Guest opinion
Installing 'eruv' was a mistake
By Eli Eisenberg Conejo Eruv Committee

I read the article that appeared in last Thursday's Acorn ("Residents draw the line over new religious marker," page 1) and I would like to respond to it. First, I would like to thank and commend Sophia Fischer for her handling of the story. I felt it was fair and balanced and I appreciate your honest reporting.

I am a member of the Conejo Eruv Committee and I will try to express what I believe to be the sentiments of most of the other members.

First of all, after a brief meeting with County Supervisor Linda Parks last Friday morning, it was decided to remove the eruv completely from Ventura County and to issue a press release announcing the decision. Immediately thereafter, our contractor was directed to take it down and the press release went out Friday afternoon.

I believe I speak for other members of the Conejo Eruv Committee when I say that we are deeply sorry for mistakes that were made, for the way in which the eruv was put up in Ventura County in a manner that we agree was aesthetically unpleasing.

Our contractor represented to us that no poles would be installed and that only existing stuctures and light standards would be used and that the fishing line would be virtually unnoticeable. When we saw it ourselves, we were embarassed and upset at the job that was done and took steps to rectify the situation even before we were aware of any complaints from neighbors. While at that time we didn't anticipate the full extent of the reactions of the neighbors, we nevertheless realized that corrective action would be required and told our contractor that we'd need to come up with an alternate plan.

Subsequently, we learned that the approval that we had from the county was being revoked because Edison's paperwork was limited to the city of Agoura Hills and didn't cover the entire eruv based on the map we submitted with our application. Accord-ingly, we were told that the eruv was not in compliance with the county permit.

Having said that, the Eruv Committee recognizes that lack of a valid permit is not the main issue here and that is not the primary reason we've directed our contractor to take it down. The bottom line is that this was done in a way that was offensive to the residents of Oak Park and that they were not given an opportunity to weigh in on the eruv prior to its construction, and those are the reasons we directed our contractor to tear down the eruv.

Last Friday, as a response to the requests of Supervisor Parks and the residents of Oak Park, we ordered the contractor to take the eruv down wherever it was constructed in Ventura County, and he promised us to have it removed by the end of the weekend. In so doing so, we hope that the community will recognize that we regret the mistakes that were made and that our number one goal is to be good neighbors and citizens.

We do not have a plan at the present time for moving forward with the eruv in Ventura County, but we would like to establish a task force for the purpose of exploring alternatives that would be acceptable to the members of the Oak MAC and the residents of Oak Park. Being good neighbors is our primary concern. In so doing, we hope to demonstrate good faith and to prove that being good neighbors is our primary concern.