We received very good coverage from the media on last night's Oxnard City Council meeting.
Read excerpts below from Citizens Journal and Ventura County Star.
Citizens Journal: Opponents of Oxnard utility rate hike collect ballot signatures in only 2 weeks
As reported in Citizens Journal:
"Aaron Starr, leader of the Moving Oxnard Forward (MOF) civic activist group is determined to stop what he says are excessive aggregate 67% utility rate hikes which the City of Oxnard tried to ram through ... the Council dug its heels in on the wastewater increase ... Starr protested, filing a voter initiative to bypass the council and stop it.
"The Council fought back to prevent that, spending a bundle on legal fees instead of negotiating. Starr inflicted multiple humiliating defeats on the City attorney’s effort, including a court order forcing them to clear the ballot language.
"Meanwhile, MOF wasn’t actually able to start collecting the needed 1430 signatures until early May, with a May 20 deadline. Well, they amassed an army of 61 volunteers and actually obtained 3947 signatures, which they plunked down on the City Clerk’s counter"
Ventura County Star: Thousands sign voter petition to repeal Oxnard sewer rate hikes
As reported in the Ventura County Star:
"Aaron Starr, the man being sued by the city over his proposed initiative to repeal sewer rate increases, gave the panel his tally: 3,947 signatures gathered in 16 days.
"Some 1,430 valid voter signatures are needed by May 20 to put Starr's measure on the November ballot."
...
"Sixty-one volunteers were part of the effort."