MVCC NEWSLETTER

August 2011, Volume 14, Issue 7

Published Monthly Free by the Midtown Ventura Community Council
PO Box 1041, Ventura, CA 93002

Proposed Site: Midtown Commons Park. Located Between Hartman and Katheriine Drives , South of Main Street and North of Thompson Blvd.

Letter from the Chair

Depave Parking to Build a Park
By David Ferrin

Presently an underutilized 80,000 square foot parking lot exists at the city parking lot bordered by S. Katherine Drive and Hartman Drive between Thompson Boulevard and Main Street in the heart of Midtown Ventura. The Midtown Ventura Community Council in conjunction with other community groups and the City of Ventura aim to convert a portion the parking lot to an environment-friendly community park and storm water mitigation site. The park, Midtown Commons, will be designed to uniquely reflect the values and culture of the Midtown Ventura community. The objective is

to remove about 20,000 square feet of existing asphalt paving to create a park that includes functional local art, botanical gardens, cultural and natural narratives, and areas for people of all ages to enjoy and congregate. Turf and pavement, standard features in most parks, will give way to native plants and pervious pedestrian surfaces. Other proposed features include a sunken meditation garden, picnic area, playground and community plaza. Everyday items such as bollards, picnic tables and seating will be objects created by local artists. Storm water Mitigation: In addition to being a public space, the park will have a storm water mitigation system that is invisible to the eye but will divert and filter storm water from the

storm drainage system, surrounding surface streets and roofs into the aquifer, preventing contaminated runoff from reaching the ocean and beaches. A portion of the water will be captured in a cistern to be used for irrigation. As a result connecting to the city water system is not proposed. The City of Ventura was issued a municipal storm water permit by the state in July, 2010 that places requirements on new developments to install systems that treat and infiltrate storm water runoff beginning this fall. The permit allows the flexibility for a new development to treat and infiltrate storm water on off-site locations in lieu of infiltrating the storm water on individual project sites. This off-site storm water mitigation will enable much needed new development in the surrounding urban areas that are within the

Our Mission: Preservation, enhancement and revitalization of Midtown Ventura

MVCC Newsletter, August 2011

watershed of the new park. This grant, if approved, would allow smart growth infill to move forward with off-site storm water mitigation. Optional Green Streets: Venturas City Council directed Public Works to establish a Green Streets program to treat and infiltrate street runoff whenever possible. The city engineering department expects to have roughly $250,000 to spend on a green street demonstration site that has not yet been selected. If the Green Streets funding can be used for the greening of the full length of the site along Katherine and Hartman Streets, the parking will be a less dominant feature. The project would transform a portion of the street surfaces to pervious materials and landscaping and the runoff captured by the pervious surfaces will be a part of the storm water mitigation system. Funds are needed for two major components of the project. Above ground improvements including design, fine grading, walls/ curbs/edging, pervious paving, plants, bollards, seating/tables, play structure(s), cultural/nature narratives, signs, etc. and below grade construction including design, demolition, excavation/rough grading, earth moving, filtration/systems, sub soil prep, cistern/water supply, etc. In June we submitted an Urban Greening Concept proposal to the state of California for a grant that would fund a portion of the design and construction for the above ground and below grade site improvements. Submitting our proposal was a group effort by our Community Pride Chair Jerome Holt, Ray Olson from

Page 2 the citys Environmental Services Division, Heather Miller from the city Public Works Department, Dan Long and me. There is a lot of competition for this grant so we are continuing our efforts to obtain funding and/or community donations for the project. Jerome Holt and Kurt Preissler, our Newsletter Chair, have begun a community outreach effort and plan to discuss the project with the surrounding neighbors and business owners. If youd like to know more about Midtown Commons Park go to http://www.midtownventura.org/ park.html. We are interested in your feedback so please contact me or visit our Facebook page to share your comments.

MVCC Contacts:
David Ferrin, Chair: 653-5088 Pamela Hazard, Vice Chair: 570-7423 Karen Flock, Treasurer: 407-2716 John Jones, Corresponding Secretary: 628-2520 Nora Paulson, Secretary: 677-7300 Dan Long, Historic Chair: 653-6573 Jerome Holt, Community Pride: 453-8513

MVCC Goals for Venturas 150th Anniversary

Midtown Commons community park Visit http://www.midtownventura.org/ park.html if youd like to know more about Midtown Commons Park. If you are interested in being involved in the park project please send an email to David Ferrin at dferrin@ midtownventura.org or call 653.5088. You can also visit our Facebook page to share your comments. Improvements to at least one Midtown school per year In July we installed one of the two solar playground lights at Blanche Reynolds School, Rainbow Bridge Playground. Thanks to Jeff Zimmerman, General Contractor and owner of Zdwellings for his help on the installation. We have

received numerous donations for this effort and are very appreciative to everyone that helped-out. We are still accepting donations to help pay for the paint, lights and other supplies if you are able to contribute. Expand our volunteer power by adding 200 MVCC members If you can provide your time, expertise, leadership or donations in support of any of the above goals please contact any MVCC board member, and tell a friend or neighbor about what we are doing to improve the community. The 150th anniversary of the City of Venturas incorporation is on April 2, 2016.

Publication Credits:
Preissler Media Services
Print states a few words, A picture a thousand; While a video provides millions... Lets expose your organization

643-5902

www.midtownventura.org

Page 3

Greentip For August 2011

Container glass is 100% recyclable. There is no limit to the number of times glass can be recycled without any degradation in quantity, quality and purity. About 80% of recovered glass containers are made into new glass bottles often back on the store shelf in as little as a month. Beside the savings in raw materials, recycling glass has a number of environmental benefits. Recycling just one glass bottle will save enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for four hours or a CFL for 20 hours. According to the Glass Packaging Institute (GPI), for every six tons of recycled container glass used, a ton of carbon dioxide is reduced in the processing. Many consumers like glass because unlike plastics or metals, it is inert and non-reactive to food.

Examples of Ocean Friendly Gardens

Pictured are samples of Lisa Burtons, Nature by Design, natural habitat / ocean friendly landscape designs located in Midtown. Pictured above and to right private residence located on 100 block of San Clemente Street. Pictured below Lisa Burtons house on Santa Ynez Street. Photos by: Kurt Preissler

A few things to keep in mind when recycling glass: Rinse the container lightly to get rid of any residue to control odors and insects in your recycling container. Leave the labels on. Only recycle container glass but remember this includes wine and beer bottles along with jars from soups, sauces, pickles and even some non-food bottles. Do not include ceramics, porcelain, Pyrex, dishware, drinking glasses, mirrors or light bulbs. These contain other components that contaminate glass recycling and can damage recycling and manufacturing equipment. Remove metal lids and put them into the recycling container separately. Some material sorting facilities use a magnet to capture the metal. If a glass jar is attached to a heavy metal lid, the glass could get collected with the metal, contaminating the metal recycling process and wasting the glass. Put all colors of glass containers in your recycling bin. Christine Wied, Environmental Specialist City of Ventura 805 652-4584 cwied@ci.ventura.ca.us

Midtown Ventura Community Council

PO Box 1041 Ventura, CA 93002-1041

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