Fired Development Aide Tells of Conflict

Fired from his post as Oxnard’s downtown manager, consultant Peter Apanel said Friday his dismissal was the result of personality conflicts rather than any problem in his performance.

Apanel said he had disagreements with managers in the city’s Community Development Department about the slow pace of downtown revitalization projects.

As an example, he cited his efforts to draw a Ventura restaurant, Cafe Voltaire, to downtown Oxnard. He said he arranged for the restaurant’s owners to negotiate with city officials, but no progress was made.

An owner of the restaurant confirmed that Friday. “The [city] just hasn’t progressed from the first negotiation two months ago,” said Todd Winokur, a partner in Cafe Voltaire. “Apanel was trying to make it happen. He wasn’t having any luck.”

Top community development officials--department director Richard Maggio and downtown planner Alex Herrera--were not available for comment Friday.

Dena Fuentes, who also works in the department, said Apanel was fired because the city is “looking into a different direction as to how best implement our program.” It was unclear what that direction will be.

Apanel, who was terminated Wednesday, said his first day a year ago provided a hint of the difficulties to come.

“They had me hurry up and get here and they didn’t even have an office for me,” said Apanel, who moved to Oxnard from Pasadena. “It took them two weeks to find me an office and one month to get me a phone. As of today, I still don’t have a budget for this fiscal year--our fiscal year began July 1.”

Tila Estrada, president of the Downtowners, an advocacy group for downtown business owners, said her group frequently discussed the lack of progress in redeveloping downtown. “We thought we were going to have a leader to tell us where to go and what to do,” said Estrada. “I was told he was working tightly with the city. So of course I was disappointed [with the lack of progress]. I don’t think Peter was given the right tools.”