No Dice to Casinos

If Oxnard wants to shake its persistent image as Ventura County’s capital of bad ideas it should say no--immediately and loudly--to casino gambling.

Rebuffed in a recent attempt to bring an Indian casino to Channel Islands Harbor, Las Vegas-based Paragon Corp. has proposed building a casino and a 250-room hotel on 25 acres spanning the struggling Oxnard Factory Outlets and an adjacent field.

Supporters say the plan would bring money and jobs to a city that needs them. We question how good most of those jobs would be, at least the ones likely to be filled by local residents, and we suspect that it would siphon at least as many dollars out of the pockets of Oxnard residents as it would pump into them.

Mayor Manuel Lopez and Councilman John Zaragoza have said they oppose the project while Councilmen Tom Holden, Dean Maulhardt and Bedford Pinkard want to hear more about the idea. The council sent Police Chief Art Lopez to Palm Springs to study the effects of an Indian casino in that city. On his return, the chief told The Times that a casino “maybe isn’t so bad for our city.”

Even that is more enthusiasm than we can muster. Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury and Ventura County Sheriff Bob Brooks also have expressed concerns about the possibility of an increase in crime. And this weekend members of the Oxnard Ministerial Assn. planned to launch a monthlong campaign opposing the casino from the pulpit.

Under the Paragon Corp. plan, developers would build a 150,000-square-foot casino featuring 175 gaming tables and 2,000 slot machines. The project would also include a 250-room hotel, restaurants and a meeting facility. Casino backers have yet to lay out the project’s costs or its financial impact.

It’s all a moot point to Rabbi John Sherwood, president of the clergy coalition.

“The issue is not just crime but making gambling accessible,” he told The Times. “We don’t need to encourage gambling because there are enough day-to-day challenges in Oxnard.”

We agree. The City Council can find better projects than this one on which to wager its city’s economic future and quality of life.

The Oxnard City Council can find better projects than a casino and hotel on which to wager its city’s economic future and quality of life.