Trailer park is in dire need of city's help
Children walk in street to school; redevelopment money doesn't address blight
By Nancy Needham  nancy@theacorn.com

WENDY PIERRO/Acorn Newspapers NO SIDEWALKS--Pedestrians have to take to the street to walk in front of Lakestone Mobile Home Park, formerly known as Crestview, on Conejo School Road in Thousand Oaks, north of Thousand Oaks Boulevard. Children walking to or from Conejo Elementary School or the mobile home park are forced to share the road with traffic. Another stretch of the street offers a bridle path for horses.

Though millions of redevelopment dollars have been spent and budgeted to be spent, not a dime has gone toward improvements around a small trailer park that's provided shelter for low-income residents of Thousand Oaks for decades.

This was pointed out by Councilmember Claudia Bill-de la Peña at the Nov. 6 redevelopment meeting when the city staff presented a midterm report of the agency's fund implementation from 2004-09.

About $2.2 million went for offsite improvements for The Lakes. About $1 million is on hold to support the design and construction of streetscape improvements along Thousand Oaks Boulevard when a specific plan is approved. But about two dozen trailers at 53 N. Conejo School Road included in the redevelopment boundaries haven't gotten a penny's worth of help, city staff confirmed.

Children walking home from Conejo Elementary School are helped across the street by a crossing guard on Los Feliz Road. Then they walk out in the street, sometimes four and five in a row, as they make their way to old apartment buildings, houses and the trailer park area. There are no sidewalks for them, and vehicles line the area beside the road.

North of Los Feliz Road on Conejo School Road there are higher priced condominiums with a large, well-groomed path along the road for horses. There's even a wooden fence to protect the horses and their riders.

What was once known as Crestview Trailer Park is now officially Lakestone, but most people still call it Crestview.

"The people who live here are low income or disabled," trailer park manager Peggy Taylor said after the meeting.

Taylor, 72, works two jobs. She's lived in the park for about 35 years and said she doesn't know why the park has been overlooked or forgotten.

The trailers, mostly 24- to 35-foot fifth-wheelers, look old and run down.

The cost of a space runs about $415 a month, which includes fees for water and trash, Taylor said.

Many residents have lived there for a long time and want to stay. "If we didn't have the trailer park, we would need other low-income housing for us," Taylor said.

The primary purpose of redevelopment funds is to fix blight in a city, said housing/redevelopment manager Russ Watson during the meeting.

"Can Crestview be considered blight?" asked Bill-de la Peña.

Watson told her that Crestview was already within the redevelopment area and so it didn't have to be considered blight on its own to be eligible for funds.

Bill-de la Peña mentioned the $2 million budgeted for street improvements for parking problems at the auto mall and $5 million earmarked for construction of the Discovery Center. She said nothing has been spent to improve the trailer park area of the city.

City Manager Scott Mitnick explained that the reason the report was on the agenda was because a midterm update was required by law, not to redebate the merit of decisions on how the agency was spending money.

The council adopted the Redevelopment Agency resolution, approving the 2004-09 Five-Year Implementation Plan Mid-Term Report, 4 to 1, with Bill-de la Peña not in favor.