Taking Charge : Moorpark Mayor Plows Past Red Tape to End Eyesore

Moorpark Mayor Thomas C. (Bud) Ferguson said he’s the “kind of guy who likes to take things into his own hands.” On Thursday, he grasped the controls of a 35-ton bulldozer for a little do-it-yourself urban renewal.

Ferguson, who took over as mayor last month, said he has been frustrated for more than two years by the city’s aborted efforts to clean up three acres that have become “a danger to our town.”

The property, owned by Southern Pacific Transportation Co., is regularly used as an illegal dump site for items such as refrigerators, furniture and beer bottles. During winter, deep pools of rainwater collect and become a breeding ground for mosquitoes, city officials said.

So, earlier this week, the 67-year-old Ferguson decided to put his Caterpillar D-8 to work. He trucked the bulldozer down from his nearby ranch about 9 a.m. Then, as several groups of people watched, he began cutting deep swaths in the debris.

On a break from his work, Ferguson said he has been fighting “a bureaucratic mess” to clean the area for 2 1/2 years.

“We tell the railroad to clean it up, and they say, you do it, since it was Moorpark that created the garbage in the first place,” Ferguson said. “Then the city tells me we have to do safety studies and all kinds of other stuff.

“I just said, ‘Hell, I got a big Cat, I’m gonna do it.’ ”

Moorpark City Manager Steve Kueny refused to comment at length about the lot or the mayor’s volunteer work.

“This is something he has taken upon himself,” Kueny said. “I’d like to stay out of it.”

Ferguson is working with the help of his 11-year-old son, John. Once the debris is cleared and the site graded so that it will drain better, 30 truckloads of dirt that a construction company agreed to give him will be used as topsoil, he said. Ferguson wants to turn the site into a city park.

A-C Construction Corp. is working on a nearby road project, and the dirt is a byproduct of the construction, said Steve Anderson, company president.

City Councilman Danny Woolard said he supports what Ferguson is doing. The idea was discussed at a July 7 council meeting with no opposition from other council members.

“He’s doing this as a private citizen,” Woolard said. “Some people have thought this would come back to haunt the city, but I don’t think it will. Something has to be done out there.”

Ferguson has no second thoughts.

“The place is an eyesore, and I know this isn’t the usual way to get things done,” he said. “I’m the mayor, and I don’t believe this kind of place should be this close to downtown.”