Thousand Oaks Residents Seek Recall : Renewal Vote Haunts Councilman

Longtime Thousand Oaks City Councilman Alex T. Fiore was served with a recall notice late Tuesday by citizens angry over a council decision earlier this year to ignore petitions calling for a vote on the controversial Jungleland redevelopment project.

Fiore and council members Lee Laxdal, Frank Schillo and Tony Lamb voted in March to ignore the petitions calling for a vote on the $70-million project. The same four councilmen voted in favor of the redevelopment project in August.

Laxdal and Schillo were not served with recall petitions because their terms expire in November, said recall leader Richard Booker. But Booker said the 10,000 residents who signed the petitions also want them out of office.

Lamb was not targeted because he “joined the others only to gain support for his own projects,” Booker said. Councilman Lawrence E. Horner was not served because he voted to support the citizens’ vote, Booker said.

Attitude Criticized

“Alex has served too long, he’s adopted a rather arrogant attitude and has shown himself to be unresponsive to the public will,” Booker said. “He thinks he owns the city.”

Fiore, who has served on the council since 1964, denied the charges. He said the recall is based on personal differences between him and Booker.

“He’s one of the these guys who, regardless of what we do on the council, wants to find fault,” Fiore said. “He doesn’t like me and the feeling is mutual.”

The council last summer approved a preliminary plan for a civic auditorium, a public park and a multistory parking garage to be financed with about $40 million in public redevelopment money on the site of the former wild-animal park. A final plan has yet to be approved. The 20-acre Jungleland property is on Thousand Oaks Boulevard and Conejo School Road.

Lease Proposal

Under the proposal, developers would lease the remaining portions of the property to build a 300-room hotel, convention center and 105,000 square feet of office space with about $30 million in private funds.

City officials say that the lease money from the private developer, as well as redevelopment property tax income, would eventually pay for all of the public improvements.

But project opponents say the development is a waste of taxpayers’ money and would end up costing residents millions of dollars. Last fall, a citizens’ group called Public Rights and Interests Duly Exercised was formed. It collected the signatures calling for the citywide vote on the project.

The Ventura County registrar in March verified enough of the 10,000 signatures--7,600--to put the issue before voters this month. But the City Council voted 4 to 1 to ignore the request after an attorney hired by the city said the petition was not binding.

Recall supporters have until mid-December to collect the 7,852 signatures of registered voters required to force a recall election, City Clerk Nancy A. Dillon said.