City officials need to listen to citizens
You'd have to live in a bubble not to have noticed the increased traffic, as well as all the other inconveniences that come with overdevelopment, here in Thousand Oaks.

Our citizens should have more power in the decisionmaking process when the integrity of neighborhoods are being adversely affected by development decisions.

I don't think adequate time and studies are taken to determine the safety and impact a project may have, especially when more and more is added at such a fast pace that none of us has time to deal with them all.

I've been reading that many communities are deciding to add dog parks to their own areas. Dog parks are a fairly new concept. Although they are not for everyone, there seems to be enough people who enjoy them that each community should have their own. If other cities could get their own it would take the crowds and pressure off the neighborhood of the Thousand Oaks dog park. When other communities undertake this task, they will find that although people want this type of park, no one wants one in their neighborhood, and there are very good reasons for that.

The Thousand Oaks dog park was built on the busy road of Los Flores, in an equestrian park and neighborhood. There is Thousand Oaks High School to the west on that road and Los Cerritos Middle School to the east. Last month, my two grandsons, riding their bikes home from Los Cerritos, were hit by a car coming out of the dog park.

In spite of the heavy use of the dog park and the narrowness of the road, which is an extreme danger to pedestrians, bicyclists and horseback riders, there are no traffic control devices, not even a stop sign, to add some safety measures to the continuing development and use of that area. I've seen and heard about numerous accidents happening there; as usual, none are publicized.

This was a big wake-up call for my family about how well our planning is working. It's not only about our quality of life but our right to life itself when new projects are being forced upon us without proper study or implementation.

When our elected officials stop dictating to us what we should have and start learning to listen again to the people they should be serving, we might have some chance of regaining a safe and comfortable environment. So many people I know would rather stay home than go out into the madness our city is becoming. Marilee Ullmann Thousand Oaks