VC Civic Alliance concentrates on keeping county healthy, sustainable
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
Published: December 27, 2006
Many probably have never heard of the Ventura County Civic Alliance, but the organization focuses on keeping the area “Healthy and sustainable,” according to Executive Director Rebecca Evans.
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula Times
Many probably have never heard of the Ventura County Civic Alliance, but the organization focuses on keeping the area “Healthy and sustainable,” according to Executive Director Rebecca Evans.
Evans explained the alliance and its works at the December Good Morning Santa Paula!
Steve Smead Insurance hosted the Chamber of Commerce sponsored event held at Logsdon’s at the Santa Paula Airport.
The VCCA was founded by the Ventura County Community Foundation in about 2001, initially funded by a James Irvine Foundation grant.
“Around the state there a couple of dozen of these alliances…we focus on keeping Ventura County healthy and sustainable,” noted Evans.
A resident of Thousand Oaks who commutes to Camarillo, Evans said her daily drive time heightens her appreciation of Ventura County as “friendly and beautiful, a wonderful place to be. There are a lot of people committed to keeping Ventura County healthy and sustainable.”
An initial challenge faced by the VCCF was attracting members to the alliance and “Looking at what is the state our region, how we will manage to have this beautiful, wonderful place into the future.”
Evans said that working with California Lutheran University statistics on population growth, housing costs, transportation, growth and other issues provided a snapshot of the county.
The report is still available online on the alliance Website she added.
“We’re working with CLU again for the 2006 report, getting our most recent census data,” and changes seen in housing and affordability factors, “crime report numbers,” transportation and other subjects to compile the new report.
“The Civic Alliance started to ask to ask how will we plan for the future and the anticipated population growth” as the county approaches the 1-million resident mark. “What are the plans for accommodating them?”
The alliance has hosted two “The Road Ahead” conferences centered on just such issues that have drawn civic and elected leaders as well as interested parties.
“We started to identify how plans might match up with what the needs of the county might be as well as how to maintain our beauty, agricultural resources, housing needs and the environmental impacts,” as well as maintaining economic, environmental and social equity.
Clashing interests and disagreements are issues that the alliance hopes to facilitate ultimately in consensus.
“It’s a tough challenge you have in Santa Paula, you have looked at these issues very recently and your needs will not go away…so how will Santa Paula work together on the solutions?” asked Evans.
Ventura County has ten cities that work independently: the alliance reaches out to all but “Also steps back and see how the county is affected by each of their issues,” noted Evans.
The Ventura Council of Governments is considering applying for grant to fund a consultant study on land-use, an attempt Evans said would “Bring residents together to look at community mapping” covering the entire county.
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