I especially liked your next-to-last paragraph about needing new housing stock in the form of “good positive growth.” You end by reminding us that we need a positive solution. I hope that your voter base is listening and will work together with the rest of us residents for the win-win situation you refer to. Certainly that is my position too.Dora P. CrouchSanta PaulaFine fandango!To the Editor:It was wonderful to see the participation in the activities at the Gazebo this Saturday. The music, dancing, the colorful costuming. A thumbs up to all the people who worked so hard to put this activity together. These are the things that make our community special! I am aware that many other functions have been held there and I hope many more will follow!This is an example of what we are capable of doing as a community. Our Planning Commission of eight years or so in the past had a vision. Our current City Councilman Rick Cook was on that Planning Commission along with the others who worked very hard on this project, which was not an easy task because it involved blocking off a street and people were not in favor of that because it would cause inconvenience. We are fortunate that the plan prevailed, look at what a showcase area our Gazebo has become!!The Gazebo is a facility for our community as a whole. It has added ambience to the Railroad corridor and the people that visit our community via the Fillmore Railroad are also able to enjoy the area. Let us continue to make good use of “Our Gazebo” and make it one of the focal points for our community. It will show people that visit our City that we all work together to make positive things happen!I see another mural in the works!! What a positive image these murals have been for our community. We have many people to thank for their dedication to our community. Our Railroad Corridor is becoming quite the tourist attraction, it is such a pleasure to see all these projects add so much to our community!Thank you to the Planning Commission and to the City Council from years gone by that you had the foresight to follow this project through to its conclusion!! Thank you to our current City Council for working so well together for the betterment of our community.Maiya HerreraSanta Paula
Letters to the Editor
September 10, 2004
Opinion
Fagan Canyon
To the Editor:As a young man farming in Ventura County, it was my job to develop a plan for planting new orchards in Fagan Canyon. I not only bought or raised the trees, but physically planted the trees, installed the pipe lines, and built the access roads. I became familiar with the soils and water problems dealing with heavy clay, sand and sub-soils found, while developing orchards on difficult slopes.During the wet years, I found that the hills begin to move downward, the water runoff was very hard to control, experiencing erosion on the uplands, and flooding of the lower drainage. We always experienced continued loss of bridges, and culverts.These wet years were followed by an increase of grass brush and tall foliage. A rather dangerous fire hazard. Our large herd of cattle was maintained to keep the dry material at a manageable level, to protect the orchards and buildings, a management option, southern California fire prevention experts might investigate.I’m no authority on subdivisions, but if you buy a home in Fagan Canyon, be sure you have good insurance for earth, flood, and fire insurance.Robert DickensonReno, NevadaGood man on CouncilTo the Editor:Dear Rick Cook:Your excellent letter in the Santa Paula Times of Aug. 27: Keep up the good work! When you were elected to the council last time, I started telling people how important it is to have you on the council. To have the point of view you share with so many represented in our public deliberations.Once again you have vindicated this impression.As you so clearly stated, the council has never deliberated about Fagan Canyon or the EIR relating to it. Many people, as you point out, have the order of business confused in their minds. This includes when to react and accept or denounce the Fagan Canyon plan.WE DO NOT YET HAVE THE DATA!And you rightly cite the general changes in the economy converging on the lack of local spending power. The misapplication of Adams Canyon date to the Fagan Canyon proposal and the preference for high-income housing as the only or the most important type is the same short-sighted approach that landed us in the bind we are in as a city, without enough money to solve our own problems.
