Defeat of Initiative Would Delay Campus

There are so many compelling reasons for Ventura County residents to vote for Proposition 203 that it’s difficult to know which ones to emphasize. They include accommodating “Tidal Wave II” students--grandchildren of the World War II generation; replacing aging structures, removing asbestos and seismic retrofitting; reducing the state’s multibillion-dollar backlog of school facility projects, and preparing our children and young people for the challenges of international competition in the new millennium.

We in Ventura County have additional incentive this year, in that $936,000 that has been earmarked for preliminary planing for our public university. While defeat of the bond measure would not be fatal, it would delay its advent by several years. We’ve dallied long enough.

Furthermore, a public university in our county would ultimately bring home some of the tax dollars we currently send to Sacramento to subsidize every UC and CSU campus in the state. Surely, it’s our turn now.

JOYCE M. KENNEDY

Ventura