As someone who has lived in the Ventura County part of Thousand Oaks for decades, I've seen many changes. Most of the changes have been for the good, but one that's not is the increasing disregard of our elected officials toward their constituents.

I remember clearly when people serving our community would be enormously responsive to the public. A noteworthy example was former mayor and City Council member Alex Fiore, whose tireless efforts are commemorated in local parks, lowcost housing and other endeavors which bear his name.

On most Sundays he would bring a folding chair to the Janss shopping center with a small sign saying, "I'm Alex Fiore, your city councilman" as an invitation for people to discuss with him whatever was on their minds. Those days are a distant memory.

A blatant example of how far we've come in the other direction is the total nonresponsiveness of any of the five elected officials on the Conejo Recreation and Park District (CRPD) board of directors to repeated phone calls I've made and letters I've sent (certified, return receipt) over the course of several months.

I guess that Mark Jacobson, George Lange, Michael Berger, Susan Holt and Joe Gibson all feel that their elected positions are totally secure and that they needn't in any way answer to any member of the community who may have voted for them.

It's too bad that, unlike other cities, CRPD is a totally separate entity from the city government. This seems to create a climate of contempt for the public on the part of the elected officials of the Rec and Park District.

I wouldn't be surprised if I get a phone call as a result of this letter, as I did when I recently wrote about Linda Parks' unresponsiveness, but that doesn't change a thing. Dina Adler Westlake Village