Arts Commission and the City Council

Several months ago the Thousand Oaks Arts Commission recommended that its role as the Cultural Heritage Board be returned to the Ventura County Cultural Heritage Board.

But our City Council majority disagrees and has determined that along with their overwhelming duties, they should take on the role of Cultural Heritage Board. If this was such a straight forward decision, couldn’t the council simply decide to also vote and declare themselves the Planning Commission?

We’ve been told that the council dropped the county’s absolutely free evaluation services, so that we would have “local control.” But what does the council mean by local control? The council has always had control of this issue. The council always had the final vote on any recommended item. Our relationship with the county worked out great for 12 years, resulting in 12 separate local landmark designations.

WILLIAM MAPLE, Thousand Oaks