Ojai Valley-wide Discussion (Open Thread)

by Open Thread on November 12, 2006

330 people filed into Nordoff High’s gym to participate in the first of three Discussions over the next year. I’m off to dinner and a play at the art center, so I’ll give some brief stats, and open up the online discussion…
On a scale of 1-9, the following nine issues were first identified by the gathering as the top issues, and then ranked accordingly…
more/better transit options: 5
emergency preparedness plan: 7
emergency room: 3
valley-wide communication: 4
valley plan for development: 8
gangs & crime: 5
green & sustainability: 7
traffic: 8
after-school and youth programs: 6
Shout out to evan austin, Kenley Neufeld, Sue Horgan, Rae Hanstad, Bret Bradigan, Steve Olsen, Glenn Emannuel, Dennis Leary, Pete LaFollette, Dave Lawrence and everyone else who took the time to come on down to participate. Steve Bennett and his staff did a really great job preparing and running the discussion.

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{ 4 comments }

evan austin November 12, 2006 at 7:56 pm

this first Ojai Valley-Wide Discussion was a LOT of fun for me. if nothing else, i was fortunate enough to be table-mates with Tyler Suchman and with City Council member Sue Horgan as our facilitator!
i’ll echo Tyler’s sentiment that Steve Bennett & Co. did a great job setting up the event. a couple of things that i learned:
> 40-50% of Ojai Valley residents leave the valley to work.
> the City of Ojai counts 8,000 residents out of 28,000 in the Valley.
> our small valley has 2 school districts and 14 private schools
> we’ve got 4 water districts.
in addition, the Ojai Valley is OLDER and LESS ETHNICALLY DIVERSE than Ventura County as a whole, though we have a growing Latino population.
one of the most valuable functions of this event may have been the sense of ownership and empowerment that valley residents felt at being invited to participate in this process and to have a voice. i know that some are still concerned over whether that voice will manifest into action and reality, but not giving that voice in the first place is a guarantee that it won’t. therefore, i’m proud of those valley residents (who, by the way, were very well distributed over the entire valley) who came to be a part of our valley’s future in a proactive way. to keep in touch with the information and action that are being generated from this meeting (the first of three), keep an eye on http://www.countyofventura.org/ovwd/

Kenley Neufeld November 12, 2006 at 10:12 pm

Thank you for getting us going and for the little ‘shout out’ to us fellow participants. The Ojai Valley Wide Discussion was a truly magnificent showing of interest and participation at Nordoff High School gym.
Though the number of participants seemed large (about 250, based on the number of tables occupied), this only represents .09% of the Valley population. Of course, it was a beautiful Sunday afternoon and we can’t all get away. In my opinion, it would have been very helpful to have child care available for those couples and single parents with children. Were invitations sent out in Spanish too?
The meeting started with logistics and two PowerPoint presentations. The Ojai Valley added 787 people to the population between 1990 and 2000. Truly stunning. The City of Ojai has 7,487 residents while the non-incorporated areas represent 22,130 residents though much of what the City of Ojai does effects them too.
We are 79% white and 23% are over the age of 55. Statistics were taken from the US Census of 2000.
After an hour of presentation, we jumped into the brainstorming process. Just to give some perspective, there were 35 tables with 7-8 people at each. Each table generated two lists of three issues/topics that we would like to see addressed (list one being doable, and list two being a little more challenging). This created a list of 210 items! As we took a break, this was boiled down to nine items by the organizers. The resulting list has already been mentioned above by Tyler.
Cons

  • Economics were not mentioned in the presentations on Ojai Valley demographics.
  • Very few non-white participants.
  • Time-crunched process; not much time for thoughtfulness.

Pros

  • brought the community together for a preliminary discussion
  • many of us have similar concerns (mostly quality of life issues)
  • Use of clicker technology, though it works better if everyone has one (see Wired article or search Google)

I do give kudos to Steve Bennett and his staff for organizing this event and I look forward to the April 15 gathering.

Rae Hanstad November 13, 2006 at 5:52 am

Good point: The original invitations were bilingual and the OVWD website has a linked Spanish version. Historically, participation at community-wide events fatigues over time. I hope the Post will continue good reporting and promotion until the April 15, 2007 meeting — and that attendance will increase. Meanwhile, I learned a lot as a participant.
In addition to the stats shared above: we all know the City covers 4 sq miles, but I did not realize the entire Valley is 80 sq miles. The City truly is the hole in the doughnut. This shows how important it is to partner at all levels. Consider, for example, OVMAC meetings (as well as City Council’s) http://www.rain.org/~ovmac/ and see the OV Area Plan link. (Nice to meet austin.)

evan November 13, 2006 at 6:13 am

it was great to meet you too, Rae! sorry we didnt have more time to chat…
a note to all: it was observed that nearly all Ojai City Council members and recent candidates were there, with exception only of David Bury, Joe DeVito, and Lenny Klaif. excellent leadership by example, in my opinion…i know it isnt always logistically possible for our city government to attend events and make appearances as a Council, but it sure is an attractive idea to me.

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