Following Lead of Orange County

I have followed the proposal to building a jail in Santa Paula with much interest, since I moved from Orange County three years ago in what appears now to have been a futile attempt to distance myself from runaway and thoughtless development. Our Board of Supervisors has done a tremendous disservice to the county of Ventura by disregarding the need for green belt and geographical insulation around communities. They are leading the way toward a blueprint of Orange County that will inevitably occur here in Ventura County.

Supervisor Maggie Erickson Kildee is especially to be criticized for the hypocritical representation she has given to her constituents in Fillmore and Santa Paula. Above all other officials, she should have appreciated the need to preserve open space in this fragile environment and to make sure that any development, in addition to benefiting the citizens of Ventura County, would specifically either benefit the people of Santa Paula or at least not have a negative impact on that community.

My hope is that the outrage I feel at this disregard for growth conservation, open space and planned meaningful development that benefits the local community as well as the county will permeate into the minds of other interested citizens who will then take a more vocal stand against the Board of Supervisors’ decisions on this matter.

MICHAEL D. SPARKUHL, M.D.

Santa Paula