panhandlers and chronically homeless who can often be unnerving to visitors.
So I kidnapped her one day, took her out to lunch and shopping and completely changed her point of view about Downtown. She had a great time and has returned several times since without me.
But one bad experience can have a lingering effect. As I listened to Downtown business owner Jim Rice plead last night to the City Council for the weekend police foot patrols to be fully restored, I realized just how desperate the merchants down there are feeling these days since the foot patrols were lost to recent budget cuts.
"Feeling safe and feeling comfortable where you are is what makes you go back to a place," Rice said. "The bad guys are winning here. When I bring investors to this town ... it is the single biggest issue. When I bring my friends from Westlake and Agoura, they say 'How do you live here? There's a bunch of crazy people here.' "
Apparently his speech made an impact on the council, too. They voted to restore the foot patrols through the summer months and revisit the issue this fall when it is known how much money has been collected from the 911 fee. Proceeds from the fee will go to pay for the costs of the city's 911 call center and free up money for additional police services. At this time, the plan is to hire an additional two-person team for problem areas such as Downtown.
THE COUNCIL ALSO VOTED to continue the funding for the city's efforts in the 10-year plan to end homelessness, which has brought a community outreach supervisor who works with the homeless population to get them off the streets.
In terms of the numbers of homeless, Ventura ranks second only to Oxnard in the county. And while all of these folks are certainly not causing trouble Downtown, the few who do -- along with those who have homes but are just unruly -- have the potential to cast a pall on our blossoming tourist trade, one of the few bright spots in the local economy.
These small investments in extra policing and social services will pay dividends for us all.
I am sorry to note, however, that the Ventura Visitors and Convention Bureau, which helps bring tourist dollars here in the first place, did not fare as well. The council approved a $60,000 cut to next year's anticipated funding on a 4-3 vote.
I have never had a problem down there but then I don't go there on nights often. In the day everything is pretty mellow. I think the city's No Panhandling rules have helped a lot. My biggest complaint is that a lot of the restaurants aren't open on Monday!
Sorry, but Downtown is a horrible mess. My wife and I never go there at night anymore because the bums are out of control down there.
I am so glad the Council decided to keep the foot patrols down there during the summer months. That's a start, but a lot more needs to be done.
I don't think their going to be able to count on the 911 tax money to fund additional police resources down there though. My understanding is this thing is going to court and my prediction is that the City is going to lose.
I'm wondering why the "bums" are out of control more at night? I see the homeless in the day but mostly in that little park area on Main and near the Museum. Like I said, never had a problem. They are there but don't bother me. We used to own a business in Santa Monica and it was worse there. The Third Street Promenade solved the problem -- partially -- by making the restrooms all pay toilets.
I realize this is an older article, however, the issues remain the same, as it have for years in Downtown Ventura. I do not have all the answers to relieve Downtown Ventura of the homeless problem. It does frustrate me, however, to see our city leaders, and the "well to-do" planners, developers, and profiteers, resolve the issue with additional police officers who’s focus will be to "Shoo" them off, like a bad fly problem. I have lived just outside the downtown area for over 11 years, and grew up in the other Ventura, some 50 years ago. Remember, that is the one over there to the east of this one. I frequent downtown, most often ON FOOT. I can tell you that allot of what the public sees as "homelessness", is what used to be referred to as Poverty. Americans have this incredible ability to deal with seemingly un-solvable social issues and problems, and the resulting uneasy consciences, and discomfort, by simply re-naming them to something, which at least for a time, is a little less difficult to deal with. After all, Poverty is associated with the pictures we see in magazines of tribes in South America, Africa, or the third world countries within them. We feel a need to "dress up" our version a bit, a much nicer word, "Homeless", than that other horrible thing, that some would simply have us believe, does not exist in the USA. It is Poverty and that is for sure. Most of the people regarded as "homeless" reside, or have access to a place to go in the downtown area, or close to it. Sometimes it is only temporary access, but it is enough of an access to keep the situation unchanged, and probably for years to come, unless the real issues are addressed. Most of these people are acquainted with one another, so much so that there are "codes" of behavior, respect, and alliance. Seedy motel rooms, residential hotel rooms, and apartments are shared, traded, and passed along in a continuous rotation. In any case, a way of life that the average Ventura citizen does not, and will likely ever, understand because they have not lived it, and have no idea the incredible difficulty involved in getting out of it, once fallen. Until this difficulty is fully understood by all, concessions made, and our leaders become responsible to all, the "Swat and Sweep" method of dealing with the problem will continue to drain the pocketbooks of local tax payers. Our country, and most states and cities within, have settled in on a policy that allows for some attention to Homelessness, just enough, to keep it tolerable for most. Critics, who will never allow for the efforts and resources needed to overcome the problem, are also those who have found how easy and convenient it is to associate the criminal element with homelessness, not so easily done under the prior term "Poverty". The geographies, weather, and certainly not to go unmentioned, the many, the caring, and the generous service organizations and churches, well beyond what one would expect for a city this size, who see the problem in an entirely different light, also make Ventura's homeless issue greater than that of other cities around this state and the country.
Maybe our local leaders who continue to scheme for alternative avenues to increase your local tax dept, in order to pay for, and pursue the "Swat and Sweep" ideology that seemingly most benefits their new and powerful prime constituency downtown, can figure out a way to get rid all these groups and organizations, who donate food, counseling, and endless hours of their time, with the hopes that Ventura’s, and our country’s poverty will someday be, no more.