Zeanah Foes Trying to Confuse Voters

Our watchdog group has been monitoring development in Newbury Park for seven years. I am dismayed that the editors of this page printed a letter from Bob Young (Oct. 5) that is full of lies about issues that are a matter of public record. Young’s letter regarding Elois Zeanah is a prime example of the tactics used by those who want to remove this popular slow-growth councilwoman.

These are the facts:

Zeanah has been the taxpayers’ friend for seven years, showing the height of fiscal responsibility.

She saved the taxpayers $6 million that the city would have taken from them while she asked questions about the grandiose waste-water plant. According to the city’s own auditors, $32 million could be saved on the plant through taking alternatives. Zeanah wanted to save us this sum. In the meantime, the taxpayers will actually save $11 million in bonds due to the change in the financial market.

Looking at the internal debt for the Civic Arts Plaza, Zeanah and Councilwoman Linda Parks asked that all taxes for the sewer plant remain in that fund and not in the general fund. The pro-development council members voted them down.

It was Zeanah who asked the city to move from using chlorine to a nontoxic alternative precisely to ensure that residents would not be exposed to any risks.

The council voted to deny the Cohan project as proposed. That was legal and the prerogative of the council. It was the “multiple legal errors” made by the city attorney which the court found unacceptable. Residents also lost as the Dos Vientos Default was magically erased as part of the settlement with Cohan. The city’s back-room deal prevented the downsizing of this mini-city, which will impact residents for decades.

Zeanah has been the target of a $300,000 campaign to confuse voters. Prove that big money and blatant lies will not work in Thousand Oaks. Join us on Nov. 4 and vote NO RECALL.

MICHELLE KOETKE

Chair, Residents to Preserve

Newbury Park