A few months ago, my friend was hit by a car in Ojai while on her e-bike and her leg was broken. Shortly after, I saw a pair of kids riding an e-bike without helmets, and I thought to myself something should be done about e-bike safety in Ojai.
This wasn’t the first time I’d wished to see a change in my community but hadn’t known how to take action. At 17 years old, it had never really occurred to me that I have a place in the sphere of local politics. But with the introduction of the Mayor’s Youth Council, I’m now part of a group where I feel I have the platform and support to help create the changes I want to see happen.
Mayor Betsy Stix came up with the idea for the council last spring, inspired by youth commissions in other cities. “Its mission is to teach Ojai Valley high schoolers how city government works, to familiarize the students with local issues and help them identify bold solutions to these issues, and to encourage them to participate in local government by sharing their opinions on specific council agenda items, either in person or online.”
The idea of bringing younger voices and new perspectives to the City Council was exciting to Stix. “I think this is what we really need,” she said. “To solve… the problems that we have on our planet, we need different ways of looking at issues – a much more holistic approach – because we are all connected and everything we do affects everybody around us.”
On September 26th, the initiative was approved at the City Council, and on November 7th the group assembled for the first time. Air Pizza owner Tere Karabatos generously provided a meeting space and pizza.
In attendance were twenty one students, myself included, from five local high schools – Ojai Valley School, Thacher, Villanova, Oak Grove, and Besant Hill (Nordhoff had a scheduling issue but will be there next time). Facilitating the meeting were the three Youth Council co-chairs Chris Engel, Kathryn Hotchkiss, and Peggy Grunert, as well as Stix herself.
After introductions, we shared what we believe are the biggest issues impacting Ojai’s youth. Almost every student named the climate crisis as one of their top concerns, so we split up into smaller teams and began to brainstorm Ojai-specific environmental problems and potential solutions.
The diverse ideas we came up with addressed everything from pesticide and rodenticide usage, to drought, to wildfire danger, to oil fracking. “You all were so inspiring and passionate… that it gave me such hope for the future,” said co-chair Engel.
We also visited the Ojai City Council website, reading through the agenda items and previous minutes to get a sense of how the City Council meetings work.
At future Youth Council meetings, which are held monthly, we will hear from guest speakers for information about local organizations. First up will be Abrah Steward, a Besant Hill and UC Berkeley alumni. She is Program Manager for the nonprofit CFROG, which serves as a watchdog organization monitoring oil and gas operations in Ventura county.
By January, the hope is for us Youth Council members to begin making public comments and proposals at the City Council meetings or via email. “I feel like it’s important to have youth voices and representation in the government and in the community,” said Karin Hahn, a member from Ojai Valley School.
However, Laura Rearwin Ward, in her recent opinion piece for the Ojai Valley News, “Mayor’s Youth Council: Education or Indoctrination?”, argued that Stix has created the group to push her personal agenda.
“Will [Ojai Valley Educators] be fooled or pressured into promoting the personal issues and campaigns of an elected official or council majority? Will parents allow their children to be used by a special-interest group inside City Hall to quite possibly stack agenda comments?” she asked.
We young councilmembers are capable of thinking for ourselves, as was demonstrated in the ideas we produced independently of adults. But Stix and the co-chairs do not intend to tell us what to think anyways; their role is to empower our engagement in civil discourse.
“I think the three co-chairs agree wholeheartedly that whatever our personal opinions are can’t be conveyed to you all,” said co-chair Engel. “I welcome anyone to come and sit in so that they can see that.”
Co-chair Grunert reiterated this thought. “People… felt that it was going to be Betsy’s agenda, but it clearly is not – it is your agenda,” she said.
This has held true in my experience so far. At the first meeting, it was mainly students speaking while Stix and the co-chairs listened.
I am so excited to have been given this opportunity to learn more about local politics, to be a voice for Ojai’s youth, and to effect change in my community.
In the words of Margaret Mead, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change the world. In fact, it’s the only thing that ever has.”