By Noel Smith
Gayle Ortiz, Owner of Gayle’s Bakery and Rosticceria and member of the Capitola Planning Commission is championing a new effort to involve residents in discussing the future of Capitola.
It’s called Vision Capitola and is a grass roots effort to get the broadest and most up to date picture that reflects what Capitola residents value about their community and what they would like to see happen in Capitola in the next 5-15 years.
There will be two public workshops, April 20 and April 27 at the Jade Street Park Community Center, to help set objectives for Capitola’s future.
“The goal is to help city leaders in their efforts to maintain Capitola as a unique place to live through the next decade and beyond by creating a publically produced vision,” Ortiz said. “Vision Capitola will attempt to highlight the community’s most important values and desires for Capitola’s future.”
We asked Gayle Ortiz of Vision Capitola four questions about the process and what they hope to accomplish:
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Question 1. Do you think this process will result in a balanced approach to community planning?
“Our intent is to let people speak about Capitola. The more people who have the opportunity to respond to our questions the more complete the picture will be. Whether it’s “balanced” or not remains to be seen. Balanced isn’t a word I would use to describe our hoped for outcome. I’d call our approach open. The intent is to have this be a positive and forward-looking dialogue and to share this information with our city leaders.”
Question 2. The loudest voices in a public meeting driven process seem to usually be anti-growth and anti-economic development. Will this process be fair to those who have a different view of the future for Capitola or various parts of the city?
“Our group has spent many hours developing these workshops so that they are focused on positive ideas and look to the future rather than the past. We have structured the first workshop so that as many people as time allows will have the opportunity to speak for about two minutes (depending on how many people sign up to speak). They will be asked to speak on two things; what they value most about Capitola and what they want to see happen in the next 5-15 years. There will be no attempt to lead the speakers in any way other than require them to keep their comments positive.
“One of the most important components in this process is that Capitolans will have the opportunity to hear what others think and feel. Creating community begins with open dialogue where people get the chance to talk and be heard. We want this process to emphasize both.
“For people who are not able to attend the first workshop or don’t want to speak in public we have our website www.visioncapitola.com where they can fill out a Comment Form and submit it online. Or, we have an address where they can snail mail us their responses. Everything has been designed to get as many responses as possible.”
Question 3. Capitola has three different retail/commercial areas, 41st Avenue, Capitola Village, and Bay Ave/Capitola Ave. Will they have different opportunities for public input?
“Vision Capitola is meant to be a citizen-oriented process. Although we won’t be checking I.D.’s at the door we hope that the majority of speakers will be citizens of Capitola, whether they be residential property owners, renters, shop owners or commercial property owners.”
Question 4. What outcome do you hope to achieve from this process?
“The process is intended to be a snapshot of what our community is thinking today. The first workshop will allow people to talk. We will be videoing their comments as well as writing them down so that we get it right. After that meeting we will tally the comments and write a draft report that lists the comments and how many people talked about which topics.
“That will allow us to see how different ideas and thoughts rank. We will publish the draft report on our website in the week following the first workshop.
“At the second workshop we will bring copies of the draft report, discuss it and how the comments relate to our new General Plan.
“After the second meeting we will write the final report and present it to the city council in early May. We hope they will use it in future planning and that it gives them an idea of what their community is thinking. How they use it is entirely up to them. The real purpose of this meeting, for me at least, is for citizens to get together to talk about the town they love. Creating community through dialogue is a worthy goal in and of itself. And then when you share it with your community’s leaders it makes it even more meaningful.”
According to Ortiz, “Broad participation from all neighborhoods in Capitola is absolutely necessary to make Vision Capitola a success. As many as those who want to speak will have the opportunity to do so as time allows, so please have your thoughts organized and ready to go.”
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Vision Capitola is a grassroots effort organized by: Gayle Ortiz (Planning Commissioner), Katharine Parker, Mick Routh (Former Planning Commissioner, Council Member and Mayor), Sam Storey (Former Councilmember), Nels Westman (Traffic & Parking Commissioner), Susan Westman (Planning Commissioner), and Steven Woodside (Member, Blue Ribbon Parking Committee)
Vision Capitola www.visioncapitola.com Questions? [email protected]
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Workshop #1: Wednesday, April 20. Sign-ups to speak begin at 6:30 p.m.; workshop begins 7 p.m. at the Jade Street Park Community Center. Those attending will have the opportunity to say in 2-3 minutes what they value about Capitola and what they would like to see happen in the next 5-15 years. A summary of the community’s comments will be shared on the Vision Capitola website:
www.visioncapitola.com
Workshop #2: Wednesday, April 27 at Jade Street Park, 7 p.m., to review the results of the first workshop and how it relates to Capitola’s General Plan. Shortly after this workshop a final summary will be available on the website.
Those unable to attend or who do not wish to speak can provide their thoughts and ideas by email or letter. Details and important dates such as additional meetings will also be found on the Vision Capitola website.
Participation by all the various interests that make up Capitola whether in person, by email, or by letter will insure that the document produced reflects the values and desires of Capitola residents about the future of Capitola.
Vision Capitola website: www.visioncapitola.com Email address: [email protected] • Mailing Address: Vision Capitola c/o Susan Westman 507 Riverview Drive, Capitola, CA 95010