In these pages Jim Capaldi recently offered the deal of electing Bob Huber and keeping Steve Sojka as a City Council member (Letters, Acorn, May 21).

While I applaud the positive approach, it misses the point about why elections are so important.

This election is about competing visions for the future of our community. It is about delivering results over the long term for our residents. Steve Sojka has served the City Council for 12 consecutive years and earned the most votes in three elections, and he has been delivering results.

When $27 million was in jeopardy for the second phase of the 118 Freeway widening, Sojka approached the state as our community’s representative on the Ventura County Transportation Commission and not only secured the funding but had our project moved ahead of others so our residents will get traffic improvements they deserve, pronto.

Steve Sojka’s work resulted in the creation of the Office of Economic Development at city hall to assist Simi Valley businesses through permit processes while also attracting clean industries with high-paying jobs to town.

It is no accident that Simi Valley’s unemployment rate is below state and national averages. Job-strong businesses such as AeroVironment come here because of the proactive and collaborative efforts by Sojka and our council.

With that record of results, imagine what he can accomplish as mayor. With Sojka’s leadership and ability for collaborative coalition across the ideological spectrum, he will be uniquely positioned to mobilize results in a bigger and better way for residents of Simi Valley.
Mike Vallejo
Simi Valley