MOORPARK : Metrolink Station Landscaping OKd

In a bid to curb vandalism, the Moorpark City Council has agreed to spend $2,700 to install landscaping along a block wall that borders the city’s Metrolink station.

Wednesday night’s council action is the first step in a broad plan to bolster security after a graffiti attack last month on 10 cars in the commuter rail parking lot. The plan was approved on a 4-0 vote with Councilman Bernardo Perez absent.

City officials hope that the new landscaping will improve the look of an old block wall, reduce the potential for graffiti and make it more difficult for vandals to flee the Metrolink lot.

However, council members disagreed on how to pay for the landscaping, which will consist of shrubbery that will climb and cover the wall. Councilmen John Wozniak and Patrick Hunter, who make up the council’s Transportation and Streets Committee, suggested taking the funds from a citywide assessment district.

But Eloise Brown, a former council member, criticized the move during the council’s public comment session, saying it amounted to a tax increase to all city residents.

Councilman Scott Montgomery agreed, saying the money should come out of the city’s general fund. “This amounts to a tax increase to the public,” Montgomery said.

The council agreed to take the money from the city’s general fund. The council also appropriated $1,520 from the city’s general fund to maintain all the landscaping at the Metrolink station through the rest of the fiscal year.