Battling RV Park Plan

With our beachfront condo being listed on the real estate market, the hot summer month of August would certainly seem like a logical time to sell. Not so in the city of Port Hueneme.

According to The Times’ Economic Profile, we rate the very lowest in Ventura County. Home and condo prices came in at -23.8% below a year ago with beach properties down as far as 60%. The second lowest on the chart is the town of Fillmore, at -19.1%, which was practically demolished by the January earthquake.

Fortunately, we were spared Fillmore’s shock and devastation. However, we have our own man-made disaster: the proposed RV park. City Manager Dick Velthoen and his friends have held this city hostage for five years, creating havoc with property values. Surfside property owners are applying for, and getting, drastic property tax reductions based on these lower values, creating a fiscal crisis in Port Hueneme. We have become citizens at war with our own City Hall, and rightfully so.

Since the city has not received any approvals from outside agencies for its doomed RV park, the sensible thing to do would be to withdraw the project from the Coastal Commission agenda in September. That would free up to $2.6 million--and could save our Police Department from the budget ax without needing any of the city’s five new taxes.

We are a city in tremendous economic peril due to the incompetence of City Hall. Come November, a change is necessary for our city’s survival.

Robyn Sue Carr

Port Hueneme