Thousand Oaks City Council

Some political campaigns offer candidates so similar in style and substance that frustrated voters are tempted to make their choice by merely flipping a coin.

That is definitely not a problem in the current scramble for two seats on the Thousand Oaks City Council.

The two incumbents and five challengers represent a vast spectrum of personal circumstances, credentials and views. Each was interviewed last week by Times editors. We hope these excerpts will help voters choose wisely.

JIM BRUNO

Financial planner and Thousand Oaks Planning Commission member; age 55.

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Running for City Council is a culmination of 25 years of service. I’ve done virtually everything that you could do in community and city involvement. . . .

I think I can further solidify the kind of reasonable approach to problem solving that Dennis Gillette brought to the council. Not that the other council members are necessarily remiss, but I think [Gillette] is exceptional in that he doesn’t have a hidden agenda, he comes in with objectivity, treats people with respect and he’s a consensus builder. . . . What’s most important to me is bringing people together.

If Ed Masry were elected, the concern I would have is that we would have a council that governs by litigation. I wonder if he really understands the city and the culture of the city, or does he understand it vicariously through another person’s perspective? Are we open-minded and objective without a predetermined conclusion about the entire area of building and growth? . . .

Concerning growth, the question is not whether it’s an issue or not but the hierarchy of that issue. . . . We’re within 2,000 houses of build-out as defined in the general plan. [The larger issue is] we’re moving from adolescence to maturity. We need to deal with ways of bringing more smart-growth elements into our city, trying to get some social value or value to the infrastructure out of the remaining industrial and commercial projects.

Mixed use is absolutely critical, in order to bring some more affordable housing in for the young folk and some of the seniors. There’s going to have to be an ongoing education process to deal with the NIMBYism and what I call the BANANA [Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything] mentality. It’s going to be a slow process--town meetings to ask the question “Do you want your children to be able to live here? Is it right that our median home price is $300,000 and climbing?” The only thing we can do to accommodate that need is to work in a mixed zoning type environment in some of the commercial and industrial areas. . . .

My vision is a city that cares about its people in all sectors of the community. . . . Consensus is great but moving to what I think good people really desire in their hearts is what leadership is all about. To say, “Hey, we can do it together if you really want to do it.”

CHRIS BUCKETT

Business consultant specializing in start-up companies; age 41.

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We need business-minded people on our City Council to identify and create new sources of revenue. I have extensive community service. I think that I would make an excellent role model for women and young people. That’s primarily why I was one of the founders of the U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce Conejo Valley chapter. That being a leadership training organization, I just wasn’t real happy with what I was seeing in our own city, in the recall and all the divisiveness on our council. I thought at least I could show people a better way. You have to start with mutual respect.

In corporate America, we have diversity training, which is essentially to celebrate and appreciate people’s differences. Isn’t that the whole reason that we elect five City Council members? We want independent people, not like-minded people, who come from different backgrounds and have different experiences. . . .

When I hear people talk about the fact that we need to make things affordable for our younger generation and our working poor, minimum-wage people, I’d like to see a complete inventory of affordable rental units, and I would like to see the city adopt a policy to give first preference on those to people who live and work in our community, so they can work locally. That would take traffic off the street.

If elected, I’m going designate one day a month to riding the bus. There are lots of places you can’t get to on the bus system. The Smart Shuttle is a great thing but you have to make a reservation 24 hours in advance. We definitely need to do something about our mass transit system. Worst of all, our buses stop running at 6 p.m. People can’t take a bus to City Council meetings! . . .

I am truly the independent candidate. There were times when there was a slow-growth side on the council essentially trying to bring me into the fold, and it’s not that I necessarily disagree with their position, but I won’t let anybody manipulate me. I have my own stand on things. . . .

I’m a reasonable person. I know the importance of protecting our environment, our greenbelts. My actions speak louder than my words. You have to have respect and appreciation for the people before you can even claim to appreciate our environment.

JOE GIBSON

Environmental planner and park district board member; age 45.

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I believe in a representative style of government, one where we don’t do ballot-box planning. . . . We’re elected as representatives to do a job, and we need to be able to do that job, to listen to what the people have to say and make an informed decision.

As an environmental planner, I work with a lot of cities and counties. I understand development and redevelopment issues, economic issues from a city standpoint.

There are two candidates who want you to believe that growth is the major issue, but it’s not an issue in Thousand Oaks. Our city is built out and the growth we’re going to see now is some redevelopment, especially along Thousand Oaks Boulevard. But the growth issue is one that’s thrown out there to scare people, that is intended to make it seem that we’re going to be something that we aren’t today.

Thousand Oaks is a well-planned community. Very rarely over the past 30 years have we changed the general plan--and when we have, we’ve changed it downward. So when we look at growth in Thousand Oaks, we’re basically there. . . .

We’ve created a bit of a housing crisis, to where there is no move-in, beginning household level in the city. We have a lot of move-up housing but we’re placing a lot of our work force beyond the city limits. That is a problem. As we see the price of gasoline pass $2 a gallon, people are going to quit driving very far for service jobs. We need to look at redeveloping Thousand Oaks Boulevard with mixed use. We need to look at more use of condominiums and apartments in buffer zones against existing residential, industrial and commercial--where they’ve been zoned for--and allow those projects to go forward. We don’t need to stop them and try to close the door.

Another concern is that as we approach build-out we will no longer be able to rely on developer fees. As those dry up over the next five years, we need to look at how we’re going to maintain the quality of services that the city has come to expect over the past 30 years.

MARY HARRIS

Homemaker, former Many Mansions board member, public transit activist; age 48.

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We need affordable housing, and I’m not talking high density. We could do a good job if we kept it to one or two stories, no more than that. We have many seniors here, people with special needs. Housing agencies can only do so much, and then the city needs to step up to the plate and help with that. . . .

I’m not saying I’m slow growth, I’m not saying I’m pro growth. I would bring a balance. If the citizens say that they don’t want certain things, then I would have to abide by that.

To improve public transportation, I’d try to get the city to sit down and have a big round-table discussion to get more night hours, weekend hours, direct routes to the transit center and other cities. You can’t get out after certain hours and do things like other people do.

There are too many cars. Even though a lot of people are used to their cars in California, that’s why our roads are clogged up. . . .

My government is important to me, and I feel that I need to be involved to make a difference. If I just stay at home, that does not help. I want to be out there, trying to make a difference, trying to strive to be an independent citizen. . . .

If I am elected, I would like to see the City Council and the Planning Commission sit down and try to hammer out some of the issues that they are feeling bitterness about. I don’t feel the way they have been treating us citizens is appropriate. They’ve been standoffish. Citizens need dialogue with their representatives. . . .

I decided to run for City Council because I felt the issues were not being dealt with fairly. I needed to try to bring them forward and make sure they were dealt with.

MIKE MARKEY

Retired police officer and current City Council member; age 45.

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Having been on the council, I have a sense of what the community issues are--and I have responded to those.

One of the biggest problems in Thousand Oaks is land. I know some candidates will tell you that the city is overdeveloped and over-this and over-that. In actuality, the city is on the mark with the general plan.

The general plan says that we will have 50,000 housing units in the city at build-out and we’ll have a population of 135,000. We have about 123,000 people now. If five brand new people got on the City Council tomorrow, there are only 2,000 discretionary units of housing that they could approve or not approve. The rest is already allocated. . . .

We’re pretty well built out. Really, the land is the issue.

Housing is one of the biggest issues this council and future councils are going to have to grapple with because we don’t have any more land to build on. Even those final 2,000 homes are going to be in-fill projects. There’s no more acreage for large developments.

Affordable housing is going to be an issue for Thousand Oaks, as it is statewide. The Legislature has mandated to the local municipalities that if we don’t do it they’re going to do it--and land planning from the state level has been proven not to work many, many times. . . .

One-third of the land in the city is protected open space that cannot be built on, and Measure E, passed by 75% of the voters, says that we cannot increase the density in our town without a vote of the people. So we have limits, with commercial also. It’s an issue that we’re all going to have to pull up our boots and take a look at.

As an elected official, the two things that I strive for are leadership and vision.

I think leadership is making difficult decisions. Every decision isn’t going to make everybody happy. But I’m going to look at how it affects my family and other families. That’s always been a pretty good gauge of what’s going to work, and what isn’t, for the community. . . .

When you build a school, you’re building it for everyone. When you build a park or a soccer field, you’re building it for everyone.

ED MASRY

Environmental and consumer attorney; age 68.

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I grew up in the San Fernando Valley on a 20-acre farm. Every five years, the [local newspaper] would run this general plan that would have greenbelts and parks and everything else. But every five years something would happen to the general plan--and the Valley today has absolutely no resemblance to the general plan that I was growing up with. . . .

There’s a lack of wisdom on [the current Thousand Oaks City] Council. Frankly, there’s nobody on that council who’s ever run their own business, who’s ever had to worry about payroll and rent. I see a lot of fiscal irresponsibility on that council. . . .

I have a feeling that this city has a feel-good attitude. They just publish the good news and they don’t tell the citizens, “Hey, we’re blowing money here, we’re spending money here.” This is why I decided to run, because as a citizen and as a businessperson I look at what the City Council is doing--in accordance with, apparently, the hierarchy on the city staff--and these people aren’t saying, “This project is too much for me. Let’s go out, let’s get experts and have them tell us what to do. Let’s not tell them to reach a conclusion.” I’m afraid that’s what the city isn’t doing. . . .

This is what scares me as we start trying to finish our development. I know Bruno and Markey are saying we’re at build-out; we’re not. There’s still 5,000 and some-odd homes that are going to be built. On every one of those the density can be changed, the ridgeline can be changed, the [setback] can be changed--all of these things can be changed!

I’m saying we have to look at this carefully because out of that 5,000 we’re mandated for approximately 1,400 affordable homes. These were originally set to be built by the year 2020. Obviously the purpose of that was to try to ease the burden on the schools. It’s pathetic that with all the money there is in Thousand Oaks we have overcrowded schools. . . .

There’s a lot going on that requires more wisdom than we have on that council. I just don’t think they’re thinking right. And I don’t know why we have such egregious decisions that just violate common sense.

LINDA PARKS

Homemaker and current City Council member; age 43.

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I come with a background in urban planning so I have an interest in development issues, particularly in my city of Thousand Oaks. I live here, and I’m concerned about the potential for overdevelopment. I do have a concern that what has happened in the San Fernando Valley can happen in my town. . . .

While what our general plan allows for is considerable, I’m concerned about the exceptions to allow for even more development. Right now our general plan will allow for the building of another 9 million square feet of commercial development beyond what we have. In square footage, that’s about 36 more Promenades. We also have over 5,000 houses that can be built.

My major concern is, in addition to that, what are we going to allow? For example, we’ve consistently allowed for office buildings and retail buildings to be built taller than our codes allow--more square footage, more development beyond what our general plan allows for. . . .

The city is now talking about mixed use. I like it as a planning term, but that means more residential than the plan allows for. . . .

I think that now is a very important time to have a lot of attention paid to how we are going to grow. “Is there really a build-out?” is a question I have because I keep seeing these exceptions and additions to the general plan.

Some say overdevelopment is yesterday’s newspaper, but it impacts our schools, our roads, our air quality, our police. We have to be very coordinated. The whole basis of the general plan is to have that coordination among public facilities, the circulation element, the housing element. It’s important to have this holistic approach because one thing affects the other, as everything in life. . . .

If Ed Masry and I are elected, we will have an impact in three ways. One is slow growth, and that means holding the developers to our laws, not giving waivers and not building out fast by expediting projects. Actually, we should taper. Another way is in the financial accountability of our city. I am a fiscal conservative. I have a lot of concerns when I see taxpayer money going to waste and lavish expenditures. The third way is bringing things to light. One of my main roles I fill in representing citizens is to let the citizens know what’s going on at City Hall, what plans are afoot. . . . I feel one of my main roles is to open government, to make it accessible.