Criticizes city’s fire response

While the recent firestorm taught all of us lessons about community, bravery and preparedness, there were also some stunning examples of leadership worth mentioning.

The unified command that brought together our cities, our counties and our state agencies under one roof paid enormous dividends in the management of this crisis. Watching the steadfast leadership of L.A. Supervisor Yaroslavsky, Ventura Supervisor Parks and Calabasas Mayor Groveman gave confidence to our communities and provided a wonderful showcase to the nation. Our leaders pitched in together and it worked.

It was striking to notice, however, the complete absence of any leadership from the Agoura Hills City Council. They were not at the unified command center, they were not on TV, they were not on the web and they did not provide direct leadership to their community. The leaders of all our neighboring cities were visible and in command. Our city “leaders” were not.

On the other hand, there was a nice article in The Acorn about Agoura Hills Mayor Pro Tem Denis Weber rescuing his horse, Starboy, from the Pony Club. I’m glad that Starboy was okay, but it would have been nice to see the same kind of action from Mr. Weber on behalf of the thousands of Agoura Hills residents who were still asleep in their homes only to be evacuated hours later.

While Calabasas had continuous 24-hour web coverage of the fires, Agoura Hills’ website provided outdated links and not much else. While Oak Park put signs all over their city directing people where to log on or call for real time data, Agoura Hills had nothing. While most of the area leaders were leading, Agoura Hills mayor pro tem was rescuing his horse.

Makes you wonder. Mary Wilson Agoura Hills