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Traffic initiative expected to proceed
Clerk's office is checking signatures
STORY TOOLS 
More from Local election newsAn initiative that could significantly reduce growth in Oxnard has reached an important threshold on the road to getting on the November ballot.
A review of a sample of the 6,568 signatures submitted by proponents of the Oxnard Traffic Initiative shows that at least 95 percent of the signatures are valid, said Oxnard City Clerk Daniel Martinez.
The Ventura County Clerk's office, which is checking the signatures for Oxnard, has until July 15 to complete a 100 percent review, he said.
The number of valid signatures from registered voters needed to qualify the measure is 5,828.
"I feel confident this is going to move forward," said Bill Terry, one of the initiative's leaders. "We're getting a good response from the community."
The initiative would require that commercial or industrial developments of more than 10,000 square feet or housing developments of more than five homes could not be approved by the city unless all intersections within a five-mile radius of the proposed project have had a peak level of service of C or better for the preceding year.
Traffic engineers rate intersections from A to F, with A having the best traffic flow and F the worst.
Any project not meeting the C level requirement would have to be approved by a majority of the city's voters to proceed, and the developer would have to pay for the election.
Thousand Oaks voters defeated a similar initiative Tuesday.
Oxnard Councilman Tim Flynn, one of the proponents of the initiative, said he is not concerned about what happened in Thousand Oaks.
"What happened in Thousand Oaks is completely different," he said. "The public in the end perceived this was not a grass-roots movement but a struggle between two retail giants."
Flynn said he is glad the Oxnard initiative is moving forward because it will give voters the chance to weigh in on the worst traffic of any city in the county.
Tom Cady, who heads Citizens for a Safe & Prosperous Oxnard, an anti-traffic-initiative group, said, "What happened in Thousand Oaks shows that once voters understand the impact, it doesn't mean they are going to vote for it."
The initiative "brings no resources to fix traffic, will make things worse and will hurt the city's economy," he said.
Posted by alex.poet on June 5, 2008 at 10:13 a.m. (Suggest removal)
You know, for a city that has doubled in size over 20 years, this problem needs to be addressed. I've seen two hit and run accidents in the last two weeks , I constantly bike on Victoria and Patterson. I pass seven memorials near intersections that aren't up to speed with Oxnard's population. How many more accidents need to happen because of badly designed intersections and badly timed lights?
Posted by Brown on June 5, 2008 at 12:43 p.m. (Suggest removal)
You can always move to Arizona!
Posted by 5thGenerationOxnard on June 5, 2008 at 2:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I bike all over west Oxnard on a daily basis. The problem isn't poor road design or signal timing. The problem is people who don't know how to drive; people who are too busy on the cell phone or otherwise distracted to pay attention to the traffic around them; or people who are just in too big of a hurry to get wherever they are going to drive safely. Those memorials you see springing up around town are memorials to driver stupidity. Each of those accidents was caused by someone not paying attention, going too fast, running a light or, quite often, all of the above. The drivers around here need more work than the infrastructure.
Posted by MBZROLLIN on June 5, 2008 at 5:49 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I agree 5thgenerationoxnard. I want to add that I'm sure there's quiet of unlicensed drivers that add to the problem. One morning on the way to work I witnessed two cars collide and niether one of them stepped out of their car I wonder why?
Posted by Optimist on June 6, 2008 at 8:46 a.m. (Suggest removal)
We need to extend our efforts to create a better, more advanced public transit system. It's hard to address a few of these intersections, because Oxnard Blvd is still in control of Caltrans. They refuse to adhere to the communitys' wishes on syncronizing their traffic lights as well as adding additional turn lights on Seventh & Oxnard Blvd. If anything, we need to let the State know how the Oxnard residents feel, and fight to get Oxnard Blvd controlled by the City. That's the way to go
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