OXNARD : Slow-Growth Leader to Run for Council

Scott Weiss, the founder of a burgeoning slow-growth movement in a city known for courting developers, announced his intention Thursday to seek a seat on the Oxnard City Council.

Weiss resigned last week as chairman of Citizens to Protect Oxnard, a slow-growth, grass-roots organization, to concentrate on his November election campaign. He founded the organization in January and presided over its seven-member steering committee.

The four-year council terms of Councilman Manuel Lopez and Ann Johs expire in November, as does the two-year mayoral term of Nao Takasugi. Johs has announced her intention to seek reelection.

Lopez and Takasugi have yet to announce their plans.

The filing period begins Monday and closes Aug. 10.

Councilwoman Dorothy Maron, who recently advocated residential development limits in the city, announced that she will run for mayor in November.

If elected, Weiss, a self-employed public accountant, said he would try to advocate reasonable growth limits in the city and would try to address the city’s financial problems.

“Our current council members seem to feel that more growth will solve everything, when in reality, the growth they have approved has led to many of the fiscal problems that now plague our city,” he said in a statement.