With Measure B, the people get more control

It's infuriating to continually hear from the opponents of Measure B that the Impact Analysis Report commissioned by the city predicts that the city will lose a colossal amount of revenue if the measure passes.

With this loss, dire consequences will result to city services, projects, infrastructure and support of critical institutions.

Has anyone who makes this claim actually read the report? If they have, it's doubtful that they understood it. In fact, the report is seriously flawed.

I've read and understand the report. The revenue loss calculated by the report is based on a single ludicrous assumption: that no commercial projects are ever built on the old Kmart site, a prime commercially zoned property. This is, of course, utter nonsense. It will be redeveloped in accordance with Measure B, but by businesses that make sense for our community, not a redundant Home Depot.

Thus, the projected "lost revenue" is a fallacy. My letter in the April 3 Acorn explains why the city would actually receive more revenue if the site was developed by other businesses.

The situation reminds me of the Chicken Little fable. Chicken Little is hit on the head by an acorn but is convinced that the sky is falling. No one questions her or checks into her story. In the end, Foxy Loxy realizes that it's just B.S. and eats all the animals.

As Wikipedia says, the moral of the story is "do not believe everything you're told." The opponents of Measure B who tout the financial conclusions of the Impact Analysis Report are modern day Chicken Littles.

Another argument against Measure B is that city planning is best left to the city's administrators and doesn't belong in the hands of the populace.

I would agree were it not for the fact that the majority of our administrators support a project that makes no sense and either through ignorance, laziness or self-interest accept a consultant's report which earns an F in any business school.

Then the people must take matters into their own hands.

Mark Wallis

Thousand Oaks