A City Built on False Pretenses
* Save Open Space still hopes to save the irreplaceable Ahmanson Ranch greenbelt (as it was zoned by Ventura County) for the millions of San Fernando, Conejo and Las Virgenes valleys’ residents.
Needed now are a big-name celebrity and lots of money to appeal the recent Ventura County court decision.
The 3,050-home Ahmanson City will be built at the western terminus of Victory Boulevard in Woodland Hills adjacent to Los Angeles, Hidden Hills and Calabasas. Each day, Ahmanson’s additional 48,000 cars will create unbearable gridlock and smog regionwide.
Ahmanson’s cohort, Potomac, the other developer involved in this mess, waited until now to disclose there has never been a formal partnership with Ahmanson. Under the guise of a combined Potomac/Ahmanson project, the process was fast-tracked. Ahmanson misrepresented to the public and Ventura County that there was joint partnership with Potomac. It was all a hoax! A sham enabled Ahmanson to get approval for its new city under false pretenses.
Nine lawsuits challenging the environmental approval of Ahmanson City recently lost in Ventura County Court. The sham is so slick and the hoax so convoluted that even the judge misunderstood.
MARY E. WIESBROCK
Agoura Hills
Wiesbrock is director of Save Open Space.
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