Simi Valley's image is just fine

In response to your editorial that Simi Valley has an image of intolerance (Sept. 21), I wish to inform you that my husband and I moved to Simi Valley two years ago precisely because of its image.

After living over the county line in the San Fernando Valley for the better part of 30 years, we found Simi Valley to be a relief, a wellrun community with an outstanding City Council, city manager and police department dedicated to the welfare of all residents.

Simi Valley may be the last middle-American town in Southern California. Everywhere we go we see churches, playgrounds and parks. We have found pleasant shopkeepers and clean-cut youth working in the community. There is a community spirit of goodwill which can be felt wherever we go.

We certainly have observed persons of all races and ethnicities going about their daily business just like we do.

Simi Valley does not have an image problem. It is a community run for the benefit of its residents. Who does not want to live in a community that is gangand graffiti-free, where crime is kept in check and where law breakers, including illegal immigrants, are not tolerated? Simi Valley intolerant? Of criminals, yes.

This is America, and Simi Valley represents the best kind of town, where average Americans can live in peace without the chaos of society breaking down all around them, as we see going on at an alarming rate in nearby counties.

I don't know where persons on your editorial board live, but I'll bet that none of you would choose to move to Canoga Park, Echo Park or East L.A., where drug lords run the streets. Keep it up, tolerate lawbreakers, abandon standards, and your communities in Ventura County will all invite criminals by default. June Trader Simi Valley