Avoids West Hills Face-Off : Picus’ Absence Irks Residents

Canoga Park homeowners said that all they wanted to talk about was bumpy streets, loose dogs, trees in need of trimming, mini-malls and similar neighborhood concerns.

But City Councilwoman Joy Picus sent written answers to questions instead of showing up at the homeowners’ Neighborhood Watch meeting Monday night, fearing she might be confronted by angry Canoga Park residents seeking to be included in the newly designated community of West Hills.

Picus has been dogged by controversy since early this year when she agreed to let several neighborhoods in western Canoga Park take the name of West Hills in an attempt to increase property values and status by divorcing their area from older areas of Canoga Park. Homeowners to the east immediately began clamoring to be included in the new community.

Picus, who agreed in April to appear at an informal question-and-answer session with the Neighborhood Watch group, said Tuesday she backed out of the meeting after hearing reports that some Canoga Park residents might try to use the meeting as a forum for their campaign to become part of West Hills, even though the meeting’s organizers promised not to allow that.

“I would have gone to the meeting had it not been that the West Hills folks intended to address their concerns and I did not want to give them that opportunity to do so,” said Picus.

Picus instead arranged to meet privately July 17 with Ralph Jones, a block leader of the Neighborhood Watch group. At Jones’ request, Picus instructed her staff to prepare a written summary of her answers to questions, which Jones then read to the homeowners Monday night. The written summary told homeowners who to contact about tree, sewer, street and other problems.

Harsh Criticism

But the answers were not enough for some of the 16 people attending the Neighborhood Watch meeting in a community room at Fallbrook Mall. Picus’ absence drew harsh criticism from several people.

“She needs to take the heat,” Jackie Thomas said. “It’s part of her job to meet with constituents.”

Another angry homeowner, Sue Gary, called Picus “pretty chicken.” She criticized Picus for not having the nerve “to show up at a meeting of the people who pay her.”

Residents in a two-mile strip west of Fallbrook Avenue and east of Platt and Woodlake avenues contend that Picus reneged on a promise to include them in West Hills when it was formed. The would-be West Hills residents organized late this spring into a group called “West Hills Open Zone Victims,” and have been battling Picus on the issue since.

Many of the Neighborhood Watch members at Monday night’s meeting live in the so-called open zone.

Chamber President’s Warning

At a June 22 meeting at a Canoga Park elementary school, the group’s leaders contended that Picus had refused several invitations to address them. They then noted that the Monday night Neighborhood Watch meeting would be a chance to confront Picus about the issue. Picus said she learned of the plan from John Caulkins, president of the Canoga Park Chamber of Commerce, who attended the June 22 meeting.

Jones said he told Picus he would “shut off” people seeking to question Picus about the West Hills issue, but Picus still refused to attend.

Picus confirmed that she received assurances from group members that they would not discuss the West Hills controversy but said there was no way to assure that disgruntled would-be West Hills residents would not disrupt the meeting anyway.

Lil Younger, chairman of the Open Zone group, attended the Monday night meeting but said she was there to discuss other neighborhood problems and had agreed not to discuss the West Hills issue.

The Open Zone group is scheduled to meet tonight at Hale Junior High School in Woodland Hills to discuss its cause.

Picus said, she “might under certain conditions meet” with the Open Zone group, but has not yet determined the conditions of such a meeting.