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Candidates tackle issues during forum
Incumbents Charlotte Craven, Jan McDonald and Michael Morgan and challengers Bob Taylor and David Schlangen each answered seven questions from the forum's moderator, Scott Frisch, an associate professor of political science at the university. Issues ranged from term limits to Camarillo's continuing problem with graffiti. Urban development After a brief introduction, Frisch asked the candidates where they foresee the city's commercial and residential growth occurring over the next five years. McDonald pointed to the Camarillo Commons, a large-scale plan to redevelop 55 acres of land at the heart of Camarillo into a mixed-use neighborhood of shops, business offices and multiunit housing. Morgan also mentioned the Camarillo Commons project and said he is looking forward to the Camarillo Promenade development, which is slated for the large empty lot neighboring Edwards Cinemas. The promenade will not only include additional shops and restaurants, but will share space with a full-service Marriott hotel and conference center. Schlangen echoed both McDonald's and Morgan's comments, noting his support of the two large projects. Taylor said he liked the look of the Camarillo Commons project and hopes to see redevelopment near the Springville Street freeway offramp and more work done on Dawson Road. Craven pointed to the homes nearing completion at the Village at the Park housing community and noted the site will include some commercial and retail development. Graffiti For his second question, Frisch asked the candidates to propose solutions to the city's graffiti problem. Morgan said stricter city laws, help from the Camarillo Police Department's Citizen Patrol and enforcing the laws that prohibit minors from buying spray paint in local stores would help. Morgan also said he'd like to use nightvision cameras-especially in Old Town-to help catch vandals. Schlangen said Neighborhood Watch groups organized by the police department would be effective in tackling the graffiti problem. "Getting the citizens involved in protecting their city is a great way to stop the graffiti here in Camarillo," Schlangen said. Taylor said quick cleaning of the graffiti helps deter vandals. To do that, Taylor said he supports the police department's graffiti hotline and thinks the city should encourage private citizens to help clean up tagging in their neighborhoods. He also supported the use of night-vision cameras. Craven said strict city laws holding the parents responsible for vandalism done by their child is a strong deterrent. She added that it's also up to the public to report vandalism. "I think the first tool, obviously, is the eyes of the public," McDonald said. She added, however, that it's important for city officials to work with the Ventura County District Attorney's office to make sure vandals are treated as serious criminals and given real jail time for the crime. CSUCI Frisch asked the candidates what they saw as the city's role in the development of the new university. Schlangen said he wants to improve communication between the university and the city. He said he wanted to make Camarillo known as a "college town," where students would want to stay and work after they graduate. "CSUCI is not only going to change the economy, but it's going to shape the future of Camarillo," Taylor said. With regards to the relationship, Taylor said the city should "get out of the way and ask how we can help." Craven said the city can help the university provide housing. She also pointed to the joint efforts between the city, the Ventura County Transportation Committee and the university to widen Lewis Road, the rural highway that stretches from the city to the campus. McDonald said the city has long been supportive of the university and said she was one of the council members who helped bring the campus to fruition. "We are the gateway to the university," McDonald said. She said it's important that the city help support the university's growing work force and continue to maintain Old Town to attract students and faculty to spend money locally. Morgan said he was part of a committee that went to door to door in the late 1990s to rally residents to fight the state from turning the former hospital into a state prison. He also noted the widening of Lewis Road and the importance of making Old Town attractive to the university's community. Parking in Old Town Frisch asked the candidates how they would solve the parking problem in Old Town Camarillo. Taylor said he'd like to see a parking structure along Ventura Boulevard. He added that he supports Morgan's longtime plan to install a trolley system that would run along Ventura Boulevard in hopes that it would alleviate traffic. "I've been talking about the parking problem along Ventura Boulevard for a long time," Craven said. To help alleviate the problem, Craven said the city council is moving forward with a study to look at the parking issue throughout the entire city, not just Old Town. "With our success comes problems," McDonald said, noting that the redevelopment of Old Town has drawn more shoppers to the area and caused the parking shortage. She said the third phase of the Ventura Boulevard redevelopment project will include parking and noted that some of the upcoming buildings along the boulevard will include underground parking. Morgan said the key to the parking problem would be a trolley system along Ventura Boulevard. He said it's an issue he's been pushing for quite some time and hopes to see it come to fruition in the next few years. Morgan pointed out that the city has bought the former courthouse building from the county, which can be used for parking. He added that the city bought the parking lot behind the large public clock at the head of Arneill and owns the school property along the boulevard. "If you go there during the week, you're going to see plenty of parking spaces open," Morgan said. "It's only during events that things fill up." Schlangen said he supports the trolley, but added that he thinks the council should encourage neighboring cities to offer public transportation to the Camarillo Premium Outlets shopping center to alleviate weekend parking problems along the boulevard. Term limits Frisch asked the candidates if they support term limits. Craven, Morgan, McDonald and Schlangen all said no. Craven said term limits for state offices has lead to mismanagement in both the Assembly and Senate. McDonald said voters have an opportunity to unseat incumbents every election, which, according to her, makes term limits unnecessary. Although Schlangen doesn't want to term limits, he said most of the younger voters can't relate to the longserving council members. Being the youngest candidate, he said he hopes to lead by example and encourage younger voters to turn out on Elections Day. Taylor was the only candidate who supports term limits for city council members. "I understand possibly twelve years, but any more than that, I think it's time for a change." Taylor said. "I think it's very important to get new ideas and fresh thoughts and perspective." Courthouse, library Frisch asked the candidates what they think should be done with the old courthouse building on Ventura Boulevard that the city recently purchased from the county for $1.4 million and what should be done with the soontoclose Camarillo Library. McDonald, Morgan and Craven all pointed to the city's ongoing proposal to turn the courthouse into live theater and restaurant. As for the library, the incumbents said the city is considering selling the property to help pay off the additional $600,000 a year in costs the city will pay to maintain the new 65,000-square-foot library being built on Ponderosa. Schlangen said he likes the idea of turning the old courthouse into a cultural center and supports the sale of the old library to help finance the new one. Even though Taylor supports turning the old courthouse into a theater, he said the city should give the library to a local nonprofit, such as the Boys & Girls Club, to use it as a teen center. Affordable housing Frisch asked the panel what the city's role should be in providing affordable housing. Morgan said the city has been incorporating affordable housing into their redevelopment projects to meet it's stateset goals for affordable housing. "Affordable housing is a problem that every city has right now because of the cost of construction," Morgan said. Schlangen said the city should help provide homes for teachers and first-year police officers, two groups that typically can't afford homes in the county. He added that the city needs to partner with affordable housing nonprofits to help first-time home buyers. Taylor said the city needs to take a fresh look at the problem in order to come up with a solution. Craven said the key to affordable housing is for the city to continue requiring builders to include affordable units in their housing developments. McDonald agreed with Craven, noting the importance of the city's involvement in making sure new housing developments have affordable units. She added that she supports helping first-time buyers as opposed to subsidized housing. Audience reaction About 30 people attended the forum, and their reaction to the candidates was mixed. Linda Perez said she liked Schlangen. "I kind of liked that idea of having somebody fresh," Perez said. "He had a lot of energy. I kind of liked that." There were others, like Greg Glover, who came to support a candidate but also wanted to hear the others speak. "I was here to support Bob Taylor, but I was here to hear all the candidates," Glover said. He said he liked Taylor's idea of making the library a teen center. Bob Rust said he came to hear all the candidates speak and liked what he heard from the incumbents. "I was very impressed with the depth of knowledge of the incumbents," Rust said. "I like the way our city is going and I think they've done a great job, and I think the challengers have their work cut out for them." |
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