Oxnard 200,004 and growing (Thousand Oaks: apartment complex, buying, school)

[the city]

Originally Posted by LadyKLO

You can see live plays and musicals at the Oxnard Performing Arts Center better known as the PACC. The New West Symphony has some dates lined up there for this year. There are other concerts taking place there too plus comedies and other special acts are there often.

I don't know much about the La Colonia issue. If I am not mistaken, there is a gang injunction over there but of course that doesn't stop everything but it's probably safer now that it has ever been. I know know what the Avenues are?? Is that some type of group??

As far as major employers, there are two Navy bases..the Port Hueneme base and Point Mugu which employ several thousand engineers, scientists, logistics types, skilled workers and others with specialities. Also Proctor and Gamble is in Oxnard and there is HAAS Automation. I suspect these companies might hire someone with either a AA/AS or BA/BS degree or some specialized training. Not to mention Saint John's Hospital which is probably the largest hospital in the county (I could be wrong???). I am sure there are other companies around as well!

The Avenues is the Ventura gang. Not sure if they are still existant since I heard downtown Ventura has gotten better.

Is Proctor and Gamble in Oxnard? Point Mugu and the Port Hueneme Base would probably bring college educated workers. Is HAAS Automation in Oxnard?

[LadyKLO]

Originally Posted by the city

The Avenues is the Ventura gang. Not sure if they are still existant since I heard downtown Ventura has gotten better.

Is Proctor and Gamble in Oxnard? Point Mugu and the Port Hueneme Base would probably bring college educated workers. Is HAAS Automation in Oxnard?

Ok I an unfamiliar with the Avenues. Proctor and Gamble is in Oxnard and so is HAAS Automation. They are off Rice Avenue.

[Winston Smith]

Originally Posted by LadyKLO

You can see live plays and musicals at the Oxnard Performing Arts Center better known as the PACC. The New West Symphony has some dates lined up there for this year. There are other concerts taking place there too plus comedies and other special acts are there often.

Will add DownTown Center for the Arts (including cinema arts) and Cafe On A - Rudy F. Acuna Gallery and Cultural Arts Center for additional arts/cultural/political outlets in Oxnard, both downtown.

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

You can add the best Library in all of Ventura County downtown Oxnard. The Gull Wings Childrens Museum also down town.

Plenty of companies in Oxnard have an educated work force. A note about Haas. A friend that works there was sent to school to get his Bachelors in Business Management. The company decided to offer an education to employees who had moved up thru the ranks. Another note about Haas they moved to Oxnard to get better than normal shipping rates at the Port Of Hueneme. Plenty of ships coming in full and many with empty space heading out.

Mercedes and BMW process their cars from the Port and have facilities in Oxnard. What is little known is that many educated individuals work at both facilities.

[LadyKLO]

I have to ask a dumb question...does having an educated workforce imply a city will be better off??? I personally never thought about that...just wondering...

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

LadyKLO, I have no idea if it will make the place better or not. I know many great people that at most graduated high school and are contributing to their communities making them great places. I have also heard of college educated people destroying communities and peoples lifes. Using Haas as an example many of the people that work there and rose thru the ranks only had high school educations. The company thought that it would be better to help pay for their managers to go to school. Not that they weren't successfull without the extra education.

[Winston Smith]

Originally Posted by LadyKLO

I have to ask a dumb question...does having an educated workforce imply a city will be better off??? I personally never thought about that...just wondering...

I'm of the opinion that what makes for a successful city is a mix of income and education. For instance, segregating people by income -- the rich live in a gated community over there, while professionals live in some other suburb over there, and working class live in a huge apartment complex down there -- divides people, breeds suspicion and contempt.

Likewise, concentrating poverty into big projects or relegating the poor into certain sections of town breeds hopelessness, misery and further isolates them from the broader community.

In traditional American towns, the super rich, merchants, workers and the poor all lived in close proximity to each other and mixed with each other regularly. I support the idea that this dynamic fosters a more healthy community than dividing the population into each their own faction based on income or education. Just my opinion.

[user_id]

Originally Posted by Winston Smith

That's the argument I've heard about why Trader Joe's is in Camarillo and Ventura, but not Oxnard. Rubbish! Trader Joe's doesn't have a store in Oxnard because there aren't any locations with easy-on, easy-off access ramps to the 101 that TJ's would avail itself of. TJ's stores are all near freeway exit/entry ramps because they rely heavily on "just in time" truck deliveries to compensate for their stores' small stock rooms. Think: 101 @ White Oak (Encino), Westlake Blvd. (Thousand Oaks), Carmen Drive (Camarillo), Victoria Ave. (Ventura), Milpas St. (Santa Barbara) and Fairview (Goleta). All are immediately off the 101. The only place in Oxnard that would suit TJ's is already booked with several grocery stores, and is among the most expensive retail rents in the area -- the 101 between Rice and Oxnard Blvd.

You can easily find counter-examples to this even in Ventura County, for example there is a Trader Joe's on Avenida De Los Arboles in Thousand Oaks.

The reason Trader Joe's doesn't have a store in Oxnard is more likely based on demographics. Why does Thousand Oaks, a smaller city, have three Trader Joe's yet Oxnard has none?

[Winston Smith]

Originally Posted by user_id

You can easily find counter-examples to this even in Ventura County, for example there is a Trader Joe's on Avenida De Los Arboles in Thousand Oaks.

The reason Trader Joe's doesn't have a store in Oxnard is more likely based on demographics. Why does Thousand Oaks, a smaller city, have three Trader Joe's yet Oxnard has none?

Sorry, not biting.

[user_id]

Originally Posted by Winston Smith

Sorry, not biting.

Not biting what? Just pointing out that your explanation has holes in it, you can find many Trader Joe's that aren't right by Highways. What makes your explanation even odder is the fact that almost all grocery stores rely on "just in time" deliveries and that the additional costs associated with being 4~5 miles from the Highway versus 1 mile are very mirror. Perhaps, just perhaps, the fact that many Trade Joe's are by highways is related to consumer access?

But you are free to think that all Trader Joe's are right by Highways even though they aren't.