Big Brother big topic at council meet
By Jesse Phelps

The idea of surveillance cameras in the downtown area has stirred up fears among some Ojai residents.
"There are civil liberties involved as far as, you know, Big Brother watching you," said local attorney and activist Lenny Klaif Tuesday night at the Ojai City Council meeting.
The debate centers on the agenda item regarding the adoption of a pair of time-lapse capable, infrared-equipped cameras available to the city free of charge through a special grant. The cameras would be discreetly mounted in back of the Arcade, with the idea of protecting the two newly mounted sculptures behind Bonnie Lu's.
Police Chief Gary Pentis presented the council with facts and figures regarding crime in the downtown area and the Arcade specifically. He said 290 calls went out to officers during the past six months, a low figure which includes traffic stops and other minor incidents in addition to fistfights and other violent crimes.
Pentis said the cameras would provide a deterrent to rogue art vandals and, more importantly, provide help with holding offenders accountable "without as much manpower" and he pointed out the utility of having videotape evidence to corroborate crimes.
Pentis said the volunteer patrols working in the Arcade have received respect and have "had no negative incidents." The cameras, he pointed out, stay on all the time and can do a better job of surveillance than roving volunteer patrols, especially since the area in question is off the well-illuminated avenue.
Klaif spoke next and asked the council to reject the cameras, then other members of the community stepped forth on either side.
Maudette Finck, chairperson of the Arts Commission, spoke in favor of protecting the two public art works with the available technology read a prepared statement fellow commissioner Neva Williams, who said, "I welcome the introduction of two security cameras. We are talking about taking a positive step toward preserving our public property."
The council began a lengthy discussion. Councilman David Bury commented that the cameras didn't seem Ojai to him. "I just don't think of cameras and art together. I can't support surveillance cameras in downtown Ojai," he said.
Councilwoman Carol Smith took it a step further. She said not only would she reject the motion now, she would reject it at any time in the future.
Mayor Joe DeVito voiced his support for the cameras and all available means of aid for the police department. The issue was finally shuttered out, for now, when Mayor Pro Tempore Sue Horgan found something of a middle ground. Because the grant rolls over and can be spent at a later time on this or another similar expenditure, she suggested the council reject the proposal in its current state but reconsider a similar motion at a later time, should it seem more pressing.
The other major source of debate on the evening was the continuing presence of day workers on "the line" in Fitzgerald Plaza, home of the Ojai Brew Pub. Pub manager Alexander Kopf begged the council to create an ordinance prohibiting loitering on private property, the only legal way to solve what he sees as a serious problem in running his business.
Kopf asked the council to be more proactive in its pursuit of a solution and asserted that nothing had been done to discouraging the men on the line from vandalizing and littering, in addition to loitering. He presented graphic evidence of damage done to his restaurant's bathroom and said that his cleaning service would no longer work for him because of the recurring mess created by the workers.
Property owner Barbara Fitzgerald read from the Ojai Valley News regarding her original plea for a solution in March of last year and asked why the city can't have an ordinance when other municipalities do. "There is a city ordinance in Santa Barbara," she said. "There is a city ordinance in Oxnard. Why can't Ojai have it?"
City Clerk Dan Singer emphasized that, in fact, a solution had been sought and that measures had been taken, though he added, "We may need to look at other measures."
Other agenda items from the meeting included: an announcement of free, subsidized hazardous waste pickup and disposal, beginning in March, for small businesses in Ojai; an annual trolley funding initiative; authorization of urn construction at Nordhoff Cemetery; and the conveyance of Cluff Vista Park, the new park on Ojai Ave., to the city.
The council also bid a fond farewell to outgoing interim public works director Ed McCombs. "It was my good luck to work here in Ojai," said McCombs.
Horgan thanked McCombs for his direction and the council as a whole expressed their appreciation for his performance, to the extent they felt he might be hard to replace.
"I personally wish you were staying," said Bury, as McCombs prepared to leave the podium.

© 2003 The Ojai Valley News

Back to the news