THE TIMES POLL : Families Optimistic, but Many Worry About Crime, Gangs

When Ventura County families consider their lives in the 21st Century, most see a future at least as bright as the past. But many also reveal a gnawing concern about the growth of big-city problems such as gangs and crime, a Times Poll shows.

Although the poll found parents and children highly satisfied with their lives here, it also revealed a lingering fear of future change.

About one-third of parents say they think their communities will become worse places to raise children over the next decade, while only one parent in five thinks conditions will get better.

And two of every five parents say they hope to move away once their children are grown.

Lori Jacobs, 34, migrated from the San Fernando Valley to Thousand Oaks last year and intends to stay. Yet she expects her new hometown to change for the worse.

“The problems are creeping in,” she said. “We started out in Van Nuys, then Van Nuys became a dirty word. We moved to Woodland Hills, and then everywhere in the Valley began to have problems. So we headed to Thousand Oaks.”

Recently, her 13-year-old son, in his first month of junior high school, watched one girl threaten another with a knife in the school parking lot. “That was not a good sign,” Jacobs said.

Both parents and children cite gangs and crime as the worst things about life in Ventura County. Yet a large majority of families say they still feel very safe here.

And most parents say they think their communities will either change for the better or stay the same in the coming decade.

In fact, a sizable minority of parents responding to The Times Poll--43%--say they have seen no change in the quality of life in their communities over the last 10 years. The same number expect their neighborhoods to remain about the same as a place to raise children for the next decade.

“I think it’s going to be better,” said Norma Rodriguez, 30, an Oxnard mother of three who plans to buy a home there. “There’s a lot of outreach programs for children--the after-school programs, the Boys & Girls Club, flag football and soccer. My kids are involved in them all.”

Yolanda James, 40, whose family moved from the Crenshaw District of central Los Angeles, said she is optimistic about the future because of the determined efforts of her neighbors in Thousand Oaks.

“We have a generation of parents that is really pushing hard for the betterment of schools,” she said. “We are starting to get the crime element here, but we’re also starting to get that under control. We have a lot of community involvement.”

The Times Poll interviewed 1,224 parents and 460 children between the ages of 12 and 17 in Ventura County. The poll, conducted July 29 through Aug. 7, has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points for parents and plus or minus five percentage points for children.

Although the differences were not wide, the poll found that Latinos are more optimistic about the future than whites, and more likely to remain in the county.

It found that most parents think their communities’ changing racial makeup will have no effect on the quality of life, or will improve it. Only 15% of parents say such changes will make their communities worse, with 18% of white parents and 8% of Latino parents agreeing with that statement.

The poll found that lifelong Ventura County residents were less satisfied with their lives here than newcomers--and somewhat less optimistic about the future. More than two of five county natives want to move once their children are grown, compared to one-third of parents who have lived here less than five years.

The poll also found both an undercurrent of concern for the future and an optimism about it.

For example, while 39% of parents say they want to move out of the county after they raise their children, only 18% want their children to live outside the county when they grow up.

Many parents acknowledge such ambivalence when pondering their futures.

Pam Speer, 43, a Thousand Oaks mother of three, considers her Wildwood neighborhood an excellent place to live. But 17 years after moving there from Orange County, she and husband Tom have taken their last three vacations scouting communities in Utah, Colorado, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.

“There really are no other towns that we’ve seen that would entice us to leave Thousand Oaks,” she said. “Most of our neighbors are original owners. Our kids have grown up together. We do everything with our neighbors.”

Joann Siros, 31, said she and husband Carlos do not second-guess their move from Canoga Park to Simi Valley six years ago--but do wonder about the future.

“I think Simi Valley will stay a better place than Canoga Park,” she said. “But with all the things that are going on in Los Angeles County, you wonder if some of the problems are going to shift northward.”

Fresh in her mind, she said, is that county’s health care crisis. “If people can’t get health care there, they might start trying to relocate here, which puts more pressure on this system.”

And in Camarillo, Terry Snow, a 46-year-old retired Navy lieutenant commander, said Ventura County is a better place than most to raise children.

“But things are gradually getting worse,” he said. “There’s less worry here about crime, but there are more gangs now. The schools here have an excellent reputation, but they’re starting to deteriorate too. It’s headed on a downward track.”

Snow, a native of rural Washington state, doesn’t know where he can go where things would be better for his 16-year-old son, Brandon.

“There’s a lot of TV influence and movies are different now,” he said. “Things were more family-oriented back then.”

Local teen-agers, however, are less ambiguous about how Ventura County might fit into their plans.

Most teen-agers want to live here as adults, according to the poll. That contrasts with a sizable minority of parents who want to leave the county after their children are grown.

“I would rather live in Ventura County than any other area,” said Kimberly Stead, 16, who moved to Moorpark from the Valley seven years ago. “My bother’s going to college and he still lives at home. He doesn’t want to go anywhere else either. It’s a good area.”

Sixteen-year-old Alicia King, the chatter of her pizza parlor job echoing in the background, said she has no intention of leaving Oxnard.

“I’d like to stay here,” said the Channel Island High School junior. “I know everybody. And the people are friendly.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Families in Profile

Ventura County has a strong family orientation, with families making up 77% of households, compared to 69% statewide. It also is wealthier, healthier and has more two-parent families than the state norm.

THE FAMILIES

More than three-fourths of Ventura County households are families, or relatives living together. Family households by type:

Single male, with/kids or relatives

- Ventura County: 4.9%

- State: 6.3%

Single female with/kids relatives

- Ventura County: 12.0%

- State: 16.1%

Married couples

- Ventura County: 83.2%

- State: 77.6%

WHERE THE CHILDREN ARE

Percentage of total children in Ventura County, by community:

Oxnard: 23.9%

Simi Valley: 15.4%

Thousand Oaks: 14.2%

Unincorporated: 12.6%

Ventura: 11.8%

Camarillo: 7.0%

Moorpark: 4.7%

Santa Paula: 4.1%

Port Hueneme: 3.1%

Fillmore: 2.2%

Ojai: 1.0%

THE HAVES...THE HAVE NOTS

Average incomes:

- Single mothers with children: $23,506

- Single fathers with children: $39,191

- Married couples with children: $62,136

Percentage of children living in poverty, by race:

- Latino: 14.8%

- Black: 8.7%

- Asian: 3.8%

- White: 2.6% Percentage of families earning more than $75,000 (1990):

Countywide: 23.1%

Thousand Oaks: 37.4%

Moorpark: 32.7%

Simi Valley: 26.0%

Camarillo: 25.9%

Ventura: 18.5%

Ojai: 17.1%

Oxnard: 11.2%

Port Hueneme: 8.8%

Santa Paula: 8.6%

Fillmore: 6.8%

THE CHILDREN

About 197,000 children live in Ventura County.

County: Race/ethnicity of children:

White: 55.0%

Latino: 35.0%

Asian: 5.5%

Black: 2.6%

Other: 1.1%

Native Americans: 0.8%

THEIR HEALTH

Ventura County ranks high for care of babies.

Late or no prenatal care:

- Ventura County: 4.2%

- State: 5.9%

Low birth weight

- Ventura County: 5.2%

- State: 5.8%

Infant mortality per 1,000 live births

- Ventura County: 5.5%

- State: 6.8%

Immunizations of children by age 2

- Ventura County: 66.7%

- State: 55.4%