Letters to the Editor October 3, 2014

October 03, 2014
Opinion

Moonlight VIII

To the Editor:

What a great evening!  The venue, the food, the dancers, the music, the weather, our sponsors and most importantly all the volunteers who made the evening possible.  We especially appreciate all our friends who came out to support our Santa Paula Police and Fire Departments, we are most grateful.

The mission of the Police and Fire Foundation is simply and solely to support and assist these two vital organizations in their mission to make our community a safer place to live.

A special thanks goes to the Limoneira Company and its staff who generously provide the historic location.  We value their commitment to help make a safer Santa Paula.

Plans are already underway for MOONLIGHT IX; I look forward to seeing you then.

Al Guilin, President

Santa Paula Police and Fire Foundation

Measure F

To the Editor:

We, the residents of Santa Paula will have the opportunity to help make ours a safer community by voting yes on Measure F that will be on the November Ballot. One only has to look the recent history of crime here, to fully understand why we need a yes vote in November.

The murders that have taken place here are intolerable. Most of them were drug related. We have to stop this. Santa Paula has six gangs with about one hundred active members. We also have forty one parolees, most of who were convicted of violent crimes, but we don’t have enough police officers to handle all the required assignments that are needed to reduce crime in town.

We have twenty nine officers, but we need at least eight more. Passage of Measure F will help us fill the gap. We must also increase the pay of our officers. They are severely underpaid, and this is simply not fair for they and their families. They put their lives on the line for us every time they are on patrol, night or day, so please join me in helping to make Santa Paula a safer community that we all need and want. Vote yes on Measure F.

Robert Borrego

Santa Paula

Public safety 

has a price 

To the Editor:

Public safety has a price-it’s either in loss of life and property or it’s in having the services that make a community known for safe streets and neighborhoods. I’ve been a resident of this community for almost 39 years and I’ve heard every conceivable comment about “Santa Paula” from its intense beauty to its gang infestations.  Revenue to the City comes from a percentage of our property taxes and sales taxes. As a community becomes more desirable, property values increase because more people want to live her. As people with spending power move in, increased revenue comes from expenditures of disposable income in town.

Santa Paula needs momentum. A jumpstart from a sales tax increase will provide increased safety with additional police and fire professionals. People will be drawn to live in our community just like they are to warm fire. Measure F is that jumpstart. It has an end date and there are safeguards to insure funds are properly spent. Together we can do it and together, we are better.

Kay Wilson-Bolton

Former Mayor

Santa Paula

Ginger Gherardi’s for City Council

To the Editor:

It is with great enthusiasm that I support Ginger in her bid for the Santa Paula City Council.   Having a knowledgeable, clear thinking woman on the council will be refreshing and offer a much needed female viewpoint to the many issues that face our city.  Besides the fact that Ginger Gherardi has proven herself to be effective in each of her many undertakings, she also exhibits great energy, thorough research, and persistence. 

Ms. Gherardi was influential in establishing our bike path, renovating the Mill into an Ag Museum, writing the 10th Street TEA Grant, fighting for the Pumpkin Patch and volunteering for many other committees and community projects.  She is at the Giant Plant Sale every year and does an exemplary job of keeping track of the financials for America in Bloom and Hospice.  These are only some of the projects and committees she has done.  Most of us have been privileged to work with her at many other events and volunteer activities.

Ginger is a doer.  She identifies a need and she analyses what must to be done to address that need.  She recruits appropriate people to get the job done.  Her contacts reach throughout Ventura County and beyond.  As a respected citizen and colleague, she is a voice that is heard and believed.  

We can’t afford to miss this opportunity to vote for Ginger Gherardi.  She will be our fair and thoughtful advocate.  She will insure that there is a logical, organized approach to solve our problems.  She has worked hard to better Santa Paula over many years and in numerous ways.  I urge you to stand by her now in her candidacy for City Council. She has proven to us she has the skills.  Look around the city.  If you see something positive that has come into being over the years,  Ginger probably was there from the beginning, guiding the way to make it happen.  

Thank you Ginger, for taking on one more responsibility.  I am very grateful you have accepted this challenge.  This is a change in leadership and vision that is long overdue.  

Cathy Sorenson 

Santa Paula 

Re: Tax hike on the November, 2014 ballot.

To the Editor:

Ever since California became a “progressive” majority state the appetite for tax hikes has never ceased and Santa Paula appears to be following that trend. After many city council meetings and “town hall” meetings and other propaganda gatherings the “wizards of smart” have allowed the people to vote for the 1% tax hike in November, 2014.  Initially the intent of this tax hike was to alleviate the terrible conditions of Santa Paula’s city streets. According to the left leaning VC Star on Friday, September 26, 2014, it was reported that if the projections are correct the extra 1 % sales tax will generate $1.6 million for the city. Using this information from the VC Star, after the Police Department gets the lion’s share of 50% or $800, 000, and the Fire Department is allotted 25% or $400,000 the remaining amount of 25% or $400,000 is allotted for road maintenance. The projected annual amount of $400,000 for additional road maintenance becomes the “bait and switch” trick often used on the voting public and realizing that the majority of the voting public function on little to no information when it comes to voting on critical issues the public usually is duped into the choosing the stupidest decision possible. Okay Santa Paula, just how much street paving/improvements do you think $400,000 will get you annually (that is if the Public Works Dept. is not given money for more employees and raises from the remaining $400,000)? People, please do some research before voting! It is no wonder that two cities in Los Angeles County, Pico Rivera and South Gate, have the highest sales tax in LA County, both are undoubtedly heavily Latino populated which only substantiates my theory of the voting public that functions on little to no information on critical issues are buffoons and unfortunately bring on the misfortunes of their decision to everyone. I was disappointed by the professed fiscally conservative members of this city council which endorsed this tax measure although there were some overtures made of their concern for the poor and working people but at the end “re-election” out-weighed principles!

Andrew F. Castaneda

Santa Paula

Support Jenny Crosswhite

To the Editor:

I am enthusiastically supporting and working for Jenny Crosswhite in her bid for one of the three open City Council seats. I see Jenny’s candidacy closely linked to helping us find our way out of our City’s long-standing financial and public safety problems. Voting for Jenny will not only bring fresh ideas to Council decisions, but will also help rebuilt trust in our City Council and its decisions.

For me, incumbents’ statements at the September 24 Candidate’s Forum were a revealing snapshot of how we got into our current financial and public safety problems. Let me be clear. I am not blaming incumbents for their past Council actions. What I am doing is making the case that it is time for different approaches and solutions from those that have been tried in the past. I think the best way to do this is by electing new people to the City Council who have fresh ideas and demonstrate through their actions that they really care about every single one of us.

A few specifics: Excessive out of public view Council decision-making must be curtailed because we are an open society. Allowing all citizens the courtesy of being treated politely and being heard during Council meetings must be a given based on the founding principles of our country. The simple concept of collaboration coupled closely with listening and true caring for all our citizens is American democracy at its best.

I know Jenny as a fellow member and active supporter of the Santa Paula Citizen’s Corps whose goal is to further public safety and preparedness for our community. Her work in Santa Paula’s pastoral community is well known. Jenny listens. Jenny is a contributor. Jenny has and will support Santa Paula by advocating for us, Santa Paula’s citizens.

Richard A. Rudman

Santa Paula business owner, home owner, and committed Jenny Crosswhite supporter

Jenny Crosswhite for City Council

To the Editor:

Our city is in dire need of leadership which takes into account the needs of its citizens. 

Jenny Crosswhite is a person of upstanding personal integrity who cares about Santa Paula. 

She is interested in applying her many collaborative talents learned through working towards a Master’s Degree and by traveling to other countries to learn about the problems of others. 

Her life has been one of personal growth and goal setting. She wants to work toward correcting the issues that we as a city currently undergo, as well as try to anticipate issues of the future and nip them in the bud. 

Yes, she is young and a relative newcomer, but she full of fire to get the job done.  

Her whole reason for coming to Santa Paula initially was to serve the people. She sees the the city council seat as a way to impact those lives for the better and on a larger scale than what she first thought on her arrival to our fair city. She loves her new city and the people in it. She wants to help, and if we let her that is exactly what she intends to do. 

Vote for Jenny Crosswhite for Santa Paula City Council on November 4, 2014. 

Cathy Carter

Santa Paula

Good for 

Santa Paula!

To the Editor:

We are fortunate to have three excellent candidates who are “not only willing and ready to listen to us, but who want to serve crystal clear goals” running for the Santa Paula City Council this year. They are John Procter, Ginger Gherardi and Jenny Crosswhite. What a gift Jenny Crosswhite has been for Santa Paula, in every way! She’s bright. She’s caring. She’s bi-lingual. And, she’s proven she’s willing to go the lengths that are necessary to help each and everyone of us “move forward with complete assurance” into the future.

How good it would be to have a much larger turnout at the polls on November 4th. And, I don’t have the least hesitation about voting for these three candidates.

Nini Remensperger

Santa Paula





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