Re: your Oct. 30 article, "Judge blocks demolition of Wagon Wheel buildings":
Whether or not you are a concerned preservationist, if you drive on Highway 101 through Oxnard, the fate of the Wagon Wheel complex - and what the developer wants to do with the site - should be of interest to you.
The approved "1,500 homes, apartments and town homes, as well as commercial development and transit center," mentioned briefly in the article, is a project with countywide impact. Immediately adjacent to the south side of the freeway, and directly across from the stalled housing development and shopping center complex on the north side of the freeway, the proposed Wagon Wheel site development is traffic gridlock in the making.
The California Department of Transportation's years-long freeway construction project, completed less than two years ago, resulted in one off-ramp northbound and two southbound off-ramps at Oxnard Boulevard and Ventura Road that will serve both of these megadevelopments. On-ramps are at Oxnard Boulevard only.
Since I haven't heard about any big employers moving into the city, I assume these new residents will be merging into commuter traffic on the freeway, and the new commercial development will hope to lure us consumers to this location. Traffic won't dissipate into other parts of the city. It will face off across this busy corridor.
Think about it, freeway travelers: What happens in Oxnard will keep us in Oxnard -- stalled in traffic on the 101.
-- Jill Dolan, Ojai