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The Oxnard Journal STATEMENT FROM ALAN T. WINGO ELECTED CHAIRMAN OF THE OXNARD INTER-NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL FORUM (INCF) At the express request of Oxnard Mayor Manuel Lopez and County Supervisor John Flynn, I was asked to prepare a Statement representing the Inter-Neighborhood Council Forum, (INCF), of Oxnard for the Press Conference of 24 April, regarding the proposed Paragon/Maidu Casino project at the Oxnard Factory Outlet. I expressed concerns communicated to me by many of the neighborhood councils across the City of Oxnard, but I emphasized that "I could not represent the vote of the INCF organization as time constraints had made that action impossible." Much to my dismay, following the Press Conference, not one* of the media representatives present at the Press Conference, reported the NEIGHBORHOOD's concerns, much less even making mention of my presence at the Press Conference as THE official representative of the Oxnard Neighborhood Council organization. Thank God for the Oxnard Journal. In their on-going efforts to see to it that the public gets the "whole story", the Oxnard Journal IS THE ONLY local news media reporting as much as it can on the casino issue and making its best attempts to promote the BIG PICTURE. • Points Made That Never Reached the Public • (A) With the Exception of Mayor Lopez and Councilman Zaragoza - No effort has been made by the City Council, nor the City Staff, nor the (alleged) Maidu Tribal Representatives, nor PARAGON Gaming of Las Vegas, to communicate with the INCF or even more importantly, with the neighborhoods directly impacted by this huge project. This is contrary to the standard procedure with any development, especially one with the environmental impact this project will bring to its immediate neighbors. (B) On April 12, the Economic Development Corp. (EDC) and the Maidu Indians forwarded a FULL description of the proposal to the City Council, City Staff and the City Mayor's Office. Weeks after this info was received, certain Oxnard Council members stated that they knew nothing of the proposal until news of it came out in the Oxnard Star. Absolutely untrue. This stalling of information made it virtually impossible to get the casino issue on the agenda and permit the INCF to vote on a formal stand on the issue of the casino. These items of concern should have been published and in this chairman's opinion, was no mistake or oversight. Misleading statements by our elected officials should immediately be interpreted as a red flag that something is very wrong. THIS IS OUR CITY. We have the right to know ALL the facts. We will be watching, listening, researching and reporting (via the Oxnard Journal), so honesty is strongly recommended. /s / Alan T. Wingo * Media present were: VC Star - LA Times - KEYT-TV - KVTA-AM Editor's Note: The Oxnard Journal was Present to record and report on the conference and is the only local media outlet to have the entire remarks of Mayor Lopez available for the citizens (and the world) to read.