Community Impacts
The impact of the EOC on Isla Vista community governance has
been immense. For example, members of the church maintained
two parks in Isla Vista for several years--parks belonging to
the Isla Vista Recreation and Park District (IVRPD). These properties
were not being maintained adequately in their opinion, so they
decided to show the Park District what could be done with some
real volunteer effort.
There was no question that the parks, one in the 6600 block
of Sueno Road and the other in the 6600 block of Pasado/Trigo
Roads, did look much better because of their efforts. The Park
District re-assumed responsibility for their maintenance after
I.V. voters approved a tax increase in 1988.
In addition, volunteers from the EOC are the distributors of
hundreds of pounds of free surplus government food to I.V.'s
needy families each month.
They also have been steady participants in Isla Vista community
politics, with at least one member attending most I.V. Park
Board and Isla Vista Federation meetings over the past several
years. Until the Federation came into existence, they used to
attend meetings of the Community Council.
In fact, the church has its own seat in the Federation, making
its political presence equivalent to the local home-owners association,
the business association, and such elected bodies as the I.V.
Park Board and the UCSB Associated Students' Legislative Council.
It should be noted that the church does not represent all churches
in the Federation--they represent themselves.
Over the past several years, EOC members have run for several
positions of leadership in the community--both in Isla Vista
and Goleta. The example of McFarland and Lewis on the Goleta
Water Board (McFarland elected, Lewis appointed) has been mentioned
in Chapter 9. But, Lewis is also an elected member of the I.V.
Sanitary Board where he was able in 1987 to get a fellow church
member (Harvey Gish) appointed to a 2-1/2 year term resulting
from a vacancy Lewis helped arrange. In 1980, a slate of three
church members ran for the I.V. Park Board, hoping to take over
the District, which has a total of five members. However, all
three were defeated handily. In 1986, another slate of three
tried the same thing; however, all three were disqualified by
the County Elections Office, either for incomplete petitions
or because they did not live within the I.V. Park District boundaries.
And in 1988, one church member ran for the I.V. Park Board on
a slate with I.V. homeowners, but lost.
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