Election Profile November 5, 2013 Agoura Hills race

I was asked by Susan Pascal former editor of the Patch to answer questions for my candidacy profile. I submitted the answers on August 17th 2013. To date, my profile and the other challenger has not been posted. Since this is election day, I am posting my answers. I am running again for City Council because I can make a differenc. The city is going in the wrong direction. We are not a planned community  like our surrounding cities. We are unique with our pristine landscape, open space, and mixed uses including local businesses, mom, and pop stores, retail stores, local entertainment, hotels, and dining experiences. We are blessed to enjoy the pastoral landscape, national parklands,Chesebro Park, Gateway to the Santa Monica Mountains and equestrian keeping areas of Old Agoura. I have been a resident of Agoura since October 1981 prior to the City's inception. I was there at the beginning when we left the county to establish our city and determine our own course. We unforutnately have forgotten why we formed our city now being plagued  with traffic flow issues on Kanan and Thousand Oaks Blvd and Driver between Chesebro and Argos.
We have one sector of the city pinned against the rest of the community because of the recent sale of Chesebro Meadows. We are all diverse communities and we need to work together and maintain our uniqueness and quality of life. We need a VOICE and OUR RESIDENTS NEED TO BE RESPECTED!
tHE RESIDENT'S OPINIONS AND INPUT COUNTS ALL NEED TO BE LISTENED TO! The biggest issues are the following; community input and respect of our residents, city, and City Council, transparency letting the residents know what major projects are going on and if there are large sales of land or development projects such as the mixed use development that was voted on by the city council in 2010 and included in the Agoura Hills General Plan to make the extra effort to the get the word out to the community not just posts on City Hall and or the website. This is not enough! Closed sessions should not be a means of shutting out the Community. Another major issue is the traffic flow at Kana Thousand Oakds Blvd and along Driver Ave during school days peak hours 8-8:30 and 3-3:30 PM. The traffic circulation problem is a nightmare. This situation is being blamed on different entities but ultimately the City is responsible. It is not fair for residents in a small community to travel less than one mile along Driver try to cross Driver Ave from their homes with 10 minute delays or travel down Kanan Rd from Oak Park a distance of less than 3 miles with delays of up to to 24 minutes. We need new traffic flow studies before approving new bridges i.e. the Chesebro widening the Bridge to Nowhere or the approval of large developments or drastic changes in zoning. I would also get more people involved by improving communication links. The city channel during the election years 2011 (my last campaign) and recently 2013 was down for weeks. Many residents do not sit on their laptops to listen to city meetings. We need live feedback to City Council meetings. We need to be respected so a citizen woul not feel it is a wste of time to express their opinion at City Council meetings or even to vote. Another issue is the formation of committees such as the Social and Cultural Arts etc all of those who are qualified should be welcomed to volunteer their services not just a few handpicked for these volunteer positions. Our city is almost built out. The only wan now to develop is to go up i.e. mixed densities abouve the shoping centers is a bad idea since the parking spaces at these three centers are not adequate and the traffic flow pattern on Kanan is a nightmare. We need more bicycle, walking paths, clean up our disheveled bridle paths along Agoura Road, and paths for pedestrian circulation. We should not encroach our open space. Once our open space and prsitine landscape is gone it is gone forever We need to promote our local busineses to keep them viable. We need to help our residents to remodel and build on their ownland without long delays years at a time to get their projects build costing these familites hardships emotionally and financially. The present City Council is doing a fair job. I appreciate their time and effort and individually they are nice people however they are not listening to the residents. Perhaps term limits may be an option 20 years in office is too much. Any resident who is interested in serving the city should be welcomed to run for  City Council. We need diversity not just attorneys, bankers, businessmen..perhaps teachers, secretaries, electricians etc Cnadidates should not need to be groomed to run for local office. We all care about our community. If we did not care those who appear in front of the City Council chambers, write letters to the newspapers etc would not waste the time or effort! We can enhance our revenue by promoting our parklands. Tourism would bring in revenue to not only our local hotels but our local restaurants and stores. We are fortunate to live in Agoura Hills. WE NEED TO PRESERVE OUR CITY AND LIFESTYLE! thank you Meril