OJAI : $60,000 Earmarked for Children’s Center

The Ojai Redevelopment Agency has reserved $60,000 in its preliminary 1991-92 budget as seed money for a latchkey children’s center in downtown Ojai.

City Manager Andrew Belknap, the agency’s director, said a low-interest loan could be offered to professional child-care providers to run an activities center for young children before and after school.

The city has asked the Ojai Unified School District if it would be interested in providing a facility, Belknap said.

District Supt. Andrew Smidt said two Meiners Oaks elementary school teachers approached him about developing a latchkey program after a city study ranked it as a critical need in Ojai.

Smidt said he has not proposed the concept to the school board.

He said the district might be able to help care providers obtain portable classrooms and lease property on district grounds.

“Our interest is not monetary,” Smidt said.

“If the kids sometimes referred to as latchkey children have care provided by trained professionals, we think they will be better students in our schools.”

Belknap said placing the center near district offices and a new park-and-ride lot could further the city’s goals to reduce traffic congestion.

The 80-space parking lot will be developed this summer at 414 E. Ojai Ave., with taxi stands and transfer stations for the Ojai Trolley and Ventura bus connections.