San Antonio lobbies for trolley
by Lenny Roberts

Time will tell if the efforts of San Antonio School fifth-graders to get limited Ojai trolley service to the East End of town pay off.
Monday morning, students went to a Ventura County Transportation Committee meeting at Camarillo City Hall as part of the school's service learning project, a once-a-year effort designated for the betterment of the community.
"We just looked at a variety of subjects, and they opted for traffic after (Ojai City Marketing and Public Relations Director) Linda Fisher-Helton brought the trolley to school one day to educate them about safety," teacher Linda Coultas said. "They wondered why the trolley doesn't come here, and brought surveys and maps to the county's unmet needs hearing."
Working within guidelines of the State Transportation Development Act, VCTC defines unmet transit needs as, at a minimum, those public transportation services that have been identified by substantial community input through the public hearing process or are identified in a short-range transit plan or the regional transportation plan that have not yet been implemented or funded.
Coultas said that Citizens to Protect the Ojai president Ivor Benci-Woodward and Ojai City Councilman Joe DeVito also spoke to her class. Devito explained what the city is doing about traffic issues, and said that a fourth trolley is being purchased by the city, though with no immediate plans to expand service east of Gridley Road.
Accompanied by Fisher-Helton and Ojai Unified School District Assistant Superintendent Tim Baird, and armed with the results of a survey taken by East End residents and area maps depicting SCAT bus and trolley routes, students William Greenway, Anna North and Omar Estrada presented their findings to VCTC members at the hearing. They collectively stated that the East End, much like Mira Monte and Meiners Oaks until routes were added in the mid-1990s, has been neglected by the city's trolley service.
"The kids ran off a battery of questions that were sent home and passed out to parents and neighbors," Coultas explained, "and presented a persuasive argument at the hearing that this is an unmet need. The map showed where the SCAT buses and trolleys went, and that there is no transportation to the school or the East End. They're just looking for some prime-time service during the day."
In North's presentation, she noted that all OUSD schools currently have SCAT or trolley service except San Antonio and Summit. She cited pollution, traffic reduction and the need for transportation to and from after-school activities as her concerns.
Greenway, of Linda McMichael's class, said with his school's recent success of raising $2,500 for the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation, students could help raise funding for trolley service, and East End businesses such as Boccali's, Aqua Flo, Woolsey Inn and the Day Spa could benefit from extended service.
Estrada said that he and other students would like to be able to stay after school for some of the music, art or science programs that are being offered, but "if their parents are working, they don't have a ride."
More than 180 survey responses were received. The majority of the 109 children reported were from two-adult families, and the majority of those children were ages 13 and older. The families reported recreation, after-school activities and transportation to and from school as their reasons for wanting trolley service, and said Mondays would be the most desirable day to have the service, although 112 responders said they would use the trolley daily.
Trolley service would be most useful at Grand Avenue and Carne Road, said most, edging out the intersection of McAndrew and Thacher Roads.
Besides San Antonio School, the Boyd Center, Thacher School, Monica Ros School, the Ojai Library, Boccali's Restaurant, The Ojai Valley Inn & Spa, Summit School and Sarzotti Park were key destinations for would-be trolley users, and most people polled felt that 10 years of age was a good time for kids to begin using the trolley unsupervised.
The fifth-grade class plans to present its findings to the Ojai City Council Feb. 26, and to the OUSD sometime in March. A trip to Supervisor Steve Bennett's office is also in the works.

© 2002 The Ojai Valley News

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