The Conejo Recreation & Park District board asks everyone who cares about recreation in Thousand Oaks — from youth sports participants and parents to high school athletes to cyclists to people who enjoy open space — to join us in opposing Measure B.

Your Park District board reviewed the potential impacts on our parks and recreational opportunities if Measure B passes. We did not need to look at the independent analysis prepared for the city for too long before realizing it will deprive the Park District of much-needed revenue. Measure B's detrimental effects on recreation and parks resulted in the board unanimously adopting a resolution opposing this proposed new law.

The loss of that new revenue will translate into reduced services, limit creation of the few remaining planned parks and play fields, constrain open-space funding and limit our ability to offer outstanding recreation programs that Conejo Valley residents have enjoyed and come to rely on for more than 45 years.

According to the independent analysis, Measure B could deprive the Park District of $330,000 each year in property-tax revenue, a major source of our annual operating budget. We could also forego $1.3 million in park dedication ("Quimby Fees") money that is used to acquire parkland and open space and to improve existing parks.

Other park districts that have faced similar financial cutbacks have cut staffing and program offerings or reduced watering days of their parks. The result of such measures is that our gorgeous park turf turns brown and becomes unkempt. Picture our young athletes running and playing all over long, brown grass. Not a pretty sight.

Other local agencies would also be detrimentally impacted if Measure B passes. The history of financial cooperation between the city of Thousand Oaks, the Conejo Valley Unified School District and the Park District would be jeopardized by the passage of Measure B as each agency would necessarily focus on its own core mission in an environment of dwindling resources.

Multiagency cooperation has helped create amenities such as the high-school pools, tracks, fields and theaters, the Teen Center, Senior Center, Brimhall Library, equestrian center, parks, athletic fields, open-space trails and has funded open-space purchases. Under financial stress, each agency must first fulfill its core mission while the maintenance and enhancement of these and other community assets atrophy. Make no mistake: Measure B will put additional financial stress on your local government agencies in the years ahead.

If you care about your local parks and the wide range of recreational opportunities in the Conejo Valley, please join me and the other members of the Conejo Recreation & Park District in opposing Measure B.

— George Lange of Thousand Oaks is chairman of the Conejo Recreation & Park District board of directors.