Yes, Moorpark needs the theater

Yes, Mr. Mayor, the city needs to continue funding the High Street Arts Center. The City Council has taken a leadership role in establishing support for this unique and historic theater that is both a town centerpiece and a significant engine for cultural enrichment. The City Council has established its financial commitment to the redevelopment of High Street to further its success. We need your support for the arts.

The theater is the heart of High Street and to change your mind midstream is fiscally irresponsible to the general public. Having purchased the theater as a cornerstone of the redevelopment plan and then pull its financial plug at this infancy stage is to throw an integral part of High Street plans down the drain. The city and its residents lose the current momentum for the cultural arts, and it delays the opportunity to fulfill the plan for a prosperous and thriving High Street.

Give the High Street Arts Center the funding it was promised and allow the continued base of support to build. It has established itself with high-quality productions and radio shows, and deserves the chance to continue to expand its programming and its reputation throughout the county. The High Street Arts Center serves a vital role, offering more avenues of prosperity and drawing repeat business to High Street. The theater is an investment in the city's future.

When you invest in the arts, you build pathways to prosperity by gaining a wider view of humanity and keen insights into the human condition, which bonds us through the experience of emotional intelligence. As we see ourselves and each other, we are more able to put aside our differences and accept each other.

Artists are your least violent population, who teach art, music, dance, creating self expression and opening doors to financial success in creative fields. Embrace positive change and positive problem solving. Your investment is in peace and prosperity.

Yes, Mr. Mayor, we need you and the city to be a real force for cultural diversity in this community. Fund the arts as the group that has received the least, and patiently waited the longest for its time to come, to serve with its talents for the enrichment of all residents in Moorpark through song, dance, tears and laughter.

Yes, Mr. Mayor, we need the High Street Arts Center. As we build more opportunities in the arts for learning and jobs, we reap the benefits of our current investment. Our future will have less cultural conflicts and more cultural interaction. Pennie Lee Patterson Moorpark