'Smart growth' isn't smart for Rancho Potrero

So exactly what is the vision for Thousand Oaks?

Whatever the circle of people I come in contact with, the answer has always been that they came here for the close, small community, countrylike environment. Many came to escape the congestion and crowding of the San Fernando Valley with all the negative impacts that overdevelopment usually bring. People fresh from overpopulated areas still think this is a paradise compared to where they came from.

The burning question in my mind is how are we going to keep it from becoming what everyone is trying to escape? There seem to be no brakes applied as we, supposedly, are approaching build-out.

Now that most of the available land has been pretty much exhausted, there's talk of building up. Suggestions of altering our General Plan are in the works. Flowery proposals are being bandied about as the propaganda machines are working at force-feeding us new and improved ways to implement "smart growth."

Most people agree that we've grown out of what the "smart vision" was for our community. There's a negative spirit growing out of all the building going on around us as our semirural culture is being drowned out by tractors and bulldozers.

Tears welled in my eyes, to my surprise, as I drove through our new walled corridor at the 23 Freeway. The city I knew and loved is disappearing.

Not even us NIMBYs (not in my backyard) expected it to stay the same. The memory of entering our town through a two-lane street lined with eucalyptus with grazing cattle in giant pastures still lives and is loved in my mind.

It's not realistic to expect those sites to permeate our community. But can't we have just one site left as a reminder and evidence that we do cherish wide-open, unoccupied open space where nature can flourish without us infiltrating the area with our "smart growth"?

I'm talking about Rancho Potrero. It's just about our last frontier.

Why can't we just leave it alone? If 200 children want to go visit the area, they can go right now on their own, without buses, parking permits, renting pavilions, rules and regulations and designated parking.

The place is priceless, and no amount of enhancing is going to make it any better.
Marilee Ullmann
Thousand Oaks