Ventura City Hall

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the incredible building I’m lucky to work in as a full time employee (by day) for the City of Ventura.  It originally was built as a courthouse by architect Albert C. Martin, but in 1968 it was condemned as an earthquake risk.  The City stepped up and bought it and renovated it up to code, and we’ve been here ever since.

The City came up with a number of events throughout the day.  I took the ghost story tour that was offered this afternoon with one of the nation’s top ghost hunter’s, Richard Senate.  It was actually quite interesting.  He gave us some background and history on the building while telling stories of ghost sightings through the years.

Then this afternoon most of us City Hall employees and a whole bunch of Venturans met on the front lawn where we had our photo taken.  We were arrange to spell “100”.  I haven’t seen the photo, but it was a little like herding kittens.

Mayor Mike Tracy made a speech, a newly commissioned statue was unveiled, a Time Capsule was involved somewhere along the way, but halfway through the day it made me reflect on my own six-year anniversary coming up with the City.  I’ve had a lot of good times and for the most part, it’s a pretty good crew I get to work with in Engineering. I love our motto, “Making Ventura Even Better!”  And I’d like to think we really do.

Working anyplace for forty hours out of the week can either take away or enhance your life and it’s really up to you to make the most of what you’ve got.  I love the fact that the building is just amazing.  The view overlooking the Pacific ocean and downtown Ventura really can’t be beat.  Up behind City is my basketball court where wildlife has been known to wander by.  A lot of the employees (especially in my area) are very much into fitness and take advantage of our gym and/or the basketball court making up their very own cross fitness training routines. They really are inspiring.   And my Transportation crew I work with are a great bunch of guys.  Kind of nice being the only female in the group.

We have established so many traditions in Transportation as well as the special events we brainstorm and come up with.   You gotta love ice cream Tuesdays (or whatever day of the week we feel like ice cream), burritos on Thursday mornings for our weekly meeting, the “booth rule”, guacamole and chips from time to time, the fast food burger challenge, pie day, bowling, beer tasting 101…and 102, beach days, barbecues, ride-your-bike-to-work week, field trips to Santa Monica & Long Beach, plus we’ve had a number of  interns we’ve raised and helped them move on to bigger & better things.  Good Times!  Yep, we do have fun.

So I decided to throw together a photo gallery of City Hall, the building, my basketball court, and my crew.  Hope you enjoy!