Protecting the Land a Strong Suit

I am often asked why I am willing to dedicate my time and resources to preserve the natural beauty and open spaces of the Conejo Valley. I’ve been in the trenches of the legal profession, on the side of environmental protection and underrepresented citizens, long enough to know that profit-hungry developers and their political allies are often willing to sacrifice the environment and the desires of their constituents for their own interests.

During my legal career, which has spanned 40 years in Southern California, I have often fought for environmental rights. For example, three years ago my law firm, together with Girardi and Keese and Engstrom, Lipscomb and Lack, represented 640 residents in Hinkley who fell victim to environmental contamination caused by Pacific Gas & Electric Co. The film “Erin Brockovich,” recently released by Universal Pictures, details the dogged research work of an employee in my Westlake Village law firm that helped force a $333-million landmark environmental contamination settlement. It was the largest monetary resolution ever recorded in an environmental lawsuit.

That victory could have capped my legal career. However, there’s still much to be done to keep environmental violators within the law. Among those tasks is to protect the land from uncontrolled development and make public officials responsive to the majority of voters, instead of the special interest groups who buy their favors.

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My family originally moved from New Jersey to the West Coast in 1940. My parents, two sisters and my brother first settled in Venice, then moved to Santa Monica and then to Van Nuys. We farmed 20 acres in the San Fernando Valley, which at the time was a paradise of ranches and orange groves. We swam in a naturally dammed stretch of the Los Angeles River. Through the years, I’ve witnessed the San Fernando Valley’s natural beauty and environmental balance destroyed by uncontrolled, indiscriminate and unplanned development. As a result, I vowed to help keep an environmental balance for all when I had the opportunity to do so.

My wife Joette and I moved to Thousand Oaks in 1997. We soon saw in the city government evidence of the same disease that had infected the San Fernando Valley--greed. The city of Thousand Oaks was being plagued by a vicious campaign to unseat a council member who challenged the council’s majority, which I believe was acting in the interests of the developers who financed their election campaigns and who received political favors in return. Although I had not met the councilwoman, it was obviously not a fair fight. I went to her aid and was immediately targeted myself. The recall campaign was exposed as a sham and overcome by a 2-to-1 majority of the voters.

Recently, my firm filed suit on behalf of Ventura County citizens against major oil companies that use the gasoline additive MTBE, or methyl tertiary butyl ether. MTBE has been identified as a possible carcinogen and has contaminated the ground water from leaking underground storage tanks at gas stations throughout the county. Gov. Gray Davis, recognizing the threat, has ordered that MTBE be phased out over the next few years.

I have also taken on developers who were allowed to circumvent road grading standards in the Borchard Road project that were set to protect the motoring public. The city has failed to protect its citizens. As a result, I have filed suit against the developers on behalf of neighborhood residents because I don’t want to see a child killed on a road that is graded at 12%, 50% steeper than the Conejo Grade to Camarillo.

In the Lang Ranch development, a Mello-Roos tax district was established and passed into law before most Lang Ranch residents purchased their homes, ostensibly to fund “drainage facilities” and other improvements. However, unknown to the homeowners, the drainage facilities turned out to be a plan for a huge dam and water retention basin that will destroy an existing, ancient oak grove.

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In typical fashion, the council majority canceled a previous council action to study alternatives to the dam, canceled a public workshop to discuss the project with interested citizens and sent letters to county and federal agencies requesting expeditious permitting of the project as planned. This action flew in the face of an agreement to study an alternative plan to be offered by council member Linda Parks. I have filed suit against the Lang Ranch developers for failure to disclose the magnitude of the project to prospective homeowners.

Every week, citizens call me to ask for help because our city government has failed them. The citizens of Thousand Oaks are being ill-served by their local government. Deals are made in private. Council meetings are canceled. Local laws and ordinances are circumvented or disregarded in favor of special interest groups. Citizens’ input to local government is granted mere lip service--and then ignored.

We must put a stop to the willful disregard of public health, safety, economic well-being and the callous destruction of the environment. Our citizens are beginning to see that the tide of uncontrolled development can be slowed. Now is the time for sensible, responsible growth in Thousand Oaks.

Simply put, I, as are many citizens, am willing to dedicate my time and resources to the preservation of the city of Thousand Oaks so that future generations can experience the same quality of life that we presently enjoy. If the City Council won’t help protect our citizens from overdevelopment, my family and my law firm will do everything possible to keep our Conejo Valley the beautiful place it is.