JUST IN TIME for the summer travel season, United Airlines' in-flight magazine, Hemispheres, has a printed a 24-page spread on the charms of Ventura. It's packed with outdoor adventure ideas, lures for the foodie set, an extended piece on our thriving arts community and lots of ads for local businesses.

There's a guide to the local economy, an ad for our high-tech business incubator and even a short story on our efforts to preserve open space.

We all knew we had a overlooked gem here and now the secret is definitely out. If I didn't already live here, this would surely convince me that Ventura is much more than a stopover between Mailbu and Santa Barbara.

It couldn't have come at a better time for the sluggish local economy, according to City Manager Rick Cole. "If there is a silver lining anywhere, it would be tourism. With the fall of the dollar and rise in airfares, we may get more local tourists from Los Angeles and the Central Valley. That's the best hope for our restaurant- and gift store-heavy Downtown."

As I wrote in a previous entry, one of the bright spots in the local economy is that our Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) collections are up. More and more tourists are coming here and staying in our hotels. And they're also visiting our local businesses.

"The process of getting the feature in Hemispheres began over a year ago when our PR rep met the publisher of the Insights section of the magazine while attending Pow Wow, an annual travel industry trade show," explained Jim Luttjohan, executive director of the Ventura Visitors and Convention Bureau. "They told her they were about to do a piece on Santa Barbara, and she recommended they check out Ventura along the way. Last March we were contacted by the publisher asking us to help him on a site visit to town, and while here he fell for Ventura and decided to do the feature.

"After that we got together with city and Chamber folks to get the word out to each of our supporters, and viola! -- a 24-page spread on Ventura in United Airlines' in-flight magazine during one of the heaviest travel periods of the year," Luttjohan said.

He's obviously pleased with the spread and added that the advertising value of the free editorial content is over $800,000.

It's a good read for locals, too. If you're flying this summer, pick up a copy. It may help you rediscover your own town.

THERE'S NOTHING MORE DELIGHTFUL about parenthood than cuddling with your child and sharing a book. Over the years, I've spent many hours sprawled on the carpet at Adventures for Kids in Ventura, reading books, playing with puppets and leaving with a purchase or two tucked under my arm.

So my heart really sank when I learned our beloved local children's bookstore would be closing by the end of July. I knew they were struggling a bit. But I didn't really know just how much until I spoke to store owner Barbara O'Grady. She's devastated.

"Books aren't a lucrative business," she explained. "I'm just barely surviving. It's just all over the book industry. It's a bad business to be in right now."

Adventures for Kids has been a local literary fixture since 1979. It was a labor of love for the store's previous owner, Jody Shapiro. She sold the enterprise to O'Grady two years ago who at first had high hopes for the business. "I told Jody the other day it wasn't part of the dream to close the store," O'Grady said. But after months of just barely squeaking by, she knew she had no other choice.

IT WAS NO ORDINARY bookstore. Over the years, the biggest luminaries in children's publishing passed through those doors. "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling's visit brought huge crowds. My children met Daniel Handler, otherwise known as Lemony Snicket, author of "A Series of Unfortunate Events." Gifted illustrator Jan Brett signed books for us as well as humorist Dav Pilkey and "Princess Diaries" author Meg Cabot. And the store held the best midnight Harry Potter parties around.

Adventures for Kids was also stellar about giving back to the community, participating in numerous fundraisers for the local schools.

Tell me, what has Amazon.com done for you lately?

O'Grady's not shy about blaming that particular online book business for the death of local bookstores. "But I know times are changing and people choose to shop differently for a number of reasons," she said with a sigh.

But I have always seen great value in a business where a salesperson goes out of her way to pick out just the right book for my child, which always happened when I visited Adventures for Kids. You can't get that online. This store was special.

"If people want to have unique communities, people have to support the uniqueness of it," O'Grady said.

Ironically, since Adventures for Kids announced its "going out of business" sale, the shop has been busy again. "There were days when nobody came in," O'Grady told me. "I think to myself, 'Where were all you people before?' "

Shop local. It's my mantra. Don't let another gem slip away.

THE CHOICEST PIECE of prime property in Ventura is getting a remake.

Long a spot for weddings, picnics and tourist photos, Serra Cross Park in Ventura's Grant Park is scheduled for a major beautification effort.

That is, if we can raise the money.

In 2003, a group of us, led by now-Mayor Christy Weir and former Historic Preservation Committee Chair Tracy Long, launched an effort to buy the property from the city after it was put up for sale. The city was forced to divest itself of the cross and one acre of land surrounding it because of a pending lawsuit charging that the principle of separation of church and state was being violated by city ownership and maintenance of a cross.

We raised $104,000 and had the winning bid for the property. Our group, the Serra Cross Conservancy, a non-profit 501 (c) (3) organization, has been managing the property ever since.

Taking care of a popular public park hasn't always been easy. As it is with any public area, there is a certain element who visits and likes to be destructive. Even the Cross itself has been subject to vandalism - and subsequent repairs - over the years. Site maintenance is financed through donations for use of the property for weddings and events.

IT HAS LONG BEEN OUR DREAM, however, to do something more for the people who love visiting this scenic spot. So we enlisted the aid of a wonderful local design firm, Ted Temple and Associates, to design something really special. We are excited by the firm's plans. For an idea of what it will look like, see the watercolor painting above by local artist Norman Kirk.

The upper circular parking area will be turned into a scenic walking and strolling area with a fountain, benches, native plants, sycamores and two levels of trails. The parking lot will be relocated to an adjacent area. The cross platform and cross itself will remain intact, but will be spiffed up. We've already put in new plantings and hope to put in boulders around the base and a new walkway.

"Ventura's Grant Park is one of the most spectacular locations in the county," Weir said. "The goal of the Serra Cross Conservancy is to maintain the historic cross and surrounding one-acre park and enhance the landscaping to make this gem even more beautiful and usable. We depend on donations, so this will be possible only through the generosity of our community."

Weir is doing her part to generate those donations. She was recently asked to participate in the "Salsa with our Local Stars Dance Contest & Charity Fundraiser" at the Oxnard Salsa Festival on Sunday, July 27. So she's working on her dance steps and will donate the proceeds from the fundraiser to the Cross beautification efforts.

With the city's Grant Park Master Plan on hold, this privately funded effort may be the only chance we have for many years of doing something better for this underutilized but beautiful public space.

For more about the dance contest go here. If you would like to learn more about donating to the Serra Cross Conservancy, go here.

MUCH HAS BEEN MADE recently of the 911 fee and the efforts to generate more revenue for our police department. While our city goes through a series of budget cuts, the police budget is taking a big hit. As the biggest recipient of dollars from our general fund, ($31 million) that's to be expected.

Opinions vary on how best to boost public safety funding, but I heard something the other day that I really feel like I need to share: in order to save a valuable Public Service Officer (PSO) position, the Police Officers Management Association recently voted to forgo raises for three months.

Now in the final year of a three-year contract, the association had deferred scheduled raises until October of this year, said Lt. Quinn Fenwick, association president. These raises were meant to put police management salaries to just the median of those in comparable agencies. The savings will bring in $70,000, enough to fund the front desk position that was scheduled to be cut.

Now I suppose somebody out there will complain and ask, "Why they are taking raises at all?" And that's a fair question. But the City Council voted to remain committed to competitive compensation for city employees. City Manager Rick Cole explained at a recent council meeting: "Competitive is average and we've consistently been behind average across the board."

The front desk position was crucial to providing good service to city residents, Fenwick said. There are currently two PSOs on duty each day; one was scheduled to be cut. "Sometimes I walk out there and there's a lobby full of people," he said. "If that position will help maintain a level of service for the public, we're glad we did it."

EVEN SO, other positions will go, Assistant Chief Skip Young said. For example, a secretarial position will go by the wayside, the PSO position for the Police Storefronts has been cut as well as the PSO who worked with the Neighborhood Watch program. Much of this dealt with crime prevention programs. "We held 22 meetings last year for the public," Lt. Ray Vance said. "A lot of that is going to stop now."

Also among the missing will be five cadet positions, one crime analyst and a CSI technician position, although some of these are just deferred hiring.

Fortunately, the City Council voted to restore the Downtown foot patrol on weekend nights. That $36,000 item will come from other funding sources, Young said.

The council will go over the final budget revisions Monday night.

THE HISTORIC Elks Lodge on N. Ash Street has seen better days; its once tidy exterior has fallen into disrepair since the Elks set up shop elsewhere in Ventura. Likewise, the upper two levels of the parking structure at the end of California Street are rarely used by anyone except for the occasional seagull. But both structures have been given new life by local movers and shakers who are busy creating vibrant new spaces.

For David Armstrong and Stephen "Schaf" Schafer, it's about finding new space for the arts. Armstrong coaxed Elks Lodge owners Jeff Becker and Vim Jonker into letting them use the space in exchange for cleaning it up. Becker and Jonker plan to build condos nearby.

"Our vision is to make this a dynamic center for the arts with three to four resident companies and cost-effective rentals for occasional users," Schafer said.

The three-story structure, built in 1928, has a 300-seat theater. Events scheduled for the facility this summer include children's theater classes and various activities associated with the Rubicon International Theatre Festival.

It's all part of a grander vision for Downtown called Project Encore. Next up are revitalization projects for the abandoned and current E.P. Foster libraries "to become a dynamic community space where people discover art, music, language and history," Schafer said.

"The building blocks for a unique cultural district are in place -- it is up to us to make it a reality," he added.

A FEW BLOCKS AWAY, Rod Houck has his own magic cooking. He received a permit to tent the top of the city-owned parking structure and turn it into the Ocean View Beach Club for events. And while it will be a for-profit venue, his first big event is a fund-raiser on June 21 for Angel Project, which benefits several charities, including the Ventura County AIDS Partnership.

"I love to do a couple of events for charity a year," Houck said. The energetic local entrepreneur already manages the popular Eucalyptus Lane off Victoria Ave., which is in heavy use for weddings and charity events year round. Over the years, Houck has helped raised thousands of dollars for non-profit groups like the Boys and Girls Clubs and Casa Pacifica.

The upper deck of the parking garage is used occasionally by the city for events, but languishes most of the year, said Dori Boyer of the city's Economic Development Department. It is only opened for parking for large events Downtown like the County Fair.

Houck plans to stage weddings on the nearby beach and hold receptions in the new Beach Club.

These creative uses of abandoned spaces help keep the local economy pumping and make Ventura an even livelier place.

A clean-up day for the Elks Lodge, 11 S. Ash St., is planned for Saturday, June 14 at 9 a.m. Volunteers are asked to bring work gloves, mops, paint, cleaning materials, water and snacks. For more details and a full list of needed items, visit www.downtownventura.org

Angel Project's "The Second Annual Evening Under the Stars" will be Saturday, June 21 6:30-11 p.m. at the new Ocean View Beach Club, on top of the parking garage at 500 W. Harbor Blvd. Tickets are $50 in advance and $65 at the door. For more information, go to www.angel-project.org

Update: The Ventura County Star's Sacramento Bureau Chief Timm Herdt did an excellent piece today on the Ventura County Republican Central Committee's acceptance of a $50,000 contribution from Altria (parent company of Philip Morris) and their intention to use it to help Tony Strickland.

More updates: Read Star reporter Theresa Rochester's story about top Strickland aide Joel Angeles' altercation with anti-tobacco protesters and how a 67-year-old retired minister was knocked to the ground and injured. Angeles is one of the volunteer workers for Strickland's company, GreenWave.

WHEN STATE LEGISLATORS did their grand gerrymandering of legislative districts back in 2001, one of the most egregious errors was the odd mishmash that is Senate District 19. It encompasses Ventura County, Santa Barbara County and part of Santa Clarita.

The Santa Barbara coastline and Ventura, which were once represented by Jack O'Connell, fell under the vastly reconfigured district of Sen. Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks), one of the most conservative members of the Legislature.

The more moderate voices of Ventura, Oxnard, Santa Barbara and Ojai have felt distinctly left out ever since. No wonder then that as McClintock leaves his seat after being termed out, a strong Democratic contender, Hannah-Beth Jackson, has emerged to take on the far-right Tony Strickland for SD-19.

I have been an admirer of Jackson's for a long time. She owned a business in Ventura for 22 years and was an extremely effective legislator while in the Assembly and a champion for every cause I value -- education, the environment, consumer protection, public safety and women's issues.

I was also one of the Mound Elementary School parents who in 2000 found myself with a young child sickened at school by a serious pesticide overspray incident from a neighboring orchard. The farmer was substantially fined. In response to our pleas, Jackson brought together environmental and agricultural advocates who are frequently adversaries in support of legislation that empowered county agricultural commissioners to impose conditions on the use of pesticide applications near schools and other sensitive sites.

Tony Strickland voted against it.

I wanted to avoid overtly political statements on this blog, but a succession of mailers from the Strickland camp has sent me over the edge.

STRICKLAND IS NOW CALLING HIMSELF an alternative energy executive in an obvious attempt to diffuse an extremely poor environmental record while in the Assembly. With a lifetime score of nearly zero from the California League of Conservation Voters, Strickland is no friend of the environment. He has opposed legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, protect children's health from pollutants, and re-authorize the state's recycling program, among many other environmentally friendly measures. He even opposed a bill to increase California's supply of clean, renewable energy.

But wait, isn't that what Strickland's new company supposedly does? You can read more about it in a story by Star reporter Timm Herdt. The truth is that the company, formed by a group of Republican real estate developers and staffed for free by Strickland's campaign workers, has not had success even pulling a permit to study the issue in California. Their initial permit requests were deemed insufficient by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and are still pending. FERC is carefully scrutinizing these filings to prevent speculative claims.

"I don't think they're going to get it," Fort Bragg, Calif. environmental activist Laurel Krause told me. She led a protest against the greenlighting of wave energy projects without proper environmental review and citizen input. Strickland's company has applied for a project there. Wave energy research is still in its infancy and causing concern among environmental groups because of its untested effects on the ocean environment, she said.

Strickland was brought into the project, according to a quote from company president Wayne Burkamp in the Fort Bragg Advocate News, for his political pull.

BUT HE'S LISTING HIS OCCUPATION as alternative energy executive on the ballot, even though he's yet to make a dime from the company because it is obviously not yet generating revenue. It also figures prominently on all his advertising.

Now I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt and would, except that this is not the first time his integrity has been called into question. According to a Los Angeles Times story, both Strickland and his wife, Audra, were investigated by the Ventura County District Attorney's Office for transferring campaign donations to businesses owned by each other. And while they were cleared of wrongdoing, eyebrows remain raised in local political circles.

I will also add into the equation that Strickland has accepted thousands of dollars of donations from tobacco companies, alcoholic beverage companies, and gambling interests.

According to the Institute for Tobacco Policy, he has accepted almost $85,000 in direct contributions from tobacco companies. He then voted against two measures which would make it harder for minors to buy cigarettes.

Ventura and State Senate District 19 deserve better than this.

WHY DIDN'T WE have stuff like this when I was a kid?

That was my first thought as I wandered around SummerFest yesterday at the Ventura Unified School District Education Service Center. This is the third year of this free, family event and the word has gone out that this is one not to be missed. We estimated nearly 6,000 people attended!

My friend and fellow Ventura Education Partnership board member Ed Wehan spends a good part of his life organizing this annual day of healthy and fun activities for children. Wehan's a dynamo. He's a runner, hiker and tireless advocate for all things healthy. He's aided and abetted in his SummerFest efforts by some of the best volunteers around. A big thanks to our great sponsors for making this happen, too!

"SummerFest is an amazing role-model event that allows the youth of this community to celebrate physical activity and good nutritional habits without them ever knowing it," Wehan told me. "With the support of parents, educators, government officials and our business community, kids learn the importance all of us put on a healthy, fit lifestyle. This means smarter and healthier kids."

I watched kids having a blast exercising yesterday on all manner of activities from rope bridges to obstacle courses to bike rodeos to a giant inflatable boat. There was also amazing entertainment on the stage and, of course, healthy food.

It was a great outlet for our local sports- and child-oriented businesses, too, as many rented booths at the venue and signed up lots of new customers.

In an electronic age where kids are often drawn to sedentary activities, this event is a winner!

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.

THE WAY ACTOR KEVIN COSTNER explained it, his long-time best friend Tim Hoctor, a Ventura realtor, "has these big ideas and it always begins with me."

"I really think we should do something for Ventura," was how Hoctor framed it to his friend. The famous actor, who grew up here and admits his heart never quite left, agreed. So Costner and Hoctor got together with city officials, local business folks - including entrepreneur Mark Hartley - and made it happen.

The result? A July 26 benefit party at 2 p.m. at Hartley's new restaurant The Watermark followed by a splashy red carpet premiere at Ventura's Downtown Century 10 for Costner's new Disney flick "Swing Vote," capped off by a street party at 8:15 p.m. headlined by Costner's band Modern West.

"It's Ventura. It's my community. ... I thought let's have a street party and make it all-American fun," he said.

The Academy Award-winning actor reminisced fondly about his childhood in Ventura at a press conference today held to officially announce the event. "Ventura was very big in my life," he explained. The star of "Bull Durham," "Dances With Wolves," and "Field of Dreams," spent many days fishing off the Ventura pier as a boy.

He lived in a house near Foothill and Wells in East Ventura and attended Saticoy Elementary, Cabrillo Middle School and Buena High, where he played basketball and befriended legendary Buena coach Joe Vaughn. "This was an idyllic life here in Ventura," he said. His family moved away when he was a sophomore. "It broke my heart when I left," he said.

He's made many visits back since making it big and has been occasionally spotted in the stands at Buena basketball games. Costner has a home up the road in Summerland and not too far from where his wife grew up near Santa Ynez. "We are old dogs. We go back to what we know. We'll probably do the majority of our living here in this area."

The tickets for the premiere and party at The Watermark - at $500 apiece - are already sold out, but the evening street party is free and open to the public. The Downtown Ventura Organization is currently working on parking alternatives for the thousands who are expected to show up.

MY SON LEARNED HOW to spell his first four-letter word from the graffiti on the Union Pacific train bridge over the 101 Downtown. "Mom, what does F - - - mean?" he asked as we went whizzing underneath. This is a family blog, so I won't fill in the blanks.

I went up to take photos of the bridge the other day and that particular word is still up there in all its glory, several years after our errant spelling lesson. It's surrounded by lots of other colorful words, too, as the photo above shows.

In a city concerned with coaxing tourists to get off on the California Street exit and stay awhile, that train bridge isn't exactly a welcome sign. Recognizing this, many good folks have tried to get Union Pacific Railroad to clean up its act and have been duly discouraged over the years.

It was one of the first things Chris Palmieri, a city streets supervisor, tried to tackle when he started his job a little over a year ago. "My calls (to Union Pacific) basically went unanswered," he said. "I don't know what their maintenance priorities are." The city's own graffiti abatement program strives to get taggings covered up within 48 hours, he said. But the train bridge is not under the city's purview and city crews can't paint over the graffiti without consultation and approval from two slow-moving entities -- CalTrans and Union Pacific.

So what this basically means is that taggers are now bringing their grandchildren down to look at what they spray-painted while hanging upside down over a freeway many years ago. I exaggerate. But it feels that way to many of us.

However, good news may be on the horizon for those who do not appreciate the charms of this particular street art. Our City Attorney's office has sent a letter to Union Pacific reminding them that it is a violation of our municipal code to have graffiti standing too long, Palmieri said. And talks are in the offing between all the parties involved to see what can be done.

NOW, TO BE FAIR, painting a train bridge that runs over a freeway isn't an easy undertaking. The 101 will need to be closed in sections and bucket trucks will need to be brought out to do the work. Because of overspray hazards, the entire bridge will need to be encased in plastic sheeting. "It's a bigger deal than just going up and painting it," Palmieri said.

And you have to wonder if they feel it's a fruitless effort to go through all this trouble only to have the graffiti magically reappear the following Saturday night. But I, along with many others, feel it's worth the effort and I suggest while they're at it they should install some high-beam lights and alarms to deter further incidents.

If that doesn't work, I'm OK with trained attack pigeons.