Costco now off the table, city, parks and schools to poll residents

Sometime before Tuesday night, Costco pulled its application to open a new store in Newbury Park. There's apparently some kind of disagreement with the property owner.

It's unclear whether the snag is permanent or temporary, and we'll report what we know in a story next week.

The gathering storm that characterizes today's economy is addressed by two articles in today's edition of the Thousand Oaks Acorn.

In a page 1 story, we learn that the city, school and park district will conduct a survey of residents to determine if people are willing to pay higher taxes to keep service levels high.

After the survey is done, all three can make decisions based on the results.

Nobody can predict the outcome with 100 percent certainty, but it seems unlikely that taxpayers would be receptive to higher taxes in the middle of a recession.

Some people would contend there's never a good time to raise taxes, but if there is, it's probably during an economic boom, not a downturn.

The second article is a column on page 12 by Mario Contini, our Conejo Valley superintendent of schools. He wants the best for all of the district's students, but Contini also knows there are no easy answers.

One fact is indisputable.

There are tough choices ahead for all three: the city, the school district and the park district.

Although it's we, the people, who will live with the consequences, citizens also will have a voice in the process. We can help our elected officials by participating in the survey, by sharing our comments with elected officials and by writing letters to the editor.

Although government can't be all things to all people, most people would agree with the following quote from Winston Churchill:

"It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government- - except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."