Opposition to Developer’s Choices for Supervisors

OK, let me see if I got this right. Billionaire David Murdock wants us to elect Randy Hoffman and Judy Mikels to the Ventura County Board of Supervisors so he can make Hidden Valley a city so the new city can pave Potrero Road. But wait, Murdock wants us to not concern ourselves with the road yet, not to worry about cityhood yet, just get his politicians on the board first.

The county is saying that it has 545 miles of road and can only afford to repave 10 miles a year. At this rate, a road has to last for more than 54 years. The solution, according to Murdock, is to put his people on the Board of Supervisors.

Not so they can run our county, among the more prosperous in the nation, responsibly so we can afford to pave our roads. No, Murdock wants them to help him put a city in Hidden Valley so the new city can pave the road.

But if Murdock gets his city and can control the development rights (by buying yet more politicians), he can do an end run around SOAR, and that lets him develop thousands of homes in the rural valley. And he can pave miles and miles of horse pasture, oak groves and rural hills.

Is this the real reason he has given Hoffman $91,000 and Mikels $25,000?

Seems to me that if the road through Hidden Valley needs to be paved, then we ought to elect some supervisors who will help the citizens. Candidate Linda Parks in District 2 has a proven record of listening to the residents of Thousand Oaks and of not being under the control of special interests. And over in District 4, candidate John Lane is running against incumbent Judy “Just Build It” Mikels, who has proved herself as the running dog of the over-developers.

Support Parks and Lane, not the special-interest puppets.

Paul Nicholson

Thousand Oaks