My Agenda

I am excited to announce my candidacy for the Board of Directors of Conejo Recreation and Park  District 5.  This district includes much of Newbury Park along Lynn Road southeast  to the 101 Freeway and includes 15 of our city’s 50 plus parks. This district borders much of the western corridor of Thousand Oaks and is our nearest access  point to the Pacific coast and the northern end of Santa Monica Mountain range. This map shows how our city has been divided into five separate areas of representation.

Unlike some campaign jargon you may have heard recently, I have no particular agenda for radical change in the management of the wonderful recreational assets we have at our disposal through CRPD.  That said, our recreation and park department has a $35 million dollar budget to manage greater than 50 parks and venues in our city.  This can be a daunting project for any agency considering the size and scope of all the projects CRPD manages. The symbiotic relationship CRPD has with COSCA and the City Council is an important part of good management practices which have been utilized by these agencies since the inception of Thousand Oaks in 1964. I want to insure you that with my tenure on the CRPD board I will prioritize the continuity of these communication channels to meet the demands of every constituent of our city.

Conservation

Although the recent rains have, to a certain extent, alleviated our acute water conservation demands, near term, we must continue to be vigilant and explore grey water irrigation use as well as drought tolerant landscaping projects. I look forward to exploring any possible infrastructure improvements to conserve our water assets and hopefully help eliminate the acute water restrictions we had in 2022.

Protecting our open spaces and the surrounding hillsides should be a priority for everyone living here and ought to go without saying. We all have a responsibility to use these assets wisely and responsibility and CRPD can help in  educating us in best management practices of parks and open spaces. I will continue this ongoing work to optimize access to these open spaces through management of access points for everyone regardless of age or abilities.   

Participation Programs/Access

I promise to continue the ongoing programs Conejo Recreation and Park District manages for all ages, from summer programs for children to seniors at our Goebel Center. Classes run year round and educate as well as help manage our kids and adults free time to create and continue useful lifelong habits. As demographics and living environments change in our city there needs to be recreation and park access for some living in our  more densely populated areas.  This can be challenging along the Thousand Oaks/Hampshire Boulevard corridor. Giving higher density area residents equal access to parks is one of our more difficult projects as areas to expand existing parks can be limited or non-existent. These higher density projects mandated by State of California laws create challenging issues for developers as well as CRPD, as space allocation is an important consideration in conjunction with the development in these areas.