Candidate promises to keep Agoura Hills small, safe

By Stephanie Bertholdo Acorn Staff Writer

Seymour Patnode

Seymour Patnode may not have any political experience, but she does have convictions. Patnode is hoping to win one of the two available Agoura Hills City Council seats this November, and said, "If you can’t fight city hall, you may as well join them."

Although Patnode is fighting mad about many of the decisions council members have made in regard to development, she prefers to demonstrate her dissent behind the scenes rather than voice her opinions directly to council members at city hall.

Patnode explained that she doesn’t have time to attend the meetings or "watch city council meetings on cable television." She’d prefer to have a city newsletter delivered to homes more regularly––outlining the various issues that council members are considering––or even utilize e-mail to spread news to residents.

"I saw what happened with the Home Depot issue," Patnode said. "People got pummeled," she said, when they voiced their opinions at the city council meetings.

Patnode did, however, get "slightly involved" in the Measure H fight. It prohibits any store greater than 60,000 square feet from being built in Agoura Hills. She walked door to door and obtained signatures to have the measure brought before the public, and was relieved when it was approved by voters last year.

Now that the "big box" issue has reopened with the possibility of allowing voters to overturn Measure H to allow a 24-acre Neiman Marcus mall, Patnode is arming herself for a fight, regardless of whether she wins the election.

Other development issues irk Patnode, including the Oak Creek development on Canwood. She claims that she didn’t know that a "hotel was coming." She thought it was going to be a center of small retail stores, she said.

Although the state has cut the budget, Patnode believes that the city of Agoura Hills doesn’t need any more businesses.

"We need to figure out how much is going to be cut, and how much more (money the city) will need," she said. "A property tax increase and a few new developments should suffice," Patnode said.

Other issues rankling Patnode include poor street lighting, especially on Roadside Drive, business signage that detracts from the beauty of the city, the slow-moving Kanan interchange project and door to door salesmen. A neighbor’s home was broken into after a phony door-to-door salesman cased her home, according to Patnode.

She said she entered into the city council race to "hear exactly what the voters want."

An accountant and sometimes actress, Patnode said that she hopes that whoever prevails in the city council race "can stop what is already in the works."