Ojai Redevelopment

We need help in Ojai to stop a redevelopment project similar to what was proposed in the city of Ventura. We would like to see Ojai’s redevelopment funds distributed to citizens of Ojai who really need them rather than to a private landowner who allowed houses to become derelict and to the Cabrillo Economic Development Corp.

We believe the proposed 26-unit, supposedly affordably housing project, the Fulton Street Project, would be detrimental to the environment in many ways.

We question the accuracy of the information used to determine the need for such houses and believe there are alternatives that would better serve the people of Ojai in a more environmentally healthy way.

We saw that the residents of an affluent neighborhood were able to stop a bed and breakfast, which would have had less negative impact on the environment than this permanent project.

We question why there was more concern on the part of the Planning Commission about the color of the paint on a private house or the placement of a storage container in a commercial parking lot than there was of this proposal to build such a massive project in a low- to moderate-income neighborhood.

We want the redevelopment tax money to be distributed in neighborhoods that are older and in need of rehabilitation and for truly needy residents, such as senior citizens.

Please do what you can to help stop this project and begin to find new ones that will be better for the total environment of Ojai.

MARGOT EISER, Ojai