Seems it's that time of year again. The time when the "dooms dayers" start with the "we're in a drought" rhetoric. "The snow pack is only 60 percent of what we need, so everyone has to conserve water now or face dire consequences this summer."

It's not that I don't believe these people. I, too, have heard, many times, about how every drop of water in the Colorado River has been taken for the next 100 years. How our total source of drinking water is finite and exhaustible.

We have all heard this same stuff year after year and yet our elected officials continue to allow and encourage continued building developments.

I would think it only fair and reasonable, if you direct us to curtail our water usage and even in some cases threaten us with punitive legal action if we do not submit, to show some leadership and put a halt to the multiunit condo developments going in on Tapo Street and the multiunit housing tracts being started on Los Angeles Avenue by the railroad tracks, just to mention a few.

I know our previous mayor used to like to get sarcastic whenever it was mentioned that maybe it's time to stop the "rape" of Simi Valley. His comment on more than one occasion was, "Well, we can't close the gate just because you are here now."

That kind of attitude is not what should dictate the quality of our lives. I understand tax base economies and how they relate to services, but that in itself doesn't give our leaders the right to continue on this path at the general population's expense.

In last week's Acorn I read an article on the City Council approving $23 million dollars in bike path improvements.

In the name of common sense let's put those kind of projects on hold if money is tight. I call on our leaders to act responsibly and stop the needless building, especially before you make me a criminal for rinsing my driveway down while washing my car or running my sprinklers during the day.

Having been a resident of Simi Valley for over 25 years I am well aware we live in a desert, but I wonder if our elected officials are aware that there is a limit to what our desert can support no matter how many tax dollars are still out there for the taking. Michael Barnes Simi Valley