Residents Speak Out Against New Flights

While the Oxnard City Council remains divided on a proposal to add more commercial flights out of Oxnard, several residents and business owners are clear: It’s a bad idea.

County supervisors are set to vote Tuesday on a plan to allow America West Express to add two daily flights.

United Express currently takes off and lands six times a day at the airport, and America West Express would begin its new flight schedule in November.

Several residents at the City Hall meeting expressed suspicion that county officials are quick to add commercial flights at the airport because nearby residents are mostly Latino. Others spoke out against more noise in neighborhoods near the airport.

“It’s time to wake up and smell the jet fuel,” said Oxnard resident Roseanne Moss. “We don’t want enormous, humongous, noisy jets flying over the heart of our city.”

Business owners near the airport told Mayor Manuel Lopez and the rest of the council that the noise and pollution far outweigh any benefits the additional flights would bring.

“The airport is on a collision course with our children, our city, our property and our future,” said Timothy Riley, an attorney who owns a small law firm near the airport.

The council voted 2 to 2 on whether to ask county supervisors to postpone a decision allowing America West Express to add flights in and out of the city.

City Councilman Bedford Pinkard, who along with Councilman Dean Maulhardt voted against asking for a postponement, said the airport’s location in a heavily Latino area was not a factor in the effort to bring in more flights.

“We’ve had this airport for many years, and people that have lived near the airport for a very long time have never complained,” Pinkard said. “It is the people who are new to the area that are complaining.”

Pinkard said he has received a number of letters and phone calls from residents supporting the airport.

Councilman Tom Holden did not attend the meeting, citing a conflict of interest because he serves on the Oxnard Airport Authority.