Letters to the Editor : Gambling on Oxnard’s Future?

* Casino gambling for Oxnard? It may provide additional revenue, but will it make Oxnard a better place to live? Will it only provide low-paying transient jobs--cocktail waitresses, security guards, card dealers, bartenders and the like?

Will there be garish signs and parking lots? What can Ventura County look forward to--wages squandered in the casinos and the profits flowing out of the county; deprived families; more welfare cases; increased police activity and the tempting of public officials? Will Oxnard become a low class city?

Perhaps legalized gambling can be an experiment for Oxnard. If it doesn’t work out as planned, the ordinance could just be rescinded. Who will be the crusader councilman who proposes the rescission after the organized gambling interests have made their investment?

DON FORSYTH

Ventura

Landscape Proposal Means Bigger Fees

* In the article of May 31 about proposed landscape fees, you neglected to mention the 650% increase in landscape assessment for Country Club Estates. For the past three years we have been paying $47.70 a year. Late in April, about half of the 50 homes here received a notice telling us our new assessment would be $355.60.

We join other residents in landscape assessment districts in asking that work either be put out for bid by private contractor or fees reduced to reflect the quality of work performed. How much care do gazanias require?

BARBARA BECKLEY

Oxnard

Mum’s the Word on Newbury Park

* Re: Article published about Newbury Park on May 30.

Shh. What ocean breezes? Who says the temperature is 10 degrees cooler? You must be mistaken when you said that Newbury Park has a rural atmosphere whose residents are highly educated and earn large incomes.

I have lived here for 13 years, and I know nothing about these amenities. It must be a figment of your reporter’s imagination. Shh.

JOYCE DONCHAK

Newbury Park

Challenge for City Council

* The Thousand Oaks City Council stooped to a new low in its insatiable appetite to sink our beautiful city under the onerous debt of bonds (“Council Backs Expanded Redevelopment,” June 4). I hope that the citizens of this city will wake up before the last oak tree is mortgaged.

This city has prided itself on being a leader. I challenge the entire City Council to have a conference of like-minded city councils from Southern California and also facilitate one in Northern California so that all the issues of redevelopment, distribution and allocation of state/county funds are debated and new solutions found so that we can control our taxes and our communities.

Let’s see who will show leadership and take the ball and run with it and who will cut and run.

EKBAL KIDWAI

Newbury Park

Another Side to Rubenstein

* Your cover story May 5 on Steve Rubenstein, the president of the Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce was surprisingly negative. Since moving to Thousand Oaks and joining the Chamber last September, I have found Steve to be very enthusiastic and supportive.

Perhaps his passion for this community may be misinterpreted by some as abrasive, but I find it to be enthusiastic. Steve is never too busy to return a phone call. He attends many various association meetings and is instrumental in bringing the large and small business community together in networking and social activities. He is also very involved with service clubs and community activities.

His concerns for the economic trends of Ventura County may seem intense, but he is honest and does not have a personal or political agenda. Steve, and the activities of the Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce, are one reason this community is bringing in new business when other communities are losing theirs, and it’s also why we moved our business and family to Thousand Oaks.

ROBIN WESTMILLER

Thousand Oaks

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The Ventura County Edition of The Times welcomes the views of readers. Letters or phone calls should be as brief as possible and may be condensed for publication. Phone your views in to 658-5546. Or dial toll-free 1-800-LA TIMES, Ext. 8-658-5546. Written letters must include signature, valid mailing address and telephone number. Pseudonyms and initials will not be used. Send letters to: Ventura County Editor, 5200 Valentine Road, Suite 140, Ventura 93003.