OXNARD : Neighborhood Panel Chairman Resigns

The chairman of a neighborhood council in southwest Oxnard resigned in protest Friday, charging that the city is abandoning its older neighborhoods.

Jim Carlyle, head of the Redwood Neighborhood Council, said that Oxnard’s leaders pay attention only to the newer, wealthier areas in the city.

“They are dumping all the welfare people in the older neighborhoods,” said Carlyle, who has been chairman of the group for about a year. “People are living in garages here and (the city) does not enforce codes. . . . There’s overcrowding. There’s nothing for kids to do. What else are they going to do but graffiti and gangs? The city doesn’t care.”

The Redwood neighborhood is bordered by Channel Islands Boulevard, J Street, Bard Road and Ventura Road.

Eleanor Branthoover, the chairwoman of the Inter-neighborhood Council Committee, said she was surprised by Carlyle’s announcement.

“I’m sorry Jim is quitting, because he really has accomplished a lot, whether he thinks so or not,” Branthoover said. “I’ve been doing this for 14 years, and it took me a while to get the city’s attention.”

Oxnard Mayor Manuel Lopez agreed. “I’m really sorry to hear that. He came to the council recently and said he wasn’t being listened to. He was one of the more outstanding neighborhood leaders.”

Carlyle, who organized a Neighborhood Watch patrol in his area, said Oxnard takes the patrols for granted.

“They just do not help us,” Carlyle said. “The city makes a big deal about its Neighborhood Watch at election time, but the city wants nothing to do with it because they are afraid we’ll sue them if we get hurt. We use our own vehicles, we risk our lives, and they take credit for it.”

Carlyle also accused the city of allowing blight in certain neighborhoods to persuade people to support redevelopment.

“The only reason they want to let these neighborhoods go down is so they can redevelop the area. They’re turning us into slums.”