On Tues., April 4, I appeared before the board of supervisors to speak as an individual concerning the cowardly retreat of Supervisor Judy Mikels regarding the turnover of Tapo Canyon Park to the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District.

My purpose in approaching the entire board was to bring to light the promise she made to the park district and ask for their influence in making this a realty.

Supervisor Mikels' only response from the dais was to scold me that "We don't allow politicking at board meetings."

She failed to own up to her own politicizing of the issue by alerting the media of its controversial refurbishment as a campsite without any community input from residents. When residents objected, she pulled the issue off the table rather than work with the community, just as she pulled it from the park district during her election four years ago.

It seems obvious that we hear great plans and promises from Supervisor Mikels only when election time rolls around. When she cannot get her way, she behaves like the bully who takes her toys and goes home, refusing to talk about it.

After waiting patiently for her response to our latest park board proposal, I decided to approach the board of supervisors on my own to publicize an issue that she has done her best to keep from the board and from the community she is supposed to serve.

I prepared and read the following statement during public comments:

I am Simi Valley Police Detective Gene Hostetler. I am also chairman of the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District. Today, I speak as an individual and for the constituents of Simi Valley concerned about the status and condition of Tapo Canyon Park.

Four years ago, Supervisor Judy Mikels offered the park to the Rancho Simi Recreation & Park District. On March 16, 2002, fellow Park Director Jim Meredith and I contacted her after the dedication to Rocky Peak Wetlands Park to discuss the details of the eventual turnover. We were asked by Supervisor Mikels to wait until after her 2002 election campaign, which we agreed to do.

After the election, our staffs met. We were in full agreement to maintain the park at the county level, with plans for future development upgrades with community input.

But that wasn't good enough. She pulled the transfer off the table, citing lack of a specific time frame for that development. One year later, after fires burned out restrooms and equestrian arenas, the park was closed and is yet to reopen to the public.

Four years later, without any plan or time table from Supervisor Mikels, the park remains closed to the public, and requests for Supervisor Mikels to keep her promise and turn over the blighted park to local control have been rebuffed.

Four weeks ago, the park district sent a proposal to Mr. Johnson and Supervisor Mikels to purchase 15 acres of the park at a fair market value. To this day, there has been no response. Supervisor Mikels told the press the issue was "politicized" and she would not discuss a transfer or reopening of the park until after her June 6 election.

Supervisor Mikels herself politicized the issue by discussing plans to improve the park with the media as election day approached. She did this without communicating to the residents who live around the park, and then rejected appeals and petitions by the community.

It is Supervisor Mikels who now lets her political and personal feelings interfere with making the best decisions for the community.

In August 2000, County Executive Officer Johnny Johnson stated in the Ventura County Star, "Anytime we have an under-utilized park we can't take care of, we try to find a good home for it."

He also said, "Given recent developments in the Tapo Canyon area, it is more appropriate for a local jurisdiction to operate the park." His statements were made long before the wildfires left the park abandoned by its county representative.

I totally agree with Mr. Johnson that now more than ever, local jurisdiction should operate the park.

Parks throughout the county have been given to other jurisdictions. A park was given to the city of Oxnard, Camarillo Springs Park went to Pleasant Valley Park District, and Oakbrook Park went to Conejo Valley Park District.

That's all we are asking-to take control of Tapo Canyon Park so we can reopen it and develop it. Our business is building and maintaining parks. That is not the county's business.

Today, I appeal to the entire board to take the proper action and give control of the entire Tapo Canyon Park to us.

Allow the local community to have their equestrian arenas rebuilt.

Do not allow ill-advised plans for camping and septic tanks turn this into another Oak Park campsite.

And do not allow personal and political bias to interfere.

It will benefit everyone involved.

The county will not carry the cost of maintaining the park.

The park district will have the parkland it needs to develop and reopen it to the public.

Most importantly, the community and the park's neighbors will have the park they want, they can be proud of, and they deserve.