College Park on City Council Agency 6-18-02

>From Lois Jones ---- June 11, 2002

College Park will be on the City Council agenda

on Tuesday, June 18, 2002.

The City will not release the plans for the park until after 6:00

p.m. on Thursday, June 13, 2002. However, the plan that will be

proposed by staff is to evict the Rainbow Ladies.

The Parks and Recreation Commission and City staff have repeatedly

stated that no one wanted to evict the Rainbow Ladies and that the City

would help the Rainbow Ladies find a new place to live. On Tuesday,

June 11, the Rainbow Ladies toured the Catholic Church convent on the

corner of "F" and Magnolia Streets in north Oxnard. Although this is a

very nice place with approximately 20 bedrooms the Rainbow Ladies simply

cannot afford this place. On the open market I would guess a 20

bedroom facility would rent for over 10 thousand dollars a month. The

City has proposed, with nothing in writing, that the City will pay the

total rent on this facility and sublease it to the Rainbow Ladies for a

thousand dollars a month. This arrangement would last for about two

years. Of course then what would happen to the Rainbow Ladies. They

would then have to be evicted by the Catholic Church.

The Rainbow Ladies exist on State Grants for Alcohol and Drug

Rehabilitation. They also receive some other grant money. The money

the Rainbow Ladies receive has enabled them to live at College Park for

two thousand dollars a month rent. There are 21 women living in the two

houses with two to four women occupying each bedroom. These women are

not living in the lap of luxury. Salad bars are a regular part of their

menu.

I cannot understand why the City would give up a guaranteed income of

about $25,000 a year from the Rainbow Ladies and give the two houses and

5 acres of land at College Park to the Ventura Museum for nothing. On

top of that the City has committed themselves, verbally, to pay at least

$200,000 in rent to the Catholic Church for two years so the Rainbow

Ladies can live on "F" Street.

I have never seen any moral reason to evict the Rainbow Ladies. Now I

can see no financial reason to evict them either.

The City of Oxnard can choose to keep the Rainbow Ladies at College

Park. If the City of Oxnard wants a museum, they can choose to operate

it themselves. The City of Oxnard does not need the Ventura Museum for

anything.