I've been a resident of Westlake Village for more than 20 years. I always enjoyed the convenience of shopping at Kmart on Hampshire Road until it closed.

I shop regularly at Home Depot in Newbury Park. It would be a great benefit to be able to shop at Home Depot when it's established at the former Kmart location, instead of having to drive all the way to Wendy Drive.

I must say that never did I ever consider driving the winding road with several stop signs and going through Village Homes enroute to Kmart. I wouldn't do that to get to Home Depot either.

Neither would anyone else when it's a straight shot up Westlake Boulevard and then to turn left with the green arrow and drive down Hampshire Road directly to Home Depot.

Trucks were never a big problem when Kmart was there. After all, the site is less than one block from the freeway.

Access is, of course, easy for truck drivers who even now can use gasoline stations on either end of the site.

It seems to me that all the contentious fussing about having Home Depot there has been organized and put forth by Do-it Center. And their argument is that if there's a Home Depot in Newbury Park, there's no need for another one on Hampshire Road. How obviously scheming this becomes when one realizes that Doit Center has a store in Thousand Oaks on T.O. Boulevard and another just a couple of miles away in Agoura Hills.

It would seem that the entire drive to keep Home Depot out has all been a project by Do-it Center to try to keep competition away. And the people who circulated petitions? Obviously and as we already know, many were hired to do so by Do-it Center.

As a resident of Westlake Village, I resent Doit Center's attempt to hoodwink the public.

Most of us residents of Westlake Village want Home Depot and would heartily welcome it. Alan N. Ringer Westlake Village