Shelter Says Oxnard Wants to Shut It, Open Own Center

Representatives of the county’s only year-round homeless shelter accused Oxnard officials Tuesday of conspiring to close the Zoe Christian Center while working to develop their own city-run shelter.

In an emotional speech to the City Council, Zoe founder Fred Judy said the city’s effort to “manipulate and successfully cut off some major funding” for the center was based on racial discrimination.

“They have deliberately planned and generated negative support and attitude toward our organization,” said Judy, who along with the Rev. Jim Gilmer, the center’s executive director, is black.

To support his assertions, Judy cited an internal memo from a Thousand Oaks city planner that said support of the center “may have political liability” with the city of Oxnard.

Mayor Nao Takasugi called allegations of political maneuvering “absolutely false” and said the conflict with Zoe centers primarily on a zoning dispute.

“We’re doing all we can to help them out,” he said.

The future of the Zoe center, which provides shelter and counseling for about 150 people a day, was placed in jeopardy when the city Fire Department issued a report in June, 1988, that pointed out that it is next to a fertilizer company where toxic chemicals are stored. The council has since said the center is too close to the hazardous chemicals.

Zoe Center had been operating for five years on a temporary permit in an area zoned for industrial and manufacturing uses. That permit expired last year.

Judy contends that Oxnard’s failure to renew the permit or rezone the area has prompted several organizations, including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, to cut off funding to Zoe. He accused Takasugi and other officials of spreading inflammatory information about the center.

He estimated that Zoe has lost more than $1 million in grants since 1988. The center’s annual budget is about $700,000, according to an Internal Revenue Service report.

Oxnard Housing Director Sal Gonzalez said that the city has never tried to persuade any organization to cut off funding to Zoe and that it is trying to find a permanent site for the center.

However, Gonzalez acknowledged that Oxnard officials asked the Assn. of Ventura County Cities in March to form a joint-powers agreement to help develop a homeless shelter in Oxnard.

Gonzalez said Judy and Gilmer will be allowed to bid to operate the proposed city-run Oxnard shelter.

On Monday, Ventura city officials told Judy that the city is withholding $200,000 in support to Zoe until Oxnard’s joint-powers proposal is completed.

“Well, it seems to me that somewhere along the line we are being eliminated from the picture,” Judy told the Ventura City Council.

During the Oxnard City Council meeting Tuesday, Judy revealed an internal memo from Thousand Oaks planning officials that he said proves Oxnard has tried to force the closure of the Zoe center.

In the memo to Thousand Oaks City Manager Grant Brimhall, Senior Planner Olav Hassel said support of the joint powers agreement is “an alternative to additional assistance to Zoe.”

The memo, a copy of which was obtained by The Times, says that “there appear to be two political groupings in the county pursuing the development of new shelter facilities” and that “commitment to the Zoe project may have political liability.”

The memo identifies the two groups as the city of Oxnard and Zoe supporters.

However, in an interview Tuesday, Hassel tried to back away from statements in the memo.

“My comments in that internal memo are an overreaction,” he said. “It’s obvious that my analysis oversimplified the situation. I don’t think that funding the Zoe Center is a political issue. It’s a zoning and environmental issue.”

Gonzalez said the facts in the memo were correct but that the assumptions about political groupings were inaccurate.

Ventura Vice Mayor Donald Villeneuve, who also chairs an Assn. of Ventura County Cities subcommittee on homeless housing, said he was surprised by the statements in the Thousand Oaks memo.

“What cropped up in the memo may be something the city of Oxnard is planning, but it was never discussed by the committee,” he said.