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© OxnardRENAISSANCE.ORG          OxnardRENAISSANCE Planning Newsletter          2017 ~ #3
               Better planning for Oxnard
In my effort to improve planning efforts in Oxnard, I am continually thwarted by unseen forces.

Recently I have come to understand that Oxnard is cursed by poor decision making and priorities.

It is not possible to properly plan for the future when our planning, and other City departments, are starved of staff.

Underfunded City departments cannot serve the people of Oxnard. 

Oxnard's current funding policy needs major improvements.

Some thoughts...
               Oxnard is a safe place
The idea that Oxnard is not a safe place is a lie. Why? Perhaps it is self-interest and fear-mongering.
Oxnard is a safe place, arguably one of the safest places in Ventura County. Oxnard has a lower crime rate than Ventura and Santa Barbara.

The "Gang Injunction" may have been created by good intentions but it became an unnecessary self-inflicted wound to the image of the city. And, further, it undermines our (the residents of Oxnard) perception of Oxnard as a safe place.

City and County electeds must be a part of the effort to get out the word: "Oxnard is safe for all".
               Oxnard is the largest economic engine                  in Ventura County
Oxnard is the largest potential economic engine for Ventura County. Yet, some people love to trash Oxnard - killing that potential. Why are we killing the goose that laid the golden egg?

When we trash Oxnard - the city with the enormous potential to regain its place as the economic driver for Ventura County - we kill that potential for both Oxnard and Ventura County. It makes no sense.

               Why does Oxnard have only 6 City                          Planners?

Check out the informal planner survey by clicking the following link:
http://oxnardrenaissance.org/downtown/oxnard-6-city-planners/
               What is the connection?
How can Oxnard plan for the future let alone keep up with current workloads...when operating with less than a third of the necessary planning staff? It is not possible.

How many other Oxnard departments suffer under the same pressure?

 
"Ventura cities per capita General Fund is in the $900 range - and Oxnard $600"

Oxnard's current funding policy needs major improvements.
               What's to be done?
There is no easy answer.

Join with OxnardRENAISSANCE

Change will only happen in Oxnard when people speak up and work together. Oxnard needs us, all of us. Let's find a way to make a difference.
Join OxnardRENAISSANCE.ORG
Video of the Week:
Joe Minicozzi, Principal of Urban3 highlights the value of downtown development and the implications of different growth patterns on city coffers.
TED Talk of the Week:
 
Can we rebuild our broken suburbs? Ellen Dunham-Jones shares a vision of dying malls rehabilitated, dead "big box" stores re-inhabited, and endless parking lots transformed into thriving wetlands.
               Planning Education
CityBuilding Exchange - for more information 
Highly Recommended ~ November 15-17                   New Orleans, LA

 Planning Academy - for more information
6 Sessions. Each session occurs on Thursday evenings beginning October 5, 2017, and ending November 9, 2017 - Location is Oxnard

 
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OxnardRENAISSANCE.ORG
Welcome Oxnard PlaceMakers

OxnardRENAISSANCE.ORG focuses on Oxnard planning issues. We support infill incremental and small-scale walkable appropriate housing and mixed-use development in downtown Oxnard, neighborhoods surrounding the downtown, and along Oxnard's main street corridors and civic nodes.

Oxnard is not that sleepy farm town of the past. We are a more than 225,000 strong multi-cultural population, and if we do not plan properly - sprawl will continue to be our future. Current Oxnard zoning and design guidelines incentivize sprawl, lousy architectural design, and poor planning.

Currently, Oxnard does not have appropriate Development Standards and Design Guidelines to allow for the proper implementation of the Downtown Oxnard Vision Plan Charrette, and a Downtown Development Director as recommended for implementation in the Vision Plan has yet to be hired by the City. Oxnard decision makers continue to fumble and stall.

There is no Architectural Review in the entire City of Oxnard (except for a very limited Downtown Design Review Committee). This is hard to believe - a SoCal coastal city - and developers can do whatever they want in terms of architectural design. Unacceptable.

We post on planning subjects that we think will inform and educate - while posts may not be specific to Oxnard - all will assist us to deepen our appreciation for and understanding of universal Traditional Neighborhood Development and New Urbanist planning principles and issues.

We hope you will stick around, but should your interests be elsewhere - you can opt-out of our posts by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of this message.

OxnardRENAISSANCE.ORG attempts to up-level the discourse in Oxnard by providing insightful planning related information each week. Be a part of the "Better Planning for Oxnard" conversation at OxnardRENAISSANCE.ORG

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