By David Courtland and Carlos Garcia
Oxnard City Council candidates Bert Perello and current city council member for District 1 and John Barrick assistant district attorney for the County of Ventura, traded barbs at an Oct. 7 forum for the city’s District 1 candidates, as incumbent Perello stood on his record and Barrick questioned that record.
Sponsored by the city’s Inter-Neighborhood Council Organization (INCO), the forum also featured Perello’s other challenger, Eduardo Huerta.
“At the League of Women Voters forum (Barrick) said, and I quote, ‘I haven’t examined the budget,’ end quote,” said Perello, referring to a Sept. 30 candidate forum. “He also didn’t know why the Carnegie Museum reopening is delayed and he didn’t know why the Strawberry Festival left.”
“I know these answers because I have been doing the work for 13 years,” Perello continued in his opening statement. “If you’re running for council you should know them too.”
Barrick later answered by taking a shot at two of Perello’s favorite campaign topics, the city’s improved financial health and Measure E, which would make the city’s temporary sales tax permanent.
“If the city is so financially stable, as Mr. Perello keeps claiming, then why do we need the tax increase?” asked Barrick. “Because you can’t argue it both ways, you can’t say the city is financially stable, but then argue, if you don’t approve this tax increase, good luck getting a cop to come to your house.”
Barrick added that he would like to see the sales tax lowered because he had spoken to people who specifically avoided shopping in Oxnard because of the sales tax.
For his part Huerta suggested reexamining ongoing projects, like improving the Oxnard Performing Arts Center.
“There’s a lot of infrastructure that needs to be fixed, but there’s not a lot of money coming in,” said Huerta. “So I think there needs to be a reassessment of organizations to see where we can revamp our community.”
Huerta and Barrick disagreed on whether INCO was serving its purpose, with Huerta crediting INCO for bringing grassroots concerns to the council while Barrick said he thought having INCO answer to the city manager kept it from communicating with the council.
Huerta and Perello both said repairing the city’s aging seawall along Mandalay Bay and Channel Islands Harbor should continue to be a priority in the next few years.
Asked what they would do to make Oxnard’s downtown more attractive, all three candidates said they would like to see more bike paths, with Barrick emphasizing they should be dedicated paths that keep traffic away from bicyclists.
Barrick also said he would like to see more speed bumps.
“A lot of people are afraid to walk around the city not because of crime or anything like that, but because the traffic goes to fast – I think we saw that on Victoria just a couple of weeks ago,” said Barrick, referring to a recent multi-car crash at Victoria Avenue and Doris Street.
Perello and Huerta both expressed support for Measure E, but Barrick said he thought it was inconsistent to claim the city is financially solvent while raising taxes.
Asked if he thought downtown Oxnard has been adequately managed, Barrick said no.
“There was a lot of money spent on The Collection, and it’s been a big hit and it looks great,” said Barrick. “But why can’t we see that sort of investment in an area which is at the core of Oxnard?”
But Perello said there is in fact “tremendous development” coming to downtown Oxnard, with plans approved by the council for multi-story buildings.
On the issue of homelessness, Huerta said the city needed to provide oversight to make sure homeless people had access to programs and eventually to housing.
On the issue of housing affordability, Perello was blunt, saying that without tremendous givebacks from developers, “it’s not going to get much cheaper.”
“Anybody who lives in Oxnard knows that it’s not an inexpensive place to live,” said Perello.
“If you have a home already you’re blessed, if you’re looking to start, you have problems.”
Barrick said it was not local government that is responsible for the housing crisis and in turn the homeless crisis, but the state of California “with all the rules and regulations.”
“We need to build at least 2.5 million homes a year in this state to keep up with demand, and the state just makes it impossible,” said Barrick.