Letters to the editor: Views on local elections, presidential race
Endorsing Piechowski for board
I was happy to learn that Joe Piechowski is running for the Ventura County Community College Board.
When I served the city of Simi Valley as a city councilmember and mayor, I spent many hours with Joe, reviewing and discussing many topics related to Simi Valley local government.
It became very obvious to me that Joe knows how to analyze complex issues and use facts and accurate data in his discussion of those issues. I’m certain that Joe will do the same thing as the next Community College Board Trustee representing Simi Valley and Moorpark. I am confident that he will serve the community well and develop plans of needed action. When the city council selected him to serve on one of our neighborhood councils, Joe worked so well with all of the other members of the councils that his peers selected him to serve a term as the chair of that council. I am certain that Joe will bring common sense back to higher education.
Joe is the only candidate in the race who will fight to keep taxes low. He also wants to make continue, support and expand the dual enrollment program for high school students. And he will make sure that our community colleges are offering degrees that help students get jobs after graduation, not nonsense degrees that leave them unemployable.
I proudly endorse Joe Piechowski to represent the citizens of Moorpark and Simi Valley on the Ventura County Community College Board and I ask you to join me by voting for Joe.
Keith L. Mashburn, Simi Valley
Remember this Trump opinion
In the event there are still voters who have not made their decision on the candidate for president of our United States, you should consider the renewed reminder of Trump’s less-than-intelligent opinion of our men and women in service of our military.
He has called them “losers and suckers” and then, if we are so unfortunate as to see him re-elected, he plans on using them as his personal enforcers of his hair-brained forms of vengeance against those who had the audacity to call him out on the outrageousness of his lies and lack of respect for our country and the Constitution.
You undecided voters cannot possibly give him your vote, when we as citizens have been given the right, privilege and duty to partake in such a very important decision, that will affect our well-being, as well as our standing in the world as we know it.
Sharon LeMay, Ventura
Vote for Gutierrez in T.O. race
Connie “Tie” Gutierrez is running for Thousand Oaks City Council, District 5, the heart of T.O. Tie grew up here, started her small business here, and is a fantastic coach for her son’s soccer team. She is dedicated, honest, and incredibly hard working.
Tie has a truly inspiring success story, an amazing entrepreneurial spirit, and is consistently invested in our treasured city of Thousand Oaks. She has a long list of endorsements, including Congresswoman Julia Brownley, Democrats of Ventura County, CVUSD Trustees, and many other community advocates and leaders. She does not take money from investors and is dedicated to our open space. Alternatively, Kevin McNamee and his associates do not care about our small-town feel. He is also aligned with MAGA extremists, which we do not appreciate here in the beautiful Conejo Valley, where community comes first.
I urge everyone to support Connie “Tie” Gutierrez for Thousand Oaks City Council.
Katie Yant, Thousand Oaks
Consider voting for a third party
On Nov. 5, I will vote for a presidential candidate that I whole heartedly believe in. For far too long, I have been voting for the lesser of two evils, but not this year, because I have a choice.
Most people do not know this, but there are other candidates running for president besides Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. They include Claudia de la Cruz of the Peace & Freedom Party, Cornel West of the Justice for All Party, Jill Stein of the Green Party, and Chase Oliver of the Libertarian Party. How many of us have even heard of these candidates? Why is that? And why weren’t they included in the presidential debate? Our political/educational systems and media outlets have failed to educate the electorate about other options.
And this is actually what the system is designed to do, to keep the Democrats and Republicans in power so that corporate interests and the military industrial complex can maintain control over the federal government and continue to exploit the working class here and abroad.
And there are those that insist that if I vote for a third party, I am taking away votes from Harris which means that Trump, the more “evil” candidate would win. I am tired of evil. I do not want evil to be part of our government any longer. The U.S. funding, approved by Harris, of the Israeli genocide on Palestinians is pure evil. I will no longer vote for evil.
Please take time to educate yourself about the other candidates running for president so that you will see that you have a choice. Together, we must send a message to Democrats and Republicans that we will no longer accept evil as part of our country’s values.
Helena Pasquarella, Ojai
Elect first woman president
Here’s a thought for all the undecided voters out there. If you are so undecided that you can’t make a choice between Kamala Harris, a woman, or Donald Trump, a convicted felon, I beg you to vote for Kamala Harris just so that you can tell your grandchildren you helped elect the first woman president of the United States of America.
Gary Sparks, Camarillo
Clarifying Halter’s record
Re: Wendy Sauter’s Oct. 23 letter, “Vote for Madean, not Halter”:
Ms. Sauter wrote why she is not voting for Doug Halter for Ventura City Council, District 2.
She wrote that Halter favors high-rise development in Ventura. He does not. I don’t think anyone on council wants all these huge buildings. What people need to know is that state laws permit these developments, and council has no power to say no. If the council does reject these projects, the city can be sued by the developers and the city will pay legal fees and will lose.
This is exactly what happened with the 211 Thompson project. The city had to vote yes because the project met state requirements. Livable Ventura sued and Ventura had to spend over $600,000 in legal fees. But because the city had approved the project, the developer will reimburse the city its legal fees. If the city had rejected the project, it would have lost, and its legal fees would not be reimbursed. People who oppose these projects need to contact their state legislators, not blame the city council.
Sauter states that Halter voted to streamline development in 2022. Thank heavens. Getting anything through city planning was very convoluted and expensive. Just ask the homeowners who had to rebuild after the fire. Because of current codes, some of these lots could have been deemed unbuildable after the rebuilding deadline, so Halter proposed extending the rebuilding deadline. This passed 7-0, just one example of Halter listening to and working for Venturans.
As for the 2015 midtown Regent hillside project, Halter favored that thinking, on balance, it was a reasonable exchange for getting the remaining hillside to remain undeveloped. This was well before Ventura Land Trust bought the property, which is obviously better, but no one knew that in 2015. I hope this clarifies about Doug Halter.
Alison Carlson, Ventura