Al Adam Al Adam wants to make sure Thousand Oaks maintains its semirural environment.

Adam said he’s heard a member of the Thousand Oaks Boulevard Association talk about wanting to see the boulevard turned into a “pleasant urban environment.”

“That shows where they’re headed. To me an urban environment means density, traffic, building high buildings like the San Fernando Valley, and that’s scary.”

The 33-year Thousand Oaks resident has served four years as Councilmember Claudia Bill-de la Peña’s appointed planning commissioner. The two of them are running for City Council as a team of fiscal conservatives against overdevelopment of Thousand Oaks, he said.

“It’ll make a lot of money for them, but it’s not what people mean when they say they want to see improvements and beautification of Thousand Oaks Boulevard,” Adam said.

Adam has been endorsed by county Supervisor Linda Parks, who recently won an election against fellow Republican Audra Strickland.

Council members Andy Fox and Dennis Gillette, incumbents running for reelection, endorsed Strickland.

“Fox and Gillette endorsing Audra Strickland and her nasty campaign shows how out of touch they are,” Adam said.

The City Council needs to stop wasting taxpayer money “subsidizing billionaire developers” and hiring consultants for unnecessary reasons, he said.

“Everywhere I go people talk about how they waste money at The Lakes,” Adam said.

The Lakes shopping center on Thousand Oaks Boulevard sits on property owned by the city and leased to a developer for $1 a year.

“We need to renegotiate that lease. It’s not fair to taxpayers. It’s ironic seniors in a mobile home park across the street from The Lakes are worrying about their rents doubling while the city subsidizes a billionaire,” Adam said.

Mobile home parks are the only real affordable housing in Thousand Oaks, he said.

Voters are also concerned about the city’s paying $96,500 to a consultant to find out how to make The Lakes more profitable, Adam said. That consultant recommended adding angled parking to the front of The Lakes, which the city did at a cost of $300,000 for design and construction. The consultant’s other recommendations would cost about $4 million more.

“Enough’s enough. We’ve got to stop that wasteful spending before it goes any further,” Adam said.

With Fox and Gillette’s votes of approval, the city also paid a consultant $53,000 to find out if residents would like their taxes raised. Residents said no.

“They’re addicted to surveys and consultants,” Adam said.

They also like big salaries and benefits for the city manager and city attorney, he said.

City Manager Scott Mitnick makes a base salary of $228,000, but with benefits such as medical and a car his compensation amounts to $355,000.

“He gets $80,000 a year put into a retirement fund. Who else gets that much put into their retirement accounts? Public benefits should be more like private benefits,” said Adam, a professional financial planner.

Adam said the “real world” gets about 1 percent to 4 percent of their salary put into retirement.

He also said the City Council, with the exception of Bill-de la Peña, voted to give themselves a 10 percent raise in 2008.

Those serving two terms or more get lifetime health benefits.

Adam is on a quest to collect 7,500 signatures to put an initiative on the ballot limiting City Council members to three consecutive terms. He has more than 2,000 signatures.

It’s not a lifetime ban. They can sit out a term and run again, Adam said.

“The only complaint I hear about the initiative is that it should limit it to two terms,” he said.

Adam also recommends giving local businesses help when they bid on services from “the No. 1 buyer in town—the city.” He said the bidding process needs to be simplified and local businesses should be given a 5 percent cushion over anybody bidding from out of town.

In the 2008 City Council election, Adam came in third behind incumbent Council members Jacqui Irwin and Tom Glancy, who were reelected to the two open seats.