Beware of new Agoura Village

2005 proved all too well that apathy and ignorance are still alive and well in Agoura Hills. In November, significant state measures and a council election only brought out 25 to 30 percent of our registered voters and the results tell more than the actual vote count.

An environmental group tried to forewarn us about millions of dollars being secretly spent by the Agoura Hills City Council to sneak in a pet project called Agoura Village, and nobody paid attention, not even the so-called newspapers. The group also warned us that the city, in alliance with Old Agoura, would use the election and the Heschel debate to divert attention away from Agoura Village. They were right on the mark.

When the city matter-of-factly came clean on the secret doingsone council member apologized for the clandestine expenditures and project preparation, and then his supporters lined up to pat him on the back for a job well done when he retired from office.

The estimated 17,500 extra car trips per day from Agoura Village into the intersection of Agoura and Kanan roads that already has gridlock every afternoon, early evening and all day Saturday and Sunday, especially in the summer from beach traffic, doesn’t seem to concern anyone supporting this project. Nor do the fires and accidents on the 101 that can tie up Agoura Road for hours.

How many of you paid attention four years ago when CalTrans told the city of Agoura Hills that the reconfiguration of the Kanan interchange would stilonly take the interchange from its current “D/F” rating for traffic flow and traffic mitigation to a costly $28 million “C” rating when finished? And Agoura Village was not even a consideration at that time.

All of the Agoura Hills City Council members support this project. And we’re supposed to thank them for a job well done? Dan Crisafulli Agoura Hills