Thomas Adams “What’s important to you?”

That’s a question City Council candidate Thomas Adams said residents of Thousand Oaks aren’t asked by those who are representing them now.

“Ask people to raise their hands if they feel well represented for their local tax dollars. How many hands do you think go up?” he said.

Adams said he’s running because he felt a civic obligation to do so and because people need to be heard.

An example of the city not listening to people are the plans for Lang Ranch park, to be built near Avenida de Los Arboles and Westlake Boulevard, he said.

“Everyone expected a nice, community park. Instead they get nine baseball diamonds with Dodger Stadium-like high-powered lights and traffic,” he said.

There were viable alternatives that weren’t considered, and City Council members should have stood up for citizens and negotiated with Conejo Recreation and Park District, Adams said.

“It’s an extremely expensive baseball facility, not a park,” he said.

Adams also believes the city needs a leader who’s fiscally conservative and wants to focus on helping businesses thrive and survive.

“Thousand Oaks needs someone who is more pro-business,” Adams said.

He wants to eliminate some of the bureaucratic red tape.

“I know restaurateurs who feel like every time they want to wash their windows, it’s an ordeal with the city,” Adams said.

A restaurant owner who wanted to add outdoor dining with wrought-iron fencing found working with the city difficult, he said.

“It should’ve taken days and hundreds of dollars, and it took months and cost thousands of dollars because of city bureaucracy,” Adams said.

He’d also like for real estate agents to be able to put signs up to sell homes without the city taking them down, he said.

“People are screaming for smaller, more responsive government, and I’m one of them,” Adams said.

He’s a local small business owner who’s owned a home in Thousand Oaks since 1998. The wine wholesaler said he calls on dozens of businesses in the city.

He said he knows what it means to tighten one’s belt.

“My wife and I have lowered our expenses as an adjustment to the economy. Every level of government must do the same out of sheer respect to their constituency,” Adams said.