Public Comment, Input Play Heavily in SCAG’s Inclusive Planning Efforts

I must take serious issue with the assertions made by Patricia Feiner Arkin in her article on regionalism, “On a Regional Trojan Horse, Enter Sprawl,” Dec. 6.

Specifically, as a Ventura County supervisor and immediate past president of the Southern California Assn. of Governments (SCAG), I am offended by Ms. Feiner Arkin’s characterization that regional agencies such as SCAG and the Ventura County Transportation Commission are “800-pound gorillas” somehow trying to impose improvements to California 118 without public comment or input.

SCAG has taken extraordinary efforts to solicit and incorporate the comments and concerns of local governments, the private sector and the public in all of its planning efforts.

For example, SCAG actively sought input, demographic projections and transportation priorities from cities and counties throughout Southern California as it developed its regional transportation plan in 1997. And before a final plan was adopted during SCAG’s general assembly at the Reagan Library in April 1998, SCAG sponsored more than three dozen community forums and public hearings throughout the region for the express purpose of hearing what the public had to say about specific elements of the plan.

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Finally, SCAG has taken steps to empower 14 subregional organizations throughout the region, including the Ventura Council of Governments (VCOG). Every city in Ventura County has representation at VCOG and all meetings of both VCOG and SCAG are open to the public.

The many communities that make up Southern California are becoming more interconnected each day. Regional organizations such as SCAG serve an important function in addressing issues that don’t stop at city or county boundaries.

Rather than making unfounded assertions about the intentions of organizations such as SCAG, perhaps Ms. Feiner Arkin should take more time to learn what SCAG has done to make its planning process inclusive and sensitive to local needs.