Oxnard—Emotions ran high during public comments during the Tuesday, May 7, meeting, as City Manager Alex Nguyen was accused of conspiring to sell a portion of the City’s art collection.
The issue stems from a September 12, 2023 memo that said the Oxnard City Council, as directed by the City Manager, would have the ability to sell the art.
Dr. Henry Villenueva represented Saving Oxnard’s Art, which he said is reflective of what’s held at the Carnegie Museum.
“We have been concerned about what is happening with the art and have tried to work with Mayor Zaragoza, along with the City Manager, to try and determine what’s happening,” Villaneuva said. “In our quest, we found out a couple of things. The contract has been initiated with a person from the Riverside area and through Mayor Zaragoza, we were able to get the scope of work of this consultant.”
Villaneuva said the consultant’s job is to recommend criteria for selecting work from the collection to retain as a smaller specific City-Art collection to be cared for by the Oxnard Public Library.
“The consultant is to recommend a process and select the artwork to retain,” he said. “For the remainder of…
