Impressed by the two challengers

I am 19 years old and this is the first time I am voting for City Council. I have seen many changes during my last four years at Calabasas High, where I experienced the overcrowding in my school, traffic congestion and loss of habitat due to overwhelming construction and development.

I attended the Stone Creek Homeowners Candidate Forum. I was impressed with Toby Keeler and Dale Reicheneder. Groveman kept saying he promised civility, but as Toby and Dale pointed out, did he deliver a consensus voting panel instead? Council members all cast unanimous 5-0 votes on almost all issues. I witnessed the alliance as Councilmembers Mary Sue Mauer and Jonathan Wolfson entered the forum together to meet with Groveman. This validated the concern of a unanimous council under the rule of one.

Toby and Dale also pointed out the lack of citizen involvement. Groveman and Washburn say they encourage citizen involvement, but I have attended council meetings and I beg to differ. Our General Plan specifically included citizen involvement as an essential component of government, yet the current council has worked to limit citizen involvement.

For example, the way the commissioners are chosen was changed and now each commissioner is appointed by a council member, thus taking away any independent thinking.

I will be casting my vote for Toby Keeler and Dale Reicheneder.
Brittany Stephens
Calabasas