Extends a welcome to Home Depot

I have lived in Thousand Oaks for 40 years and am excited to have a new Home Depot developed at the site of the old Kmart.

The fact is that Kmart used to be there and retail is the right use for this site. This building has been a white elephant in our community for years. This is one of the city's gateways, and it is a shame that when entering our community the first impression is a vacant, lifeless, ugly fenced-off structure.

This is also an opportunity for all the "day laborers," legal and illegal, to stop loitering in our residential neighborhood where our children play. They can now move to the Home Depot location where people can hire them. We are tired of our neighborhood being used as an employment facility.

Home Depot will breathe new life into this site, and bring more jobs to Thousand Oaks. I am also tired of having to drive nine miles on the very busy 101 Freeway to Home Depot in Newbury Park.

Gasoline is very expensive, and the traffic is terrible.

I welcome a new Home Depot in the old Kmart building as a neighbor. Bonne Shepard Thousand Oaks