This article is a follow-up, some terms and ideas discussed in this article can be explained in the previous installment in the series. If you are not familiar with Main Street Moves and its nuances, make sure to click the link in the previous sentence.
Downtown Ventura is an important space for the community to socialize with other ‘Venturans’ and patronize local storefronts and restaurants. Whether or not this space can thrive open or closed to cars is a heated debate in Ventura politics today. This controvers\is just proof that Ventura’s community cares deeply about this historical street and its future.
Various people, groups and businesses have made their voices heard concerning this issue in the past five years since the street has been closed. “We can’t really make a decision until we have all the information,” said Liz Campos, the District One Ventura City Council member. She explained that it’s important to hear what everyone has to say and look at all the data presented, especially when it comes to a highly anticipated issue such as this one.
What does the community think?
One influential voice that has been advocating for their point is Venturans for People Oriented Places (Ventura POP), a local organization that has been working closely with the city to solidify the pedestrian mall downtown. Nick Herson, a member of Ventura POP, said that they “consider Main Street Moves to be an essential third space,” somewhere that’s “not the place that you live, not the place that you work, but it’s some third place you can go to where you can socialize.” Herson explained that these spaces are important for communities, “It’s a place where people want to go … in a way that you can’t get with a park … like a city square.” An example of this would be the weekly farmers market or the rentable stage on California Street
Spencer Noren, the face of Ventura Forward, a group advocating for municipal action in Ventura, agrees with Herson in this respect. “Having community space to gather is what all communities want,” Noren said, “The negative is businesses and business plans.” Noren said that some businesses, mainly retail stores, have had trouble with accessibility due to the closure of Main Street to cars. “Certain businesses needed cars to stop and go,” Noren said.
In contrast, Herson said that Ventura POP has “done a lot of research” on the effect of pedestrian downtown on business and “[they] do believe that the street being car-free is not only in the people’s best interest but also for the businesses as well.”
What do businesses think?
Folke, a retail and furniture store located on Main Street, has been open since 2019. Courtney Kittner, a co-owner of the store, expressed her view on the closed Main Street “It hasn’t per se hurt our business, but it hasn’t helped,” Kittner said. She explained that cars coming down the street increased the amount of visibility for their store.
However, Tina Thayer, co-owner of Paradise Pantry, a restaurant, cheese counter and wine shop, said that they “didn’t have a lot of walk-in business” before the closure. “Before, you would come here because you knew you were coming here,” said Thayer. Paradise Pantry has been on Main Street since 2013 and while Thayer described Main Street Moves as “not the greatest iteration of what it could be,” she praised the closure for its attraction of crowds, saying that “people love it, I’ve never seen so many people of all ages coming downtown.”
Kittner added to her criticism, saying that “everything looks temporary after all these years, it looks run down.” Kittner mentioned a high concentration of homeless people, as well as a break-in that occurred. “If the street was open there would probably be less of that going on because there would be more chance of them being seen,” she said in reflection.
On the contrary, Liz Campos claimed that “crime has been flat since COVID- 19 started.”
What do property owners think?
“The uncertainty has been the biggest issue,” said Noren. He added that some property owners have been struggling to fill vacancies because businesses don’t want to invest in downtown, which is why they signed the objection.
“Its been difficult for them to get those properties filled,” said Kittner
Herson however mentioned a recent Instagram post focused on vacancy, where they “actually walked down the street and counted.” According to Herson, the number of vacant storefronts in Downtown is “pretty much in line with the rest of the city.”
What happens next?
“People who say they don’t come downtown anymore because the streets [are] closed, I’d like to know how many times they were coming downtown before and how many times they think they’ll come down in the future,” said Thayer. She elaborated on her opinion saying, that “[The regulars] are the people whose opinion I think matters, right now they’re here, they’re supporting what is here, and if they want it to be closed, it’s ultimately what we should do.”
While this sentiment is valid, it’s also important to consider the other side. Noren believes that a hybrid model will give us “a chance to appease the whole community if done correctly.” A hybrid model would involve having the street split between open and closed at different times during the week.
This article has not covered every opinion and voice surrounding Main Street Moves. There are still more factors to consider regarding this topic. If you’d like to hear the City Council make their decision, make sure to be at the City Council meeting on Sept. 16, 2025.
