July 18, 2006

Fillmore Gazette

408 Orchard Street

Fillmore , CA   93015

Editor,

At the July 11^th City Council meeting, Mr. Villegas and Mr. Dressler referred to the traffic “stopgap” plan, wherein after every 100 new homes are built, a traffic study will be done to monitor the effects of growth on traffic. This is what’s known as “mitigation”.

If there are any citizens currently living in Fillmore who think that traffic is not a problem now, this is probably a comfort to you.

For those who think that traffic IS a problem now, you need to rethink the issue. Your perceptions about traffic and your frustration at delays, congestion, noise, accidents and big trucks blocking your view are all false. A traffic “study” has been done that mitigates all of those frustrations away. It’s all in your head. After another 100 houses are built, another study will be done telling you that you are imagining things and that problems will be mitigated by another stop sign or signal.

Repeat after me…there is no traffic problem, there is no traffic problem…

Gayle Washburn