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See
Martin Jones's Court Filing
Martin
Jones may appear to be on a "one-man" quest as he
single-handedly launches a crusade against the manner in which
certain Oxnard City Government officials conduct PUBLIC business.
Mr.
Jones has already provided the Ventura County Grand Jury with some
juicy items which they are mulling over regarding other areas of
Oxnard City Government and 'their' interpretation of process.
The
current new filing, which the City is considering at closed session
on Feb. 25th, is herewith available by the above link.
At
issue is the fact that the City of Oxnard did not do the minimum
required public notice on Closed Negotiations on the THEATER
PROJECT.
The
Result: residents ended up with a 50-plus page jargon-filled paper
that details how the City will lease the property for the theatre. In
addition, the City
will be on the hook for ONE MILLION DOLLARS per year should the
Theatre not take in the money promised and YOU the taxpayer will
supply these millions..
Who
benefits, well, the City
has a Theater,
but it also has a giant tab to pay should the money not be
there...and with the reputation Oxnard has around the County and
around town, people have already expressed an unwillingness to go out
at night, and especially to the Downtown
area.
Again,
who benefits - the developer ( David
O. White, Expo Development Co., LLC
[Downtown Theater] - who hedged his bets by donating to the
front-line Oxnard City Council Candidates in last year's election
), gets the sweetheart deal plus a guaranteed ONE MILLION per Year
for the term of the Lease.
-
Escobel
- Things
to Do -
Channel
Islands Cinemas -
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OXNARD
CITY Make-Over ::::::::::: Who is being left behind?
Oxnard, the largest big brother of all other
Ventura County Cities is feeling a little left out.
Ventura gets a brand new downtown theatre and Oxnard wants to follow suit.
Oxnard gets a brand new Outlet and Camarillo follows suit and the
threads are finer. Calling it an Outlet doesn't seem to work so they
rename it the Oxnard
Home & Lifestyle Center.
Ventura and Camarillo portend to be upper crust communities and what
does Oxnard do?
Oxnard attempts to follow instead of lead. In order to be progressive
and more like their sibling sister sibling cities
Oxnard is conducting a major facial, a make-0ver which will put
Oxnard into a perceived 'higher class'.
The only prob is to do it means good people get hurt and the city
looses it's character.
Why do our newest housing starts now begin around $300-K?¿?
- Porque ...? -
Where are we going with our housing costs. $1500.oo
per mo. now for a flat on Gonzo Blvd....ugh!
The quality of new houses and their prices are step ups from our
older neighborhoods while all the new money goes into
new housing, no new money is coming in to maintain and restore some
of the older neighborhoods.
Assessment districts and zone taxing and money soaking for scenic
live-planted road dividers are starting to get to us.
SO the City is looking to revitalize Oxland and bring it up a 'Notch' as Emeril
would say.
The change of the Esplanade has saddened the senior citizens who used
to go for early morning walks in the mall.
Former Oxnard residents who come back to home are sad to see the old
mall gone. To make Oxnard look like "LA"
they brought in the BIG
BOX STORE concept. «« If you want to go
from Old Navy to Circuit City - you gots to get in your
ride and drive through the maze of stop signs and short streets and
reconnoiter your way over to the other side.
With no shopping trolley or bus and with no covering for rain and
inclement weather for the outside sidewalks the new Esplanade
causes many in the city to be nostalgic for the good old days. (Not
to mention the loss of some great food resources
at the old food court at the former Esplanade).
How do you do that? How do bring Oxnard in line with it's upper-scale
upstart neighboring communities?
A FACE LIFT is the answer. First option is to upgrade and up the
price on new housing. Done!
Next is to target the eye-sores. The City is trying to do this, but
at what cost and what result.
Improve the DownTown - build a theater and parking structure. Plans
for this are underway, but the local city watchdogs
such as Martin Jones
and Larry Stein
are warning of massive expense to the tax-payer.
When has that ever scared away a city planner or sitting Councilmember?
The theater, be it a good idea, is still not set in stone and the
means to make this possible are still in flux.
The College Park (CP)
make-over, which technically should be complete because of plan
presentation is in more flux
than any other project. The only make-over for CP was the November
vote to displace
the Rainbow Recovery and make that corner lot a fashionable rusty old
farm tool museum and social club for rich ranchers.
The Downtown Boy's and Girl's Club
on 7th
Street needed a Make-Over if you compared it to
it's newer sibling
Club over on 5th street. In a horrendous debunking of staff, paid
workers and volunteers and 420 families.
If you didn't compare the two clubs then the Downtown Club was
adequate and the repairs it needed were minimal.
But in a frantic effort to upgrade, Oxnard leadership that sat on the
Club's Board made the decision to rapidly close
the downtown facility and again the word "Displace" comes
into this story.
Old Saints John of
Jerusalem Hospital on F and Doris Streets. This
monster of asbestos and concrete has been due
for make-over and has been shunted around from one project developer
to another. Every year, residents of the
Wilson Neighborhood have been told, it's coming, it's coming - change
is on the way.
Nothing for a decade has been done other than provide gang hot-shots
with spray cans and rocks a convenient target
for their youthful art...or vandalism if you were born before 1960.
The Face Lift of Oxnard is strategically centered on the Northern
sectors of the City, obviously by-passing South Oxnard
and all the while ignoring such needs as street paving,
infrastructure improvements and a general official glance to the South
just to remedy some of the problems.
Areas that need work and help,
as seen by the OxJo are the following:
-- Oxnard Blvd. from 5-Points
to Gonzales:
Improve store fronts, beautify the views to
those who travel down the Boulevard.
-- Rice Road:
With the coming PLV Road interchange and the current overflow of cars
and trucks, Rice Road is steadily and
quickly degrading and becoming more and more of a hazard - especially
the Channel Islands Blvd. turn-off.
-- Rose Avenue:
If there is any street to ALWAYS AVOID - Via Rosie Rosario is it. If
you like to stand still in traffic, then this be your street.
Rose has always been a place to park instead of drive and the new
improvements will not help - just take away about five minutes
from your hour wait.
-- The TMC Problem:
Oxnard is now a major victim of TMC Syndrome (TMC = Too Many Cars).
When it used to be simple ten minute drive from one end of town to
the other - go figure - it now takes a half hour
for the same trip. Side streets are becoming more and more dangerous
as short-cutting drivers seeking new ways
to beat traffic will treat the 25-mph residential streets as
race-ways and private shortcuts for their own personal use.
People are not stopping at Stop Signs - more than one car is breezing
thru the stop sign - and again more folks are running stop signs.
What does the City do to remedy the TMC problem?
BUILD MORE HOUSES AND BRING IN MORE PEOPLE AND
MORE CARS. Seems reasonable doesn't it.
But nobody goes to the Planning Commission to complain. They all
complain when the farmland is sectioned off and
the foundations are laid - just at the time when it is way way
too late.
How do you help? How do you make changes? Get involved. Attend City
Council, the Planning Commission,
attend and run for the Neighborhood Council, write letters to the
editor and be active and proactive before it's too late.
-30-
bang bang boom-boom at Costco Monday. Said to be between two speeding cars.
(( Read the VC Star for more details ))
WTC
RAGE
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Speed of Sound Acidzz
Trip::::
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North Web Site
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