Oxnard Airport

* Re “ ‘Our’ Future Is That of People With a Better Vision,” Ventura County Perspective, Oct. 1.

Timothy Clifford Riley is 110% correct.

As a 20-year homeowner and taxpayer of Oxnard, I have often wondered about the purpose of the Oxnard airport. In all that time I have known of only one person using the shuttle flight to Los Angeles International Airport. Most people use the shuttle bus.

The airport seems to be more a storage unit for automobiles from Asia. Is the city getting some benefit from the income raised or is some private owner pocketing the money?

Instead of having my taxes support the airport, I would certainly much rather have the land put to better use, commercial or residential. The taxes raised thus might even allow the city to repave my street.

As for tourists, I suspect most people vacationing in Southern California visit Disneyland, Magic Mountain, Knott’s Berry Farm, etc. Our draw for filling hotel rooms seems to be San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles people who prefer to drive up to the area.

CHARLOTTE KENDIG

Oxnard Shores

* The problems of the Oxnard airport were well itemized in this article. There seems to be a multitude of reasons to close the airport and only marginal benefits to its expansion. This is a matter of utmost importance to Oxnard. As the airport goes so will the city.

Expanding to a regional commercial jet airport in the heart of this city would result in a blighted future for the city. The Burbank Airport is in constant conflict with the surrounding community, which has deteriorated in its shadow. Playa del Rey’s beautiful beaches are wasted because of the roar of the overflying jets out of LAX.

Oxnard pays a heavy price for its airport through taxpayer subsidy, obstruction of school sites, decreasing surrounding property values and impacting the serenity of the beautiful beach community in its flight pattern.

The idea that this is justified by virtue of the tourists it brings is false. Potential tourists drive through Oxnard by the millions on the Ventura Freeway and Pacific Coast Highway. There is not much to make them stop here, and they don’t. Is Oxnard to be condemned to be a servant to the surrounding upscale communities? And to pay for the privilege?

The mayor of Oxnard has pleaded for the airport’s closure because the city, especially the school system, are restricted by its presence. The inability to build schools within a two-mile radius of the airport puts polluting buses on the street, adding to the traffic crunch and decimating the school funds available for books and supplies, and condemning the children to hours and hours of wasted time.

Why aren’t the officials listening? Our children need us all to advocate for them (as well as ourselves) in this matter. Close the airport!

SEYMOUR ZEMLYN

Oxnard