It’s obvious by their absence that these residents are indifferent or are uninformed.
I am one of those residents.
Is parking a problem at times? Yes.
Did I purchase property in close proximity to a school?
Yes
Was I cognizant of the fact that traffic comes along with being in close proximity to a school? Of course.
What has changed?
Are we increasing the student body here at SPHS?
Again, I ask, What has changed for the residents of Palm court other than the inconvenience of campus renovation and construction that has caused a temporary parking issue.
It’s like freeway construction...everyone hates it, but in the end, it does improve driving conditions.
I ask we reconsider the implementation of this “district” and at the very least, give the residents of Palm Court what they want, their own private drive at the expense of our tax payers. Let them have a parking district, but leave the surrounding areas alone and out of this debacle.
While I am not active on the school board, I will make an attempt to forward my communication on to them with my suggestions for a solution to solve the issues facing the community regarding parking.
Thank you for your time, and I look forward to your transparency regarding the survey.
Frank Ursitti
Santa Paula
Water/Sewer
rate meeting
To the Editor:
Yesterday evening, my wife and I attended, rather useless, meeting in the Community Center about the rates of water and sewer. The meeting was well attended, by my rough count, close to two hundred people showed up, curious.
My first objection though, is to a format, allowing us to have questions only after the presentation, after facts, when most of attendees left. The reason for having questions in writing first is also silly; don’t we have phones or cameras or tape recorders anymore? We should be able ask questions in time when there is something to ask. It would eliminate repeating questions later, but mainly, all attendees could hear the answers and discuss them. This would be productive approach, but this seems to, is not a goal of such meeting.
The next one: in one slide we see written assurance no rates will go up in the next five years, and only few minutes later, we are being told that the new rates will start from January 2015. How this is possible???
The information that United Water hired six people for four-hundredthe thousand dollars is mind-blowing. And that is in the city where average income goes slightly over thirty thousand dollars a year. And we should we pay for it? Why is City not objecting such radical increase in prices?
A few times I also heard from city representatives ...”We are working on it...” What does that means? He never explained it. Is it daily, ten minutes a day, once a month? I would like to know some dates, time, when working on it. The task is either given and should be finished to... z days from now, or is not. And who is we? The whole department or just him, or who?
The same goes for Mr. Gonzales’s answer... “We are thinking about.” Again, is it daily, or just when it comes to his mind? Personally I would like to see results of thinking or working on it. And where those are?
The worse responce though, came from Mr. Cook, who told us we cannot know everything thatis going on. As I am concerned, he, and all city employees are working for us, are paid from our money, so no, Mister Cook, we have a right to know everything. And if you don’t understand this, you should step down from public service. No wonder the abuse of power and secrecy goes now all the way up to White House.
And one more thing. Why is rate of sewer not calculated by simple formula based on one person.
For example: 2 showers a day, 4 toilet flushes, one dishes,...etc. = let’s say..50 gallons of water to sewer line. Two people in the house= 100 gallons, 6 people in the house = 300 gallons x dollars/gal.= customer price. I gave this question to this expert from consulting firm, but he evade answering it. So, why not?
Tomas Jina
Santa Paula
Water meeting
To the Editor:
The water and sewer meeting was a real eye opener. The turnout was large which proves that many people are concerned about our water supply. The public questions were knowledgeable and to the point. My hope is that the city manager and the city council really heard the truth from United Water. Water is the game changer!
United Water basically said that all the aquifers all around the county are at record low levels. Lake Piru is at a record low level. The drought is officially categorized as extreme. In spite of all this, we are increasing our use of water. So draw your own conclusions. Then he left.
United Water does not comment on land use or development but the big elephant was in the room. It was subliminally clear that in order for any development to be started, water must be taken from somewhere else. It doesn’t take long to figure out that water will be transferred from agriculture to development. Development makes more money in a shorter period of time.
The city manager and city council must act immediately. There needs to be a moratorium on all developments until we have a clear understanding of the SP aquifer. Currently, United Water is working on a yield study. When the results are published, Santa Paula needs to re evaluate the viability of large developments. Unless the city can guarantee a long term water supply to a new development, then there can be no development.
As United Water stated, the water is free. It comes from nature. As the drought continues and water gets more scarce, rates will go higher. Simple supply and demand. Development and agriculture are the two big players that are using the most and raising the stakes. Time to change the game and even the odds.
Time for a moratorium. Time to stop adding the cost of future development on today’s ratepayers. Time to lower the water and sewer bills. In the next election, we must vote for city council candidates who will take the necessary actions to solve the water crisis and protect the aquifer.
John Wisda
Santa Paula
