Plan for Quality

I have been a resident of Ventura for the last year and a half, moving from Moorpark where I resided for seven years and witnessed a once sleepy community quadruple in size. What the residents of Ventura are currently experiencing is a “con job� by contractors, developers, special interest groups and politicians.

The Ventura Unified School District has dozens of fields which have been sadly neglected due to budgetary constraints. If we were smart, we would enhance our existing resources by placing all school fields (after a certain hour and months of the year) under the direction of the city Parks and Recreation Department. They would manage the various sports programs.

Two of my four children participate in organized girls softball in Ventura. I can appreciate the frustrations of not having a “sports complex� like other cities half our size. However, we need to set priorities and take a stand, due to the fact that houses will be constructed, and Ventura will change and grow. What we need is a plan to assign costs and increase the quality of life for all residents.

The current “con job� is using smoke and mirrors for the hidden agendas of special interest groups to rob our children of the opportunity for a good education. In any event, this is a pay-now or pay-later scenario. Someone is going to negotiate a contract. Should the park be the only issue on the table?

THOMAS FERGUSON, Ventura