City Council Meets
The Oxnard City Council will meet
at 1 p.m.
Tues - 30 November
to railroad Field of Dreams
Into a lucrative City Contract
for commercializing
Oxnard's College Park
| BertG opines
correctly that all of us might not be "tree huggers" and that our
esteemed editor should lighten up on the L:NG issue. Actually, birds, bees, fishes and other critters aside, the LNG issue has more to do with safety and money. The ultra-high-pressure, ultra-high-volume pipelines can and do blow up even as recently as just yesterday. If such a pipeline passes within 1.3 miles of your residence or business, nice knowing you! It's hard to get precise figures but the various developers for just the Cabrillo Port project will have invested more than $3,000,000,000 before the first tanker arrives. The Cabrillo Port is an intra-state project meaning all the gas they deliver will be used within California. Now we all know who will pay them back and meets their profit expectations. If folks think Cabrillo Port and the other LNG projects will reduce their heating bills, they've got a hard think coming up! -- Roger P ------------------- |
|
Dear friends and supporters:
Ms. Deirdre Frank, Esquire, gracefully accepted the Committee
Board's request to submit to the Oxnard City Clerk the 1168 signed
petitions. On Monday, November 29th at 2:00 PM, Ms. Frank brought the
1168 signed petitions (4,598 signatures)
to the Oxnard City Clerk, Daniel Martinez. She handed the petitions to
him. Mr. Martinez, the elected City Clerk, refused to receive the
petitions stating that there were an insufficient number of signatures
and that the petitions were submitted late.
Ms. Frank explained to the City Clerk that the Committee is
contesting these two issues and would be seeking the advice of an
Administrative Law Judge and that the City Clerk was obligated to
receive the 1168 petitions signed by registered voters living in the
City of Oxnard.
Mr. Martinez refused to touch the petitions.
THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE HAS BEEN
REJECTED!
Will keep you informed as future developments occur.
Phil M.
----- U P D A T E -----
Dear friends and supporters:
I need to tell everyone that the message I previously sent was
intended to identify that the City Clerk did not accept our petitions
today. I am told that "Mr. Martinez was extremely nice and pointed to
specific legal references when discussing the matter with me [Ms.
Frank]. He shared his view that the date should have been Nov. 16 to
submit the matter."
But, the document provided to Mr. Jones in May was not in a form that
could be printed because it did not include the required "date" for
the City Attorney's signature and thus could not be printed in the
media. Mrs. Jones, therefore, had to return to the City to get the
City to provide her with that date. The date of the City Attorney's
signature was finally given to Mrs. Jones by the City on June 3rd.
180 days from June 3rd is November 30th.
We have already discussed the intervention by the City to get the
signature gatherers expelled from the school sites where they
previously had received permission from the school principals so I
will not go into that issue again.
Ms. Frank only agreed to deliver our petitions and was not providing
any legal services to the Committee in so doing.
I apologize for any misunderstanding but felt that given each of your
personal involvements in gathering signatures you deserved to hear the
current status of our project.
Respectfully,
Phil M
|
College Park Fiasco
What Happened to the agreement,
findings, & recommendations
of the College Park Review Committee?
| The City of Oxnard has betrayed
the citizens of Oxnard regarding the use of College Park. When Oxnard received College Park from the County in June 2000 it was stipulated that College Park be used for low impact park and recreation purposes. Mayor Lopez signed this agreement with the County and told the Board of Supervisors that the City of Oxnard had the funds to develop College Park. The City then conducted several community meetings to receive input from Oxnard residents as to the ultimate future design and uses of College Park. Subsequently the College Park Advisory Commute (CPAC) was formed to hammer out the details on how College Park was to be developed. The 12 member CPAC Committee met for an entire year. The Parks and Recreation Commission reviewed the CPAC recommendations and made some changes. On September 26, 2002 the City Council approved the final College Park Master Plan. When the Master Plan was approved Michael Henderson, Parks & Facilities Superintendent wrote “It is anticipated that the conceptual plan of the park as proposed would cost approximately $12 to $15 million excluding the cost of the Farm Heritage Museum. The various Park amenities would be developed incrementally utilizing a variety of funding sources. (i.e. 2000 and 2002 State Bond Act Funds, Quimby, State and/or/Federal Grant monies).” On November 4, 2004 the City of Oxnard began circulation of an EIR covering the September 26, 2002 Master Plan. On November 2, 2004 the City Council voted to ask the State for 2 million in competitive grant money and to use $1 million of the more than 3 million dollars that the City has at it’s disposure of guaranteed State Grant money. On November 2, it was decided to start the park by building 5 soccer fields, more parking spaces, 2 children’s playgrounds and other amenities. More than 2 million dollars in guaranteed State Grant money is still available to spend on the rest of the park and the City has the opportunity to apply for more completive grant money. Also the City Council continually tells us they have more than 20 million dollars in reserve funds which in my view should be used on this park. After 4 years of hard work on the part of the community the City Council on Tuesday, November 23, 2004 intends to change the entire concept of building College Park. The City of Oxnard now wants to give more than 15 million dollars to a corporation called Big League Dreams who would construct portions of College Park and operate it as a commercial operation. The 15 million dollars would come from new bonds the City would sell and does not include construction of the community center that was part of the original Master Plan. Big League Dreams operates on a “pay to play” concept and would seek ball players from cities as far away as Bakersfield to come to Oxnard to play ball. College Park would no longer be for local use but for everyone who could be induced to come to Oxnard. College Park would not be used for low impact park and recreation purposes even though the City promised that is how it would be developed. In addition the historic farm buildings would be destroyed and in their place a restaurant and sports bar would be built and operated by Big League Dreams. I asked Mr. Henderson how a restaurant and bar fit into the College Park Master Plan. Henderson stated that it was always proposed to serve food and beverage at the park. Yes, part of the Master Plan was to build several small stands where local Little League Teams could sell soft drinks and chips to make money for their teams. A restaurant and sports bar was never part of the plan. The Big League plan obliterates the opportunity for children to make money by selling sodas and candy for their teams. Instead Big League Dreams will vigorously promote the sale of alcohol since the sale of alcohol is a big revenue producer. In the last three weeks the City of Oxnard has completely changed the concept of College Park. Fours years of hard work and planning by the community in often contentious meetings is now being ignored. The four year democratic process is being thrown out the window. I hope you can come to the City Council Meeting on November 23,
2004, at 6:30 p.m. to tell the City Council what you think of their
duplicity.
|
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A restaurant inside college park will takes away venues from LOCAL SPORTS TEAMS, revenues generated from the proposed snack bars. 6 to 8 restaurants are going in across the street at Rose & Channel Islands Including a Starbucks. There is no need for a privately run restaurant to be on publicly owned land, especially one that will sell beer and wine.
The Kato Amphitheater should be preserved. When used, music play there
does not affect local neighborhoods. The sound is absorbed by the
hill. People, like me, complained about the noise only on those
occasions when concerts at the park did not take place in the
amphitheater, but in another part of the park. The Kato Amphitheater
cost almost $1,000,000 to construct, taxpayer dollars. More soccer
fields are planned for Campus Park and Sport Park (If and when the
city acquires the land for the promised Sports Park).
Why is the city intent of building a sports park instead of a regional
recreational park with some sport fields when a Sports Park planned
elsewhere?
Larry Stein |
| It appears that the City of Oxnard
has always made up its mind to grant BIG LEAGUE DREAMS (or some other
sweetheart Developer) access to and overall control and and operation of
College Park. Locals are now asking what happened to the
College Park Master Plan - It seemed odd when Neighborhood Chairs each
got a packet from Parks and Rec about a College Park EIR. Now it seems
this EIR was a smoke screen to cover the City's actual plans for College
Park. Now - this next week it seems imperative for the Council to rush into agreement for the City to pay for the improvements and a contractor such as Big League Dreams (BLD) or Major League Softball (MLS) "assist the City in the maintenance and operations 'aspects'...." So All the Work which the Oxnard Volunteers put forth for a College Park use plan back in 1999-2000 was all a sham. Oxnard blew its opportunity to make a real change on the Council last November 2nd. It will be interesting to see if the residents who live around the College Park area have any voice on the New Council. An agenda item at the next Saviers Road Redesign Team is this new proposal:
Oxnard City Council, 7:00pm, Tues.,
November 23
It is also interesting to note that the Council will hear this
approval item very late in their agenda. a.d. |
|
|
Craig's List // LA // SB //
| To inform the Public ....... Our two new Council members, Tom Holden and Tim Flynn are above board on their campaign contributions. Tim Flynn did actually NOT accept any money from any developer as he claimed in his campaign. So Flynn deserves a hand for doing that well. Tom Holden was rumored to have accepted a campaign contrib from BHP-LNG-Billy-ton
- You can go to the Oxnard City Clerk's office and review the financial
campaign statements (CA Form 410's) of any municipal candidate they
wish. |
..
•
Avie Guerra's Oxnard News Page
........................
Recent Ox Jo Issues
since August 2004
11 03 04
COXOC-13
Count Down
In-Junk-Shun
Gang Signs - OSJ
13-Year-old's Cry
The 04-04-04 OxJo
Leo Medina
Javier Ambriz, 23 years, of Oxnard
ATTENTION:
THE DAY OF THE LNG HEARINGS HAS ARRIVED!
HEARINGS FOR BHP BILLITON LNG FACILITY AND PIPELINES
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 30
Location:
Oxnard Performing Arts Center
800 Hobson Way, Oxnard
Open Houses:
10:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon
4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Hearings:
1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
COMMUNITY RALLY: 5:30
pmJoin us for as much time as you can on Tuesday, beginning at 10:30am. Wear your "no LNG" buttons. We will have more buttons and signs to carry, or you may make your own signs. Invite your friends to join you. Speak at the 1:00pm or 6:30pm hearings and tell the State Lands Commission and U.S. Coast Guard that the negative impacts on our community have not been addressed or mitigated.
-----------------------------------------------------------Mobilize ~~ VENTURA COUNTY & Malibu.....
At last week’s Community
Briefing on the dangers of Liquefied Natural Gas or LNG, more than 100
Sierra Club members, community activists and concerned citizens gathered
to learn about the big oil companies’ dangerous LNG proposals for
At the briefing people
discussed the numerous threats that these terminals, tankers and pipelines
pose to
The Sierra Club’s Al
Sanders spoke about the threat LNG poses to
Irma Lopez of the League
of United Latin American Citizens reminded attendees of the dangers of
high pressure pipelines running near homes and school sites that will put
children and neighborhoods at risk.
And again and again we
heard how
Don't let corporate
profits put our community and our quality of life at risk!
TWO THINGS YOU CAN DO TO
1. ATTEND THE FEDERAL
AND STATE LNG HEARING
WHERE:
WHEN: Community Rally
to stop LNG begins at
5:30PM
Government Hearing begins
at
Attend the Rally and the
hearing and do your part to protect
2. THEN, WHEN YOU GET
HOME, WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES,
WHERE TO SEND YOUR LETTER
Write to
letters@latimes.com,
letters@venturacountystar.com,
editor@vcreporter.com
AFTER YOU SEND YOUR
LETTER SEND ME A COPY IN A SEPARATE EMAIL TO
savethecoast@sierraclub.org,
so we can hand your letter to decision makers
POINTS TO MAKE IN YOUR
LETTER
·
THE STATE HAS NOT EVEN HELD HEARINGS TO DETERMINE IF WE NEED
LNG, but two proposals to bring massive amounts of this polluting fossil
fuel into
·
SLOW DOWN
·
Our governor prioritizes job creation for
·
Building the infrastructure for LNG (terminals, pipelines,
tanker docks etc.) will cost billions of dollars. And once LNG is here,
it will not be going away because the corporations and the state will want
to make their money back. This money could be invested in our children’s
future by spending money on solar, wind and other renewable, non-polluting
and far safer energy options.
·
HUGE ENERGY CORPORATIONS ARE CALLING ALL THE SHOTS!
Multinational oil companies are choosing for themselves the cheapest and
easiest options to build LNG terminals, rather that having the state
decide where, when or even if we should allow corporations to apply to
bring dangerous LNG terminals and tankers to California’s coast.
·
LNG IS JUST ANOTHER FOSSIL FUEL THAT WILL INCREASE GLOBAL
WARMING. And the LNG is going to continue to tie our children’s future to
the
Thank you for taking
action to protect
Mark.
|
The
statement that they intend to use the existing gas transmission line
is untrue.
The EIR shows they will start with that line but then intend to install an entirely new transmission pipe system that would go through public right aways and through private property.
A person I know who is drilling for gas
locally and has been in the oil and gas business for 30 years says
that the installation of such a transmission line through a highly
populated area would be, in his experience, "unprecedented." He
also says that the off-shore plant should not be the focus of our
opposition as it is basically safe but the real threat are ruptures
to the line and the damage it could cause.
For a real Example - see Bob Schuster's website which shows pictures of such an explosion in rural New Mexico which killed 12 people - that was a 30 inch transmission line and the line they want to put in here is a 36 inch line.
My friend has already informed three
farmland owners that this project intends to have this gas line
cross their land and none of them were aware of it and they now also
intend to join our opposition. I am assuming these private
landowners would be losing some of their property to eminent domain
and than having to live with the potential explosion from a break in
the pipeline.
Fred Rosenmund
Oxnard, Calif, |
| Oxnard City Council
plans a Fast One --- Just as in Baseball - the fast pitch usually gets the desired results --- and the Oxnard City Council is on the mound, and winding up to do a fast-ball pitch past the citizens at the plate with their Force-Fed "Gimme a Baseball Franchise" Play - which seems to be on the "Fast Trak" thanks to Out-Going Bedford Pinkard - but don't count Mayor Lopez out of the Play -=- he may bunt. No telling where anyone else will be - the Good Cop // Bad Cop play by the Council last week with all except Andy Herrera voting in favor of the College Park =- Master Disaster Plan for a Franchise was an interesting move - made it look like the entire Council was not all totally onboard with the idea, which in essence it was. With the apparent rush by out-going Bedford Pinkard to give Big League Dreams a first look at some precious real Real Estate makes one wonder if Bedford wants first dib at the Concessionaire's Contract. The City Staff - mostly Parks, was either working hard over the Thanksgiving day weekend - or else Harry and the Mike Hendersons had their plan already on the share-drive and just waiting for the Council to say "Print". Either way the City Council will meet on Black Tuesday, which is the self-same day that the City of Oxnard hosts an LNG public forum or public dog-and-donkey show to appease the Nay on LNG-Sayers and allow the forces that be to go ahead and breach our peace with their Fart-Tub Gas Lines (FTGL). So the Oxnard Journal must be two places at one time along with the rest of the population of Oxnard - either be at council or be at the rally. Again, rumor-mills are churning that the Council wants to bifurcate the attention of the rabble-rousing citizens and make them be in two places at once with the Council and the LNG Public Hearing. Yes, Oxnard is the City that Cares and where is Tom Holden and Timmy Flynn on this issue? Raising the bar? Gimme a Break.
Life goes on --- be somewhere on Tuesday - November 30th and Do
Something for the City of Oxnard, besides sitting on your ass with a
beer and watching the Plasma HDTV glow while you zone out................Don't
ignore your City - Go Out for the LNG hearings..... Go Out for Oxnard on
Tuesday...........
bill winter
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|
RALLY AGAINST LNG
SET FOR TUESDAY - 30 NOVEMBER 2004 Many
community members have begun plans for a large, vocal anti-LNG rally
to demonstrate that there is opposition to the LNG re-gasification and
storage project planned for Oxnard. This rally will be held on the
same date and immediately prior to public hearings scheduled for that
night at the All concerned persons in our community are welcome, invited and encouraged to attend and show their strong opposition to this immense industrial project. Our efforts would be much more effective with a large crowd of interested persons in attendance. It is time to show that residents are very concerned about safety precautions; the past history of immense environmental destruction by this foreign-owned and operated corporation; the documented indifference of this applicant to state and local concerns and the socio-economic impact upon our city and region. There is nothing good about this project; and it is obvious that we can't rely upon our elected officials to act in the best interests of citizens and challenge this LNG plant. The effort must be made by speaking as one large voice to demonstrate against this horrible project.
Thanks for your help in notifying
interested persons.
Joe
Joe O'Neill
Oxnard, CA
For
more detailed LNG Info:::::
www.TimRileyLaw.com |
| Prudent people do not join a rally
just because other people are encouraging them to. One must be given reasons why residents should not allow this in their city or county. What are the pros and cons? Just because you 'might' be a "tree hugger" doesn't make all the board members tree huggers too.....just my thought on this subject. Have a good day. BertG |
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=
-=-=-=--=-=-=-=Debbie's Little Secret - Back again for ChristMas
There is one Christmas Carol that has always baffled me. What in the
world do Leaping Lords, French Hens, Swimming Swans, and especially, the
Partridge who wont come out of the Pear Tree have to do with Christmas?
Well, today I found out, thanks to the Internet. From
1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice
their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a Catechism
song for young Catholics. It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning
plus a hidden meaning known only to members of the church. Each element in
the carol has a code word for a religious reality which the children could
remember.
The Partridge in a pear tree was JESUS CHRIST.
Two turtle doves were the
OLD and NEW TESTAMENTS.
Three French hens stood for FAITH, HOPE AND LOVE.
The four calling birds were the four gospels of MATTHEW, MARK, LUKE AND JOHN.
The five golden rings recalled the TORAH or LAW,
the first books of the OLD TESTAMENT.
The six geese a-laying stood for the
SIX DAYS OF CREATION.
Seven swans a-swimming represented the
SEVEN FOLD GIFTS of the HOLY SPIRIT: PROPHESY, SERVING, TEACHING,
EXHORTATION, CONTRIBUTION, LEADERSHIP, and MERCY.
The eight maids a-milking were the eight BEATITUDES.
Nine ladies dancing were NINE FRUITS of the
HOLY SPIRIT: LOVE, JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE, KINDNESS, GOODNESS, FAITHFULNESS,
GENTLENESS, and SELF-CONTROL.
The ten Lords aleaping were the
TEN COMMANDMENTS.
The eleven pipers piping stood for the
ELEVEN FAITHFUL DISCIPLES.
The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the
TWELVE POINTS of BELIEF in the
APOSTLES CREED.
So there is your history for today. This knowledge was shared with me and I found it interesting and enlightening and now I know how the strange song became a Christmas Carol.
Debbie Kilpatrick ---
Ox Jo =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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NARDCORE LOWRIDERS
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