A message from the Chair of the Board, Stacy Miller

What do custom outdoor umbrellas, high-end drums, ice cream, top-line machine tools and gourmet macarons have in common? All of these internationally-sold items are made right here in Oxnard!  Oxnard is home to an amazing array of creative (and delicious) manufacturing companies, each with its own unique story and success.
 
Santa Barbara Designs has it MADE IN THE SHADE with its world-renowned production facility in Oxnard.   Santa Barbara Designs uses locally-sourced materials and vendors from our community to create elegant outdoor umbrellas.   Completely customizable, these gorgeous umbrellas can be found in some of the world’s finest private residences, yacht clubs, luxury hotels, exclusive restaurants and high-profile corporate facilities.  I’m hoping my husband will purchase one for our house, they are truly works of art! www.santabarbaradesigns.com.
 
When Gene Haas founded Haas Automation Inc. in 1983, his goal was to manufacture economical and reliable machine tools.  The company entered the machine tool industry with the first-ever, fully automatic, programmable collet indexer – a device used to position parts for machining with very high accuracy. The patented Haas 5C collet indexer was a huge success, and over the next four years, the company expanded its product line to include a wide selection of fully programmable rotary tables, rotary indexers, and machine tool accessories. All Haas products are manufactured at the company’s expansive facility in Oxnard– the largest, most modern machine tool manufacturing operation in the United States. These guys aren’t just tooling around!  www.haascnc.com.
 
Follow the beat of the drum to DW Drums, a world-renowned manufacturer of drums with nearly five decades of success located in Oxnard. According to professional musicians, touring the DW Drum factory in Oxnard is every drummer’s dream. DW Drums is considered to be the biggest manufacturer of drums on the planet. The light wood colored drum is considered the “Rolls Royce” of drum kits. The 45th Anniversary Exotic Stradivarius 6-Piece Shell Pack retails for about $8,000 and is made of the same wood (hand-selected Norwegian Spruce from the Fiemme Valley in Northern Italy) that Stradivarius violins are made from; only about 650 original Stradivari instruments remain in existence, and these sell for millions of dollars. Beat that!  www.dwdrums.com.
 
McConnell’s Ice Cream has been scooping up fans for decades with its made from scratch, no preservatives, pure-flavored ice cream.  McConnell’s Ice Cream manufacturing plant has been based in Oxnard since 2017 where the delicious, local, sustainable and organic 70-year tradition of ice cream is made for all of the McConnell stores. They had me at ice cream! www.mcconnells.com.
 
One of the sweetest manufacturers in Oxnard is Duverger Macarons. Each of its macarons is confectioned in Oxnard, using the best fruits, berries, nuts and almond flour.  Owner and Chef Claire Becker’s passion is creating two slightly crispy shells with a lush enticing filling. She says that Duverger macrons will melt in your mouth and slowly release the taste of its raw ingredients.   (Wiping drool now), I think I will need a taste test to confirm, thanks Claire.  www.duvergermacarons.com.
 
These businesses are just a handful of many businesses that create amazing products purchased world-wide and are located right here in Oxnard.  Congratulations to all of our MADE IN OXNARD businesses and manufacturing companies.  We appreciate your contributions of employment, business-to-business purchasing and support of non-profits for the benefit of our community.
 
MADE IN AMERICA & MADE IN OXNARD!

A message from the Chair of the Board Stacy Miller

The Oxnard Chamber of Commerce is pleased to welcome Jeff Lambert, the City of Oxnard’s new Director of Development Services.  In his new job, Jeff will oversee the City’s planning, building and engineering and code enforcement divisions. He will also be working with the City Manager’s office to participate in the City’s Economic Development priorities to ensure the City has a prosperous future.

“I am personally excited to work with Oxnard’s many and diverse stakeholders to move the City forward.  The City has so much to offer and my job will be to help put all the pieces together to realize the community and City Council’s vision for our future,” explains Jeff Lambert. 

“I love that I can use the word “our’ for Oxnard after being in Ventura County for nearly 10 years.  I am also excited to get to know the community, spend time in the neighborhoods and work with those interested in investing in Oxnard.  Our future depends on balancing neighborhood preservation and revitalization while seeking new opportunities to provide needed housing, jobs and amenities for our community,” Lambert continued.

​Jeff says he first brings a commitment to community to this job.  He promises to be engaged and accessible to the community and its stakeholders. Jeff has a long track record of bringing people together to get things done; this includes supporting and developing a staff team that shares this commitment and is equally excited about doing the community’s business. 

“I have had a unique career for a public servant in that I have worked in both the public and private sector; I understand first-hand what it is to be a customer of Development Services.  I believe this experience will serve me and the City of Oxnard well.”

 Jeff believes that cities, including Oxnard, cannot stay the same; they must look to a prosperous future and to do that it is important to support existing businesses with a strategy of business retention, expansion and attraction. 

“I know what it takes to revitalize our downtown and will do my part to ensure this long-held dream is a reality,” Lambert said.

Jeff earned a Bachelor’s degree from Clark University in Massachusetts in political science and psychology, and a Master’s degree in planning from USC.  Jeff Lambert can be reached via email at: jeffrey.lambert@oxnard.org.

The Oxnard Chamber of Commerce is pleased to share a number of great accomplishments for 2018 that reflect a strong and growing business community. 

This year, we celebrated 110 years of service to the Oxnard business community.  While business has changed dramatically over the last century-plus, your Chamber’s commitment to helping businesses thrive in Oxnard remains steadfast.

With a mighty membership of 478, this year saw an increase of 71 new members—that’s an 11% increase over last year.  319 members choose to renew their membership, reflecting a 5% increase over last year.

The Chamber’s Business Voice newsletter is emailed to every member and this year, there were 48 issues including a new addition to the newsletter, "5 Things" we did for business in the past week.

The Oxnard Chamber values education that is strategic for its members and this year, we hosted seven knowledge and networking luncheons, including two candidates’ forums, as well as 10 educational sessions of the Oxnard Leadership program.

The Chamber’s “Oxnard Young Professionals” group reached 35 members.  This is definitely an area we are seeking to grow in the years ahead.

The Chamber PAC (Political Action Committee) held a successful fundraiser aboard the Scarlett Belle and was instrumental in 5 of the 7 Chamber-endorsed candidates being elected or re-elected in November.

The Chamber celebrated new businesses locating to Oxnard by co-hosting 13 ribbon cutting and groundbreaking ceremonies throughout the year.

Helping members get to know one another and encouraging more business to business relationships is vital to growing businesses and this year, the Chamber hosted 10 happy hour mixers and four new member mingle receptions.

I hope that you find your Oxnard Chamber of Commerce membership valuable and were able to participate in at least one of these great successes.   If you didn’t participate in any of these events or programs, know that the Oxnard Chamber is still working for your business through its strong advocacy programs. We encourage you to get engaged because 2019 promises to be even better!

Thank you for your support of the Oxnard Chamber of Commerce.  On behalf of the Board of Directors and staff, we wish you and hour family a joyous holiday season.
Stacy

Message from the Chair - Stacy Miller

Travel spending is at an all-time high, with continued projections for more growth in 2019. The City of Oxnard is outperforming our neighboring cities across the board in hotel statistics. Year to date, occupancy is up 5% over last year at a strong 80.5%.
​
Last year, visitor spending reached $1.7 billion in Ventura County.  The tourism industry supported over 16,000 jobs in Ventura County and generated over $132 million in local tax revenue.  Oxnard’s average daily rate is up 5.7% over last year at an impressive $155.40; the highest in the County and our RevPAR (Revenue per available room) is up 10.5% over last year at $125.00.  This number is truly amazing and again we are outshining our neighboring cities in all of these areas. Oxnard is definitely gaining visibility and market share so it’s a good thing that over the next couple years, we will be welcoming three new hotel properties to further promote tourism.
 
The Oxnard Convention and Visitors Bureau, “Visit Oxnard” actively promotes our beautiful community in a variety of ways. They utilize the traditional methods of media releases, print advertising in many different meeting and leisure publications, a monthly e-newsletter covering all the must do activities while in Oxnard, as well as outdoor advertising--(Happy Holiday’s from Visit Oxnard will showcase on the 101 in a couple of weeks). Visit Oxnard has a robust social media presence with 12.5k followers on Instagram and over 30k followers on Facebook. The Visit Oxnard team also enjoys a strong presence at meeting and leisure tradeshows and conferences.
 
The Oxnard Convention and Visitors Bureau recently completed a top-notch visitors’ magazine showcasing Oxnard hotels, restaurants, attractions, and our diverse and vibrant community, events and festivals. The guide is featured in 444 locations throughout California and Arizona as well as at over 100 businesses in Oxnard and every hotel room in our community.
 
“The Visit Oxnard team is so fortunate to represent such a spirited community. We have everything to fulfill any desire of any type of vacationer. From our Historic Downtown, to our pristine beaches and Channel Islands Harbor, to shopping galore, and some of the best taquerias in the State! We apricate the ability to showcase our variety of businesses, our stunning hotel properties and the community that makes up Oxnard,” explains Julie Mino, President and CEO, Oxnard Convention and Visitors Bureau.
 
If you would like a free copy of the new visitors magazine, you can download it via the Oxnard Convention and Visitors Bureau website at: VisitOxnard.com.  You can also request a copy be mailed to you by calling the office at 805-385-7545 to request copies for your home or business.  Kudos to the team at the Oxnard Convention and Visitors Bureau for helping to increase tourism to Oxnard!

A message from our Chair - Stacy Miller

In an effort to ensure that current and future Oxnard-based businesses have the high-speed Internet services and connectivity they need, the City of Oxnard has released a Broadband Internet business survey and embarked on the development of a new Fiber Master Plan.

The survey includes questions related to current connections, current Internet speed, costs for services and how well current broadband meets the business consumers’ needs at this time.  The deadline for completing the survey is November 16, 2018. All businesses that complete the survey will be entered into a drawing to win a $100 Amazon gift card. The Broadband Internet survey is available online via the City’s website at: https://www.oxnard.org/fiber.

 In this day and age, access to reliable Broadband Internet services is a vital part of a city’s infrastructure—equally as important as streets, water, parks and sewers. Furthermore, Broadband connectivity enhances a City’s economic development potential by helping attract new, advanced businesses, as well as providing necessary Internet connectivity and services for existing businesses.           

While other Broadband technologies exist using copper and wireless, the use of fiber is much more future-proof. Internet speed demand is estimated to reach gigabit speeds by 2020. The next wave of technologies, especially artificial intelligence, demands increasingly robust connections from both home and office.  Fiber technology is critical to the future of the smart home and the Smart City, since many of today’s most connected cities determined that laying fiber is the foundation upon which many of tomorrow’s most connected services will be built.

Currently in the City of Oxnard, there is an existing network backbone that spans 38.45 miles of underground conduit with fiber running through about 31.81 miles of that conduit.  Additionally, the City maintains 38 fixed wireless links between traffic signal locations.  There is an additional 6.64 miles of conduit and fiber optic cable designed and planned for the expansion of the traffic signal network and other systems.

We applaud the City of Oxnard for capitalizing on this unique opportunity to leverage its existing fiber network by expanding from a closed, private network supporting limited City buildings and systems, to a more open network platform that can be utilized for public, economic and social benefit.

“Becoming a ‘Fiber City’ will help attract investment and support new business growth by providing access to robust, high-speed Internet and data networks,” said Kevin Pisacich, Oxnard’s IT Manager of Communications and Security Systems.  “Gigabit fiber becomes almost like a renewable natural resource that benefits everyone for years to come. My vision for this network is that it will be the foundational infrastructure investment for the City that will provide high speed Internet services for businesses and residents as well as countless modern Smart City initiatives” said Keith Brooks, Information Technology Director for the City of Oxnard.  We couldn’t agree more!
 
The City has selected Magellan Advisors as its partner in developing its new Fiber Master Plan. The new master plan will pave the way to guide the design, construction, implementation, maintenance, management, regulation, operation and funding of the City’s fiber-optic assets and related technologies.
To learn more about the project and complete the survey, visit the City’s website at https://www.oxnard.org/fiber.  Remember, the City needs Oxnard-based businesses immediate input in completing the Internet survey by November 16th.
 

MESSAGE FROM THE OXNARD CHAMBER OF COMMERCE CHAIR
Stacy Miller – October 2018
 
When you think of Oxnard, likely the beautiful beaches, well-appointed marinas, close-knit neighborhoods, excellent festivals and amazing weather come to mind.  But now, Oxnard is also home to Northrop Grumman, thanks to the company’s relocation to a new manufacturing center.
 
Northrop Grumman is one of the world's largest aerospace and defense technology companies and is utilizing their new Oxnard-based Astro Aerospace facility to design unmanned aircraft that can patrol the ground and sea. The new facility, located at 2601 Camino Del Sol in Oxnard, encompasses approximately 140,000 square feet, enabling concurrent manufacturing of large satellite reflectors, and other space hardware and deployable structures.
 
Now in its 60th year, Astro Aerospace specializes in deployable structures with unmatched 100 percent success performance on-orbit including extendable/retractable boom and mast subsystems, deployable mesh reflectors, and other deployable planar structures, solar arrays and antennas. Further, they are developing solutions that prevent cyber threats from becoming cyber-attacks, and discovering trends to stay ahead of disease outbreaks.
           
The company, which has tripled its workforce since 2017, is no stranger to Oxnard as they already have some presence here locally at the Naval Base Ventura County and also in Port Hueneme. Northrop Grumman’s new high-tech center brings nearly 300 employees to Oxnard, which contributes to our local economy.
 
From the City of Oxnard’s perspective, they would love to see more of this type of industry in Oxnard. Councilmember Bryan McDonald said: “If you bring in a corporation or business and help them grow and become bigger, they create other job opportunities for suppliers and vendors.  I think we are going to see a huge increase in our aerospace industry because they are going to attract other customers and other business here.”
 
We at the Oxnard Chamber of Commerce couldn’t agree more and welcome Northrop Grumman’s Astro Aerospace facility to our beautiful community. 

Message from the Chair, Stacy Miller

Community policing team will meet individual businesses to address issues of concern
 
If you are a business owner/manager in Oxnard struggling with issues related to crime, violence, vagrancy or vandalism, you may be interested in the Oxnard Police Department’s Business Engagement program.  Started in 2016, the partnership-oriented program was created to help businesses reduce and prevent crime through police best practices.
 
As part of the Business Engagement program, the Oxnard PD has created Neighborhood Policing Teams.  The teams are divided among 11 geographic areas (beats) throughout the city with a community-policing officer assigned to each area.  The officers work in their “beats” on specific business and community-related issues. Each Beat Coordinator is expected to be responsive to the needs of the community and works to build relationships with local business owners.  The Police Beat Coordinator is “problem solver” with a variety of responsibilities including identifying crime trends and addressing quality of life issues such as homelessness and vagrancy with the idea that building relationships between the police and the people they serve is a great way to reduce and prevent crime.
 
It looks like the Oxnard PD is on the right track.  Crime has decreased in the city of Oxnard and this year, Oxnard PD was presented with a prestigious statewide award for its community policing work.
 
Earlier this year, Chief Scott Whitney was quoted in the VC Star as saying: “Community policing is really a philosophy. It’s a way of policing where the department accepts the idea that it is partnered with the people it serves and where police count on residents to communicate, participate and, if need be, serve as witnesses.”
 
You may be surprised to learn that crime prevention through environmental design is a real thing!  As part of the Business Engagement program, the beat officers will come to your place of business and walk your property with you, offering small insights and suggestions for changes that can go a long way towards preventing crime.  Some of these suggestions may include adding more lighting in strategic areas, trimming bushes that block windows, and my personal favorite, moving the beer away from the front door where it can easily be stolen.
 
“We will come out to individual businesses to get to know owners and managers and understand the particular issues they are concerned about. We also collaborate as Beat Coordinators, sharing information across the beats that may reveal crime trends that we can work to solve,” explains Sgt. Jeff McGreevy, Neighborhood Policing Team Supervisor for the Oxnard PD.
 
It is important that businesses flourish in Oxnard and the Oxnard PD’s Business Engagement program can help businesses deal with their individual issues related to crime, which is a big step in the right direction.  Successful neighborhood policing is good for the economy and the community. When businesses are successful, the tax base increases and helps to pay for important quality of life projects and programs that make our city great.
 
If you would like to contact your Beat Coordinator to access these free resources, call Sgt. Jeff McGreevy, the Neighborhood Policing Team Supervisor at 805-385-7600 or 805-797-8021. He can also schedule a custom presentation for your organization, neighborhood group or business regarding crime prevention.