Candidate calls for spirit of cooperation

As we approach Thanksgiving, I want to give thanks for the recent city election. I want to thank my many friends and supporters who were the engine of my campaign.

I want to thank all the voters of Thousand Oaks who made their voices heard on Nov. 7. And I want to thank the other eight candidates, and congratulate the winners Claudia Bill-de la Peña, Andy Fox and Dennis Gillette, for raising issues and creating a healthy debate essential to the future course of our great city.

Open space, slow growth, affordable housing, traffic congestion, disaster preparedness, education, public safety--one important outcome of the election is that each of these topics and more was given a human face. Candidates articulated positions. Supporters spread the word. Local media gave voice to all sides.

T.O.'s successes and shortcomings were laid out for everyone to review, and in the end we will be better for it.

I urge all citizens to join me in wholehearted support of our City Council-our entire City Council. They stand at a crossroads, and we must stand with them.

As recent articles have described, T.O. is transforming from a "growth city" into a "maintenance city," meaning we are leveling off in future growth, however carefully managed. The developer fees that filled the treasury are fading into history.

To maintain our exemplary city services and the quality of life we expect, we must find new sources of revenue. The General Plan must be upheld.

The image and beauty of T.O. must be protected. But we must act through our representatives on the council.

Some may say that opposing viewpoints on the council will never come together, that every election is a seesaw battle to determine which faction will hold the upper hand. Recent political events, nationally, statewide and locally, prove that we are not condemned to extremism.

Gov. Schwarzenegger is reaching across the aisle to Democratic lawmakers. The result: the state government is passing productive legislation and voters approved a vital series of infrastructure bonds backed by Schwarzenegger and his so-called political foes.

If Washington and Sacramento can shake the shackles of hardline politics, so can TO. We must look to our council as a source of inspiration to take our city forward, not as a wrestling arena to fight over old slogans and suspicions. When our expectations change and we make our voices heard, then the council will follow.

Being a "maintenance city" does not mean that T.O stands still. Far from it. It means that we must renew the ingenuity and dedication of the city founders who put us on the map in 1964. We have a new city to establish, a Thousand Oaks for the next 40 years that will continue as an American showplace. We can't do it waging the old battles and conducting politics as usual. We saw big changes as a nation and a state in 2006.

Let's make sure that spirit doesn't stop at the city limits. Bob Wilson Thousand Oaks