The proposed development is so large that it will change forever the character of the town. It is only the first installment of what is bound to be a series of other housing projects that will, if completed, for better or worse turn Santa Paula into yet another suburban bedroom community.

Given the impact of this project, we might expect Santa Paula’s City Council to have the good sense to defer to the voters of Santa Paula. Whatever the merits of election or presumed competence in urban planning, a simple respect for the realities of politics would dictate the wisdom of spreading the praise — or the blame.

But the main issue raised by Coyle is the incompetence of the voters. They should, he says, defer to elected officials and to specially trained bureaucrats, whose expertise must give them the final word. Coyle says in no uncertain terms that the people should respect their betters.

In a democracy, however, the people are the final word. They must always be on the alert to root out incompetence and corruption. Elected officials and the specialists whom they appoint must never be allowed a blank check. Their actions must always be under scrutiny — and not only at election times, but every single day.

Yes, our form of government is a representative democracy. But we have learned by hard experience that our representatives are not especially wiser than the people who elect them. Those representatives are elected to put the people’s will into effect — not to embark on their own private agendas.

There is a place, of course, for special competence in urban planning. But if the City Council and the Planning Commission are fully convinced of the rightness of their views, then they ought to take measures to convince the voters. At present, it looks very much as if they are taking every possible means to prevent a vote. What are they afraid of? That their position will be rejected? Whether it is accepted or rejected, the people of Santa Paula, if allowed to express their collective view, will have decided their own fate. And that is what democracy is all about.

— R. A. McNeal, Santa Paula