Changes Proposed for Inter-Neighborhood Panel

When the robust neighborhood council program went in for a check-up in January, the 23-year-old network created to promote the interests of city residents showed signs of strain.

A dozen delegates walked out of a meeting, charging that the Inter-neighborhood Council Committee formed to bring together Oxnard’s 36 neighborhood councils had become too political.

Other neighborhood council representatives argued over the need to rewrite the committee’s bylaws.

And still others were upset that La Colonia’s Neighborhood Council had not held a single meeting since 1994.

A status report that the Oxnard City Council is set to discuss tonight hardly deems any of these problems life-threatening but suggests a number of fixes to make the program healthier.

Some of the recommendations include:

* Considering updates to the inter-neighborhood group’s bylaws to better define its role with regard to the 36 different neighborhood councils.

* Finding a less formal meeting place for the committee than the City Council chambers.

* Eliminating a special $20,000 loan fund that no neighborhood council has bothered to use.

* Reaffirming full city support for neighborhood councils that choose not to send a delegate to the Inter-neighborhood Council Committee meetings.

The fact that some councils choose not to join the citywide group does not signal trouble for the committee, said city officials and neighborhood leaders, who point out that the bylaws do not require full participation.

“I think that in a perfect world, it would be desirable for all neighborhoods to participate,” said Jim Faulconer, the city’s liaison to the neighborhood councils. “However, we don’t try to dictate to any particular neighborhood how they can best achieve their priorities. If they believe they can best do it some other way, then it is up to them.”

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Established in 1973, the neighborhood council program has taken hold in almost every city district. The councils provide residents with a unified voice when asking the city for help in areas that include better code enforcement, more after-school programs, beefed-up law enforcement and graffiti removal.

The neighborhood council program also gave birth in 1992 to Oxnard’s far-reaching Neighborhood Watch patrols, which now number 1,000 residents and cover more than 80% of the city. The Police Department credits these patrols for helping bring down Oxnard’s crime rate, now the lowest in 20 years.

“It [the neighborhood councils program] has enabled the city to deliver services in a more economical way because it has involved many more people,” Oxnard Mayor Manuel Lopez said. “I would hate to have anything happen that would work against it.”

Like any growing organization, the neighborhood council program has hit some bumps along the way. But it was the January walkout of a dozen delegates to the Inter-neighborhood Council Committee that prompted city staff to prepare an extensive report on the program.

Some delegates feared that what was once a forum to swap ideas on wiping out such urban ills as crime and graffiti was becoming a contentious, political body with a specific agenda.

In particular, these delegates objected to efforts by other members to get the committee as a whole to lobby the city on prickly issues, including certain planning decisions and high-profile development projects.

“I don’t want to represent my neighborhood in political stances,” said Denise Paul, chairwoman of Orchard Park Neighborhood Council and one of the delegates who left the Jan. 3 meeting. “It isn’t my place when it is each resident’s individual choice.”

Members who stayed at the meeting called the walkout premature as the committee’s new board had just been elected when the flap occurred. What’s more, when these representatives decided what issues to focus on in 1996, they picked Neighborhood Watch, code enforcement, gangs and graffiti--issues of concern to most neighborhood councils.

But some members of the new board said they should not shy away from at least discussing development proposals or other issues that have stirred controversy in Oxnard.

“Any issue that is brought up by a general member deserves to be attended to,” said Ray W. Gonzales, a committee vice chairman who also represents the Fremont South Neighborhood Council.

Since the City Council asked for the report, La Colonia’s neighborhood council has elected new officers and held its first meeting in two years.

Many neighborhood council representatives who have seen the city’s report said they were pleased with its recommendations. Paul, who said she would attend committee meetings if issues came up that concerned her neighborhood, said the review was necessary to address a successful, expanding program.

“I think that growing pains have a lot to do with it,” Paul said.