Linda Parks

Re “A Chance for More Progress,” Ventura County editorial, Nov. 21.

For a newspaper that is sometimes quite remarkable in the depth of its reporting, I couldn’t believe the superficiality of this commentary on outgoing Thousand Oaks Mayor Linda Parks.

Let’s set the record straight. Linda Parks is not a leader of the slow-growth movement. She is one of the major players of a no-growth movement that has paralyzed our county with emotional terrorism. Never are the destructive actions of Parks and her no-growth faction brought to light--and it is those actions that are ruining our community.

If Parks decides to run for City Council next year, she will have a lot of explaining to do to the community, such as why she sneers at political opponents during the public comments period, or why she faxes out legally sensitive documents to the press that could wind up in multimillion-dollar lawsuits that the citizens will have to pay for, or why she can’t be honest about her Save the Conejo 2000 group--a political action committee driving her reelection efforts.

She can’t play the broken record of a pro-development council majority being against her because that is simply not the case. Thousand Oaks is at 95% build-out. No-growth will not be the issue--her actions will. Actions speak louder than words, and our community needs to raise its voices above the din of her fanatical supporters and hold her accountable.

The preservation of Hill Canyon was a collaborative effort, not just by Parks but also by the council as a whole and the Joint Powers Authority. Hill Canyon is a beautiful area, now forever open space, but Parks needs to take credit for a larger issue: the political ugliness that has forever marred the city of Thousand Oaks. Something tells me she won’t list that accomplishment on her reelection campaign brochure.

JAMES LEE HENSON

Thousand Oaks

*

I often read the Ventura County Perspective page and have noticed that your editorials always try to find the best motives in people and give them credit in the hopes that the people you are writing about will live up to it.

However, saying that Linda Parks has been anywhere close to civil during her time as mayor is disingenuous at best. Comparing her to Dennis Gillette is like comparing Hillary Clinton to Robert F. Kennedy.

Mrs. Parks, like her predecessor Elois Zeanah, has her henchmen to do her dirty work while she sits and smiles at the damage being done. All their political action committees are made up of the same people. It’s the same people who are always trashing and threatening other council members at council meetings and in inaccurate fliers distributed in our neighborhoods. Their letters to the editor are invariably negative and spewing the same misinformation.

There are many people who care about the environment, both on the council and off. There are few as full of personal venom as Linda Parks.

ROSE FLEMING

Thousand Oaks