‘Bird’ scooters won’t nest in Ventura just yet

Electronic scooter companies, like Bird or Lime, have landed in cities across California, but Ventura is hesitant.

On Tuesday night, the city council unanimously passed an emergency ordinance to ban electric scooters.

It comes after the scooter sharing company, Bird applied for a business license to operate in Ventura.

The city wants to see how others areas manage the scooters before making a decision to bring them to downtown.

Some concerns stated at Tuesday’s meeting are potential liabilities and cluttering that they’ve brought to some city streets.

Marlyss Auster is the President and CEO of the Ventura Visitors and Convention Bureau. She attended Tuesday’s meeting.

“I am really proud of the strategic approach that they took with it because so many communities really have been dealing with the aftermath of them just being dropped off,” said Auster.

For the city council, approving electric scooters is low on the totem pole. City Attorney Gregory Diaz mentioned during the meeting they want to focus on getting Thomas Fire victims back in their homes and road rebuilding projects before approval.

And for Seth Williams who manages Ventura Bike Depot, the delay is welcome. He is worried the arrival of electric scooters will hurt business.

“A lot of other bike shops that are down in Santa Monica say they are struggling,” said Smith. “It’s really impacted their business and changed how they’ve had to do things.”

The council did not mention when they would revisit the issue.