Guest opinion
PAC strives for correct information
By Dale Whitaker Project Area Committee chair

As chair of the Project Area Committee, I would like to thank all the people involved in the PAC process, my fellow PAC members, Mr. David Moe of the Redevelopment Agency, the consultants from Urban Futures Inc. and most of all the citizens of Moorpark for their invaluable involvement in the amendment process.

It has been said by many that the issue was clouded by misinformation. I will try to clear some of this up. The PAC made a major effort at its meetings to educate the public about the process and the positives and negatives to the community of the power of eminent domain.

We wrestled with the issue for months and came up with a recommendation for the agency that was fair. We recommended to only restore the authority of eminent domain to the city that was already given them by the election forming the agency initially. And the public at that item accepted it.

That was before the blight report came out. That report was taken by many as proof that the city had lied about taking residential blighted property and was setting the stage for a land grab. This report was faulty and misleading and written to further the city's agenda. It, in fact, derailed the process.

This misinformation has come from city hall for years and still does. City Manger Kueny, as late as last week in the Moorpark Acorn, stated that the city never intended to forcibly acquire homes. The facts are yes, they did. That is proven by the fact that two of the options for the amendment that the PAC was to consider included residential eminent domain authority.

Another piece of misinformation is the statement from city officials that the agency has never used eminent domain to acquire property. That is a lie. The PAC is in possession of legal court documents from the Superior Court of Ventura County in which the agency used eminent domain to acquire the property at 798 Moorpark Ave. So they have, and will, use the power if they have it. And the citizens do not trust them, the agency members and agency staff with this power in any manner or form.

Redevelopment in Moorpark has been a total failure. The agency is nothing more than a private under-the-radar slush fund that the city manager and council can use to fund public works projects from, projects that should be general fund projects- not valuable redevelopment fund-consuming projects.

In my opinion, the agency has been operating against state redevelopment laws since inception. Very little of the funds gathered have been put into housing, as the law mandates. All the past councils have been guilty of raiding these funds, and legal authorities need to investigate this.

I and my fellow PAC members stand behind our recommendation for the amendment. The issue of trust of the agency and staff came up many times at our meetings by the PAC itself and the public in attendance.

I have had many people come to me as insulted as I was with ex-councilman Harper's e-mail, and all I can say is consider the source. He's still smarting from his ill-fated North Park project's demise to his lackluster political career. He has had issues with the older part of Moorpark for decades.

Mr. Van Dam issued a challenge to us in his column. I wish to send a challenge to him and his fellow council members. Make the necessary changes at the highest level of city staff to start the rebuilding of trust in government in Moorpark. Until this is long-standing damage is corrected, don't come back to us asking for extraordinary powers over us.