Oxnard City Council Votes
YES to FRY's Electronix !

City Council votes 4-1 in favor of bringing Anchor Store to 'blighted' Marketplace Shopping Center

The Oxnard City Council approved a $2.8 million loan guarantee to entice mega-super-electronic Giant FRY's to locate at 1901 Ventura Blvd along the 101 coorridor.

The only vote against the proposal came from Councilmember John Zaragoza who felt that using such a large amount of City reserve cash may not be in the best in the interest of the city, but the remaining Council saw this amount as a minor investment to revitalize a dying market center and literally save such large neighbors as the Sports Chalet and Office Depot from bailing from the Marketplace Center.

Center owner Mike Penrod told the City Council that without Fry's coming in and being the anchor, that his center would surely fold.  Fry's was seriously considering Camarillo as their first choice, but a lagging development proposal in Camarillo made Oxnard the better choice.   According to Penrod, Fry's has had their eye on Oxnard for the past three years and Oxnard was the first choice.

Various other store owners from the Center came to ask the Council to consider voting yes and several citizens, Joe Ruscio, Ventura Fernandez, and Bert Perello came to the podium to address their concerns which weighed more negative against the project.  Mayoral candidate Bill Winter spoke in open favor of the Council approving the loan and getting Fry's to come to Oxnard.

Councilmember Andres Herrera even modified his motion to make the deal better for John Zaragoza to vote in favor of it and Zaragoza kept his "No" vote on the table, but John was out-voted by a wide margin.

The addition of Fry's to the Oxnard Business-scape will attract customers from as far away as Westlake to the South, Fillmore to the east and Santa Maria/Paso Robles to the north.  Fry's will definitely put Oxnard on the Electronic Map and the 250 jobs it will bring and the advertising revenue alone will make Oxnard a much more prosperous community.