Can't compare Heschel with Agoura Village

We must question Chamber of Commerce President Louis Masry's reasoning in making the comparison between our new town center, Agoura Village, and the Heschel West School.

Agoura Village is a town center that will provide shopping, entertainment and dining which can be enjoyed by all the residents of Agoura Hills and at once support the city's tax base with revenues in a manner that everyone knows have long been required.

The Agoura Village site was private land that would have ultimately been developed anyway at a far greater density, possibly without the tax benefit to our financially struggling city and without providing the community gathering place that residents have been requesting for years. Also, the site is not adjacent to existing residences.

The Heschel School, on the other hand, is a private facility for a select few which lies outside the city, as do most of the students who will attend it, but will cost Agoura Hills a fortune in attempts to mitigate negative impacts, which for those in proximity to the school cannot truly be mitigated, and it encroaches on existing residences.

In short, Agoura Village is a project that everyone can enjoy and which also financially supports the city of Agoura Hills while the Heschel School, which isn't even in Agoura Hills, is not a project that will benefit the entire citizenry of the city but still must be paid for in large part by its citizens.

We are afraid the comparison that Mr. Masry makes fails the test of logic. We expect a different position from someone who claims to represent commerce in our city. Judith and James Varley Agoura Hills