Re: your Jan. 24 article, “Downtown theater posts loss of $600,000�:
It certainly seems to me there are many other choices of where to see a movie, and apparently residents within the county are really not interested in going to downtown Oxnard. Downtown presents an image that folks are really not interested in experiencing. There certainly is more to downtown Oxnard than the City Hall, police station, parking structure, theater complex and Heritage Square.
The theater operators did not ask for a loan until recently, even though they have been operating in the red. The city could certainly receive a higher rate than the 5 percent by investment, as opposed to letting the theater operation continue to get "loans at 5 percent."
This is not said to be mean, but with the ongoing needs in the city, it would be much wiser to invest and use money earned from those investments to maintain city streets, alleys and sidewalks, enact ordnances preventing single-family residences from being used as shelters for 40 to 60-plus people and deal with the residential parking problem. Stop this crazy overdevelopment just to create more revenue from property tax!
We still have the same water problems, water reclamation problems, traffic problems and the harbor. There’s nothing out there to attract locals, much less tourists.
The newly opened development on Victoria Avenue and Woolly Road is a very nice development for Oxnard. Now, all that needs to be developed in that area would be restaurants, such as a Claim Jumper or P F Chang’s China Bistro.
What is the big new development at the corner of Fifth Street and Harbor Boulevard? More homes and apartments?
— Charles P. Peters, Oxnard
I agree with you. I believe the $600,000 only reflects the loss incurred in operating the theater. However there is an ever bigger expense that must be paid. Who is paying off the approximate 15 to 20 million debt that was incurred by building this theater. It was my understanding that the success of this theater was supposed to pay off this debt. I believe the sale of the property at Ormond Beach has already been used to pay some of the debt. Where is the money going to come from to continue to pay this 15 to 20 million dollar debt. By guaranteeing the theater operator 1.6 million dollars a year for 20 years the City is financially responsible for paying this debt.