Carl Morehouse's Response
to the
2007 Environmental Questionnaire
1. How do you value city beaches, and what do you see as priority issues for them?
Carl Morehouse: I highly value the beaches around our city. However, as you are probably aware, the City has very little control over a majority of the beach areas that most individuals believe are city owned/regulated along our coastline. The City controlled portion runs from the north (or west) side of the Pier to the circle area at about the end of Figueroa Street. The rest of the beach area is controlled by the State.
That being said, I believe the city has a strong obligation to maintain the portion that is within city control and keep the city beaches safe, clean and attractive for use by our residents and visitors.
For those portions of the beaches that are in State control, I believe the City has an obligation to continue working with the State to achieve both the State and the City’s goals pertaining to beaches. My goal and priority is to have safe, clean beaches for the enjoyment of our residents and out-of-town guests, and to ensure that the sand doesn’t severely impact the residents who live near the beach. By the same token, the State’s mission, under the voter approved California Coastal Act of 1972, is to preserve the beach as a natural resource including plant and animal life and to provide public access for recreational uses to all Californians for their enjoyment. Those missions are not mutually exclusive, however they require cooperation between the City and the State and the continued exploration of opportunities to achieve those joint goals collectively. One good example of joint cooperation are the efforts undertaken at Surfers’ Point involving the joint cooperation of the California Coastal Commission, the State Department of Parks and Seaside Park (a State Agricultural District) which has been led by the City to re-design and restore the popular beach and bike path area. Also, I have been extremely supportive of the removal of Matilija Dam in order to help replenish the sand along our beaches.
2. How will you correct the current lack of safe north/south bicycle routs within the Ventura Avenue community, and the lack of connection to the ocean?
Carl Morehouse: This continues to be a challenge. When the “rails to trails” conversion took place and the bike path was installed to connect between Main Street and Foster Park, there was a great deal of debate about it’s functionality beyond simply recreation. There were some efforts to bring the path physically closer to the community and to provide connections along the way to invite commuters to use the bike trail. However, this concept was protested heavily by some neighbors who felt a pathway to crime was being created through an extension of the bike trail in certain neighborhoods. Thus, I believe that the full potential of that bike path has not been realized. Today, the recreational bike path is the only Class 1 bike path available on the Westside.
Currently, there are Class 3 routes along Ventura Avenue and Olive Streets with proposed connections along Stanley. There is also a proposed Class 1 extension along Cedar Street from its disconnected ends. In the Ventura Avenue community, which is an older part of town and comprised of a variety of land uses -- some of which are very auto dependent (industrial uses) -- it is not easy to convert those areas to Class 2 or Class 1 bike paths. As the City moves forward with the Westside Community Plan and the Mobility Study that is currently underway, I will continue to explore ways to develop safe bike routes and connections within the Ventura Avenue community.
(see below)
3. The architecture “2030 Challenge”, which was unanimously endorsed by the US Conference of Mayors, calls for energy reduction of all new and renovated buildings incrementally over the next 25 years, until in 2030 they use no more energy to construct and operate than they produce. Should Ventura sign up to take the challenge? How could we begin to accomplish the goal of “carbon neutral” buildings by 2030?
Carl Morehouse: Personally, I hope that the City accepts and meets the “2030 Challenge”. The City has already accomplished a number of energy wise practices, including adopting new building codes to lead us toward more sustainable building practices for public buildings (http://www.cityofventura.net/GreenVentura).
In addition, the City is required to comply with AB 32, which was signed into law last year by the Governor and which is now being rigorously enforced by Attorney General Brown. This law requires California to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 to the levels that existed in 1990. The City of Ventura will not be immune from that, and I have been at the forefront of leading the charge, along with Councilmember Brennan, to begin the process of reducing our community’s carbon footprint in order to achieve required reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Through the implementation of “green” building requirements and other incentives for both public and private sector development, I anticipate we can be “carbon neutral” by 2030.
4. What changes would you promote for the Victoria Corridor, and how do they tie into our natural environment and quality of life?
Carl Morehouse: The Council started down the path of floating the idea about creating a new image for the Victoria Avenue Corridor over the next twenty years. The idea was to begin a process leading toward the creation of a grand boulevard concept so that local traffic could be segregated from through traffic, and Victoria Avenue could become more pedestrian friendly -- something it certainly is not today. That concept was poorly explained by the City, and the community has come unglued over the idea of doing anything with Victoria Avenue that will somehow or another impede traffic flow on this street. I still believe it is a concept worth exploring and should, over time, be re-examined and possibly implemented. However, given the current mood of the majority of Ventura residents, particularly on the East side, the timing of this proposal requires re-thinking. In the meantime, the Council will be reviewing other possible design changes in January of 2008 to guide the development of future buildings so that they begin to set a pattern for creating a more pedestrian friendly environment along Victoria Avenue south of Telephone Road, including the possible addition of residential units to provide a better citywide job-housing balance.
5. What actions will you take as a city council member to ensure that the greenbelts and farmland surrounding the City of Ventura are protected in perpetuity, and that any future growth is accommodated within the city's existing footprint utilizing the principles of smart growth and sustainability?
Carl Morehouse: I have been preaching this mantra a long time. The County of Ventura was fortunate enough to have some exceptional thinkers in the mid-1960’s, led in particular by the League of Women Voters (of which I am a current dues paying member), that realized what the development pressures of the day and the loss of prime farmland would mean to this County both in terms of aesthetics and the economy. From these discussions, arose the development of the Greenbelt concept in Ventura County. This concept is alive today between cities and the County is implemented through Greenbelt agreements and the Guidelines for Orderly Development (affectionately known as G.O.D.). Having worked for the County for 20 plus years in the Planning Division, I know full well the power and value of those two things, and I have fought hard to see that they are strengthened, particularly as the Greenbelts are only held together by “gentlemen’s handshakes”. I would like to see those changed and become actual Joint Power agreements that have more of the force of law behind them. But that takes a lot of political diplomacy. I am still committed to achieving that someday.
In regard to Ventura, I fought strongly for the change in our Sphere of Influence line to better match our true expansion plans over the next five years and will fight strongly when our SOAR ends to undertake the effort of creating a true CURB line as established by eight of the other cities in this County. We are the only city to date without such a configuration and I believe it to be extremely important to define our final boundaries once and for all.
As for the principles of smart growth, I’ve been discussing and practicing them for over ten years. I have had the privilege of participating as a speaker on panels at state planning and environmental conferences where I have promoted these principles, and have also conducted local and regional smart growth workshops. I firmly believe that utilizing the concepts of pedestrian and transit oriented development coupled with more mixed use and a greater variety of housing types (than just the suburban model of a single family detached house on a 6,000 square foot lot) is critical to saving our precious and valuable prime farmland.
6. Would the protection of the Ventura River benefit the City of Ventura? If so, how?
Carl Morehouse: Absolutely. I was involved with the initial discussions for the development of Ventura River Park and the potential acquisition of lands along the river to create such a venue. I provided guidance to Marc Landgraf of the Trust for Public Land regarding the stakeholders to include and where the pitfalls might be encountered. I am excited about such a concept because it can help with the restoration of the river’s ecosystem, and provide a wonderful recreational opportunity to both our residents and visitors.
7. Are you prepared for sea level rise inherent in continued misuse of fossil fuels? (This question was submitted by a youth organization.)
Carl Morehouse: If you are asking, as a City are we prepared, definitely not. Over the past seventy or so years the City has allowed a lot of development along our coast. This development occurred because at that time there was much demand from people who wanted to reside near the ocean. Today, many of us consider those people in harms way, but the best we can offer at this time is potential protection after the fact, which is a heck of a poor way to conduct public safety. If we can, as a city, a state, a country and a planet, get our greenhouse gas emissions under control and reduce global warming, we might be able to save those people a lot of pain in the future.
8. The protection and improvement of environmental quality affects people from different economic strata in different ways. How will you bring together your vision of social justice and your commitment to environmental issues?
Carl Morehouse: I believe my actions demonstrate my commitment and belief that environmental quality affects people from different economic strata in different ways. First of all, I believe strongly in providing everyone decent, safe and sanitary housing and I have pushed for better housing opportunities for all economic segments of our community, including agricultural workers. These people are the backbone of the precious agriculture industry we are trying to preserve so we do not end up looking like the San Fernando Valley. I also support the reduction in the use of pesticides and other chemicals that have negative impacts upon the health of farm workers and residents alike.
Additionally, all of the smart growth principles I’ve been promoting over the past
ten years are not just about stopping suburban sprawl and increasing density, but I have also promoted a diversity of housing types for all economic strata and creating the availability for pedestrian and transit alternatives for those without cars. We can ill afford, as a community, to become an elitist enclave of wealthy, elderly white people that simply doesn’t want any more growth period. That’s neither moral nor realistic in my view.
9. How will you promote green business, so that a thriving economy and a thriving environment become one in the same?
Carl Morehouse: I have helped with an idea that Councilmember Brennan has proposed for a long time, which is to convert areas on upper Ventura Avenue – most particularly the old Petrochem site – into a high tech industrial area with a series of linked industries that help supply each other with waste streams that become feedstock for each other’s product. Also, the City continues to recognize and support businesses that are working actively to reduce their carbon footprint and minimize their waste stream. This includes working with restaurants and retailers for their recyclable wastes as well.
10. Should the city of Ventura take affirmative steps to implement Community Choice so citizens can purchase locally generated renewable power? Why or why not? (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_Choice_Aggregation)
Carl Morehouse: As Mayor, and in collaboration with Councilmember Brennan, I have been a participant in discussions facilitated by the Community Environmental Council (CEC), based in Santa Barbara, regarding Community Choice. Additionally, the City, as a member of the Ventura Regional Energy Alliance, has been paying close attention to this unique opportunity. There are many positive aspects to this program, particularly the opportunity to capture the public goods monies, which are now returned to SCE, and being able to keep them in this newly defined aggregate area. (This would be the first time such an endeavor has been undertaken.) As such I support the City and the Energy Alliance in a feasibility study as proposed by the CEC. Any move away from fossil fuel dependency will be a great step in the right direction.
11. What is your attitude about the city collaborating with civic groups in substantial and meaningful ways on community initiated projects?
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.
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