I have visions for Thousand Oaks Boulevard. I want to work with property owners on finding businesses that residents want and the city to make it easier for them to locate downtown.

I think we need a Marie Callender’s or some family-style, full-menu establishment with morning and later hour dining. I’d love to see a Sonic downtown to help draw young people for an affordable meal and a meeting place.

We don’t need another cinema multiplex but how about an IMAX theater? How about bringing bowling back? There are so many underutilized properties, one after another.

Approval of the specific plan took 20 years. We can’t take another 20 years to make it a viable alternative for shopping, dining and hanging out. Businesses are failing in part because there are so many vacancies. It is self-propagating.

The city needs to make it easier for businesses and property owners if we want to build the downtown.

We have the bookends of the city with the Oaks and Janss malls at one end and the Promenade at the other.

The General Plan for living spaces is nearly complete except for the boulevard.

We can become a fully, selfsupporting business community with a real downtown like Ventura, Pasadena, even Camarillo. The key to success is all of us working together.

There are 200-plus property owners, including the city as a big owner. There needs to be a unifying effort.

Also, since it was the state that grabbed our redevelopment money, maybe we can negotiate some concessions on taxes to make it easier to execute this plan. On the county level, we can’t have obstacles like flood control standing in the way, especially if they are just political.

Plans have to be safe and sound; traffic, parking and walking all have to be handled properly, but red tape can be loosened.

One hand working with another, I think we can see a new renaissance by the city’s 50th anniversary in 2014. And that will help everyone; higher property values, tourism and more business will ultimately help fund the city coffers.

Billy Martin
Thousand Oaks