Midtown Ventura Residents Pack Area’s 1st Community Meeting

VENTURA â€”  It was a cross between a pep rally, a venting session and an all-out community brainstorm.

In what organizers called an overwhelming success, more than 100 midtown residents squeezed into Cooper Hall at the Grace Church on MacMillan Avenue on Tuesday night for the first “town hall� meeting of the Midtown Community Council.

Bill Barbee, a member of the steering committee that helped organize Tuesday’s meeting, was thrilled with the turnout.

“We had seats for 85, and there are at least 15 to 20 people standing,� Barbee said as he surveyed the boisterous crowd around him. “There is a lot of constructive, positive energy here. This is really exciting.�

Originally spawned from an activist neighborhood group trying to save the boarded-up 1920s-era Washington School, the midtown council is now trying to broaden its agenda.

Tuesday night it focused on five major areas: crime, community design and trees, community pride, the Washington School and how to keep the midtown momentum going.

The crowd split into five groups to produce doable projects. The crime group, for instance, suggested a Neighborhood Watch and sent around a sign-up sheet.

The community design and tree group suggested finding out what the city’s tree rules are. The community pride group proposed a midtown festival.

The Washington School group had the idea of using the abandoned school for a community center or a park, and the “keep the midtown council going� committee suggested adopting the bylaws of another neighborhood organization, the Westside Community Council.

Many residents were drawn to the meeting by concern for the historic Washington School. But many brought other interests as well.

“My wife is a tree fanatic. She’s over there talking about trees,� said Kevin Griffin, pointing toward the corner of the room where residents were huddled together in an intense discussion. “This is pretty exciting. There could be a lot done to beautify the facades of the building--get a ‘Ventura beautiful’ thing going.�

Other neighbors basked in the community feel of the event.

“I love the enthusiasm, and the fact that people care so much,� said Carol Wrona. “I haven’t been in an environment for a long time where people care so much.�

The place was packed. Latecomers had to circle the block in search of parking.

The fledgling group welcomed anybody who lives in the area, owns property, or operates a business in midtown. It defined midtown as the area bounded by the hilltops to the north, the Ventura Freeway to the south, Ash Street to the west and Mills Road to the east.

Lauri Flack, the professional facilitator who heads the Westside Community Council, guided the meeting’s brainstorming sessions.

Three City Council members--Jim Monahan, Rosa Lee Measures and Jim Friedman--were on hand for the meeting, as well as Brian Brennan, the first declared candidate for this fall’s council election; David Kleitsch, the city’s economic development advisor; and a school board representative.

Friedman called the meeting an example of grass-roots America in action.

“The reality is, the squeaky wheel does get the grease,� he said. “The Westside is organized, the hillsides are organized, the Keys are organized and the Eastside is organized. This was the largest section of the city still unorganized--until this evening.�

The next meeting will be held at the same place June 3.