Candidates' Answers to Question #11

11. What is your attitude about the city collaborating with civic groups in substantial and meaningful ways on community initiated projects?

Bill Fulton: I favor it – not just in partnerships to raise awareness, but also in very practical ways. For example, I believe that a portion of the city’s capital improvement program funds should be reserved for innovative and environmentally sustainable projects that bubble up from the community.

Doug Halter: I strongly support community and private sector collaboration. By doing this we can exponentially increase the results of our efforts. I do believe that public involvement and input should happen as soon as possible for everyone’s benefit.

Christy Weir: Collaboration is essential for progress. I place a high priority on civic engagement, which includes citizen involvement in city decisions, as well as partnering with various civic groups such as non-profit housing developers, arts and business organizations, neighborhood councils and environmental groups such as the Ventura Hillside Conservancy, the Green Building Council and VCcool.

Carroll Dean Williams: No one should be excluded from any project in the city.

Mike Gibson: I completely support this concept. I think this model has proven to be quite successful in many other jurisdictions, such as Santa Barbara and Santa Monica, and many other cities, whereby the City works extensively with community environmental organizations, such as the Surfrider Foundation, to do beach clean-up projects, etc.

Carl Morehouse: I believe that collaboration between the city and civic groups is very valuable and a constructive asset to the community. In my mind, I don’t see any “us” and “them”. Rather, as elected representatives, we are supposed to be an extension of the City’s residents. There are more than ample opportunities for the city governmental structure to work with citizen groups. One that comes to mind is the event sponsored by both VCCool and the City recently in the form of a town hall meeting. And when desires of the community are above and beyond the fiscal resources of the collective community, working with interested groups on any topic of special concern to that group will call for a stronger relationship because the City can’t do it all.

Jerry D. Martin: I believe the city should promote community involvement and work closely with community councils and civic groups to ensure intelligent growth while protecting our open space, hillsides and historic culture.

Lou Cunningham: This has been a big issue in my campaign. I do not feel that there is trust in the city government. I feel that the city goes out of its way to avoid working with groups that it feels causes problems. I also feel that when the city does meet with groups that it is just for show. We need a city council that will listen to the citizens of Ventura. This will build back the trust from the citizens and open up the dialog needed to keep this city great.

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