GUEST EDITORIAL
By Mark Savalla
The City of Port Hueneme is in the process of updating their city plan. They are planning on a Zoom open meeting on March 30, 2021. One of the items is whether to change the name of Port Hueneme from Port Hueneme to Hueneme Beach.
I believe that this change is unnecessary for numerous reasons. The first of which was the fact that the citizens that established this city chose this name and they voted on it for many reasons. The Port of Hueneme is and was a world class port that supported a great deal of the income for the city. The citizens were proud of this fact and I would guess that a great number of people worked for the Port.
The majority of citizens have lived and raised their families in Port Hueneme and have roots and continue to live here. If they would like more business traffic or visitors in general, they can certainly vote to increase and improve the attributes which draw people. Such things as an up to date, clean, entertaining, and accessible beach etc.
A few of the supporters of this name change suggest that the change will bring more visitors to the area. It is not my experience that the name of a location from Port to Beach has any impact on whether I would visit a location.
I would like to see the estimated cost that would be incurred by just the name change to the city budget. The cost of every form, letterhead, document, etc. would probably be better spent to increase the number of first responders, the cost of training and the cost to improve the attributes already in place instead of spending the money on form changes etc.
The City planning survey information documents that 94 responders to the question of changing the name of Port Hueneme to Port Hueneme Beach. Of the 94 responders, 54 voted yes, 40 voted no. These numbers are a little disingenuous. The population of Port Hueneme in 2018 was 22,173. So, 94 people is only .0042 of the population. The yes vote of 54 is .0024 of the population and the no vote of 40 is .0018 of the population.
The numbers alone are not a particularly good argument for the name change. If the leaders supporting this agenda would like to have a city-wide vote that would be a more accurate state of mind of the city regarding this topic, that would certainly be a fair manner in responding to the will of the citizens.
Hopefully, common sense and a fair impartial voting by the populace would ensure the leaders of the city do what the citizens prefer.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Citizens Journal.
Mark Savalla is a retired LAPD officer
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It won’t help. Grover City (up by Pismo Beach) changed to Grover Beach. It’s the same place.
These types of changes do absolutely nothing to improve the quality of life for Hueneme residents. What it solely does is put a spot light on the one individual in the city council who needs some form of a win!!! We do not need to take those kind of finances and inject it into first responders, they take one of the largest portions of our tax dollars to pay their high salaries and unnecessary servalance on us all. This should not even be a consideration to take a well established name and change it for an “Accomplishment” this is a misplaced leadership pet project that does nothing whatsoever to help residents here. There are 2 more positions in our current council that require change. Speak up and speak out before it’s to late.
Change it to Oxnuneme
“A few of the supporters of this name change suggest that the change will bring more visitors to the area.”
Likely more than a few. Leftists want change, and Coastal California is culturally leftist. The thinking is, ‘If it offends enough people, change it!’
thats BS If the Alasken plane crash sdid not put us on the map a name change will not either no freeway is the reason
I don’t want to change the name. I have lived here since 1977. Please keep the name the same. Surely you can spend the money towards the Police Department, or EMT’s, ect., instead.
Bad vibes to change the name. Its an Indian name. Dont mess if its not broken!
Great position