More on the Thousand Oaks Boulevard Specific Plan and its Derivation

More About the Thousand Oaks Boulevard Specific Plan - Who Influences It & How?

This is a comprehensive plan and a controlling one that will not allow for changes or even modifications, one that will not admit alteration or acknowledge mistakes. It plows ahead in its coercive insistence by a Redevelopment Agency in spite of probable future altered circumstances and in light of an unforeseen, even an unpredictable physical and social environment, such as changing birth rates or aging of indigenous populations, fluctuations in immigration, increasing utilization of existing road and parking infrastructure using automatic driver assisted safety systems, abundance and costs of fuel and electric power, and reevaluation of current climate models. That is to say, it does not allow for a natural evolution and accommodation to wealth management, raw material abundance and engineering and information innovation. Everything in it is fixed - frozen in the first decade of the 21st century. It is as though a staff of compulsive urban planners had to fulfill a nostalgic utopian dream and no reality would wake them.

You say, “It could not be that ….” “They are just a bunch of normal government guys and gals going to work each morning and looking forward to their coffee breaks, not fulfilling some deep psychological fixation and collective obsession.” Then, just who is running this show – they must be getting their direction from somewhere? How can they all overlook the same defects in their plan, that it is crystallized rather than fluid? They are too smart to all make the same mistake – they must be getting instructions from some place or another. I’ll give you three guesses. Is it the United Nations (U.N.) or the International Council on Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) or the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG)? The correct answer: All three. Their coordinated blueprint for “Smart Growth,” “Sustainability” and “Social Justice and Equity” is also supported by numerous, seemingly innumerable, non-governmental agencies (NGOs) financed by your government and other private tax deductible grants to universities and various other private and public groups (such as to your city planning department) to follow the protocols and models they promulgate and disseminate. They brag about their blueprints, which are in broad outline the same for every town and every region – residences and commercial uses stacked and packed together, beehive living, where pedestrians and cyclists are to be the workers and the drones. They imagine a high–speed rail system (notice the old technology without considering the economics) that is to connect the towns of high population density, while the open space, now relieved of people by onerous regulation, is made dedicated nature preserve, off-limits to Man, and given over to the exclusive demesne of wild animals. This concept is a universal cookie-cutter plan pulled right off the shelf for Thousand Oaks Boulevard.

All the while, the public is bamboozled into thinking they have had a part in the decision making. You have probably heard of “Visioning Sessions,” you may have even attended one led by a “Facilitator” leading a panel of “Experts,” who describe the various aspects of their scheme then answer questions from the audience. The purpose is to make a show of achieving “Consensus,” while really ignoring all objections. In Ventura County, Compact is the performer taking that part. And your Planning Staff, City and County Departments contributing to the Environmental Impact Report process, City Planning Commission, especially your elected City Council and Redevelopment Agency members smartly high-step along like trained and highly adept players in a marching band, each having a part in the grand finale: The Thousand Oaks Boulevard Specific Plan and the town’s true blighting. And who is the Drum Major? He is the ghost of Maurice Strong, who was Secretary General of the U. N. in his time. The purpose is to transfer wealth from the affluent to the needy and to remediate so called “Social Justice”. He said, “… the affluence of Americans is a threat to the planet.” Turn away from this show, repudiate the plan. Let the development of the boulevard evolve naturally even if it takes its sweet time, set examples of good design and development. Encourage private property owners to follow those models, but don’t use the force of the government, because they will never get it right.