Renovation Work Begins on Park, Downtown

After several years of delays in improvements in Oxnard’s downtown area, A Street and Plaza Park renovations began Monday despite some neighborhood opposition.

As jackhammers drilled into the asphalt and sidewalks along A Street, city officials, local business owners and some residents celebrated the start of construction in a groundbreaking ceremony at noon.

“We cannot believe it!” said Gaston Gomez, a member of the Downtowners Business Assn. “While the groundbreaking ceremony was going on, it was accompanied by the music of the bulldozer down the street. The effect that this is going to have for the future of the city is unsizable.”

The city has been planning a realignment of A Street to improve traffic flow.

The proposed renovations also include clearing more than a dozen trees in Plaza Park that city officials say block the view of a turn-of-the-century pagoda. In addition, workers will remove a fountain and restrooms and add lighting. City officials expect both renovation plans to cost more than $2.3 million.

Following the groundbreaking ceremony, some residents from the surrounding neighborhood protested, saying that the proposed changes will increase noise and traffic pollution as well as decrease the park’s natural beauty.

Neighbors complain that the proposed plans to cut down the trees and remove the fountain will create a barren park out of what is now a lush green spot.

They also complain that the city did not conduct an environmental impact report to measure the possible effects of the park renovation on air pollution.

The group, calling itself the Save Plaza Park Committee, maintains that city officials did not consult the neighborhood councils on the proposed changes. Alan Wingo, head of the committee and chairman of the Wilson Neighborhood Council, said the city also misled the council on the number of trees that will be cut down.

“We are working on getting an injunction to legally force them to stop,” Wingo said. “Every resident that I have talked to is 100% against cutting down the trees in the park. We are basically up in arms about this. This is not over.”

City officials deny the accusations and say the changes will improve the beleaguered park, which merchants complained was dirty, dark and full of panhandlers.