To the Editor:
I’d like to plead with readers to actively help stop the 126 Highway increased safety measures. I realize that you have covered this issue in the paper, but I want to draw attention to it again as several people I’ve spoken with are not aware of CalTrans plans for the 126. The project managers have been invited to address the city council at its next meeting, Feb. 23 to give more information and answer concerns. The area proposed for “improvements" are the 7+ miles from Fillmore’s E St. to Hallock Dr. in Santa Paula. It sounds counterintuitive to ask people to be against improvements but my concerns are as follows. The project is supposed to mitigate speed issues by constructing four roundabouts in the 7 mile stretch and creating barriers along the middle of the highway so that you could no longer turn left where you can now. This, of course, would reduce speed by creating a bit of an obstacle course in what is now a straight forward trip down the 126. It’s projected to cost $70 million dollars and would necessitate taking some land from the ranchers as well as time from us all as the construction would be an ongoing problem for who knows how long. I feel the 126 is already designed to be safe and is a vast improvement over what it once was. The signs about speed and the bumps added to the sides further add to the safety. It seems that if we drivers would be careful to keep within the speed limit, we could avoid the $70 million and the future loss of time involved in negotiating roundabouts four different times. The Cal Trans project managers are inviting public input until March 6. You can go on their website to get the information needed to send in a comment.
Thanks,
Susan M Cuttriss
Fillmore

***

To the Editor:
Regarding the CalTrans Road Safety Assessment for SR126 from Santa Paula to Fillmore, the landowners along the road would know best about what safety measures make sense near them. A public transit system to take more commuters off of the road would reduce accidents. Traffic calming measures make sense, more policing, and land use planning that includes "complete streets”.
Ventura County’s carbon footprint comes 53% from transportation. The analysis done to figure out how to avoid accidents is needed to also prevent damage to the atmosphere and the natural world from burning fossil fuels. We have the technology; we need infrastructure that anticipates a rising price on carbon to drive demand for a green transportation system. Far-reaching measures are needed to rapidly expand carbon-neutral energy and agricultural systems to slow down global warming as well as to adapt to the unstoppable changes that have been set in motion. We can do our part by planning for public transit and zero emission vehicles that are also expected to cut business costs and create jobs.
These issues will be discussed at a Town Hall on a Green Transportation Tax at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Ventura, 5654 Ralston St, on March 10, 7:00 - 8:30 pm. Our transportation system is contributing to a crisis humanity has never faced before. Confronting this crisis with new ways of getting around and moving goods safely without polluting the atmosphere is the moral imperative of our time.
Jan Dietrick
Ventura

***

To the Editor:
I never knew Rigo Landeros – I wish I had. I have been so moved by the overwhelming outpouring of grief from our community. I have never felt anything like this since the tragic death of Princess Diana. As everyone knows, to be a fireman was all Rigo ever wanted to be. He was so passionate about it and this fire department.
I spoke at the City Council meeting last Tuesday and proposed to the Council that Sespe Place (where the Fillmore Fire Station is), between Old Telegraph and A Street, be re-named RIGO LANDEROS WAY.
What better place to pay homage to this very special man, and to his memory. The greatest honor we could bestow upon him and our community is right in front of the fire station, the place he loved, and it’s a representation of our respect for him.
Veronica Levy
Fillmore