AHMANSON A WINNER ONLY FOR WASHINGTON MUTUAL.

Byline: Lesley Devine Local View

MARK Twain is credited with saying, ``There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.''

The article in the July 17 Daily News, ``Ahmanson would help all incomes find homes'' by Washington Mutual developer Guy Gniadek certainly illustrates Mark Twain's observant statement.

Let us examine how Gniadek's statistics would work in real life.

Given the basic nature of Ahmanson's planned million-dollar homes, still they contend that there will be ``25 percent reserved for families that meet federal income guidelines for affordable housing.''

The Ahmanson plan describes single-room-occupancy housing for these ``workers.''

What family would like to live in one room?

Think about what the less than $37,350 yearly income of this family can actually do. Given that banks will lend no more than 30 percent of gross income, that means that family can pay no more than $941.25 per month. That means a mortgage of about $95,000 with a 20 percent down payment of about $18,000.

In other words, this low-income family has saved up almost $20,000 cash and would spend more than $100,000 for a one-room dwelling unit.

Does this make practical sense? Or are these single-room-occupancy housing units just modern caddie shacks?

Gniadek then contends that the additional second-rental units will do the trick. Just what are these units? They can be more classically described as servants' quarters out back of the main house like in plantation days of old.

Of course Ahmanson counts these servants' quarters as granny- flats/second-rental units placed on the property of the million-dollar homes.

Washington Mutual contends that million-dollar homeowners will ``rent'' out these units as ``affordable housing.''

Get real! Who is going to buy an expensive home and then have renters in their back yard? If such units are built, they most likely will become the home offices of the millionaires. Yet these commercial aspects within proposed high-end neighborhoods are not clearly disclosed.

Then in the ultimate double-speak, these same units are only available to a ``member of the qualifying household,'' e.g., ``family member'' or ``service provider'' (e.g., servants quarters), not to people who simply need affordable housing.

It is true that California's growing population needs more housing and jobs. However, we need housing that people can get to without being stuck in gridlock. We need jobs that provide a livable wage, in locations that people can get to without creating gridlock. We need efficient public transportation that can get people to and from homes and jobs.

Those needs are not provided by building on out-of-the-way mountaintops.

The most obvious flaw is the assumption that Ahmanson can be based on Ventura County statistics. In reality, there are no roads from Ahmanson Ranch that will lead into Ventura County.

For a Ventura County resident to switch to living in Ahmanson they will have to travel in wide arcs through Los Angeles County. Consider also that if Ventura County people think they will find jobs at Ahmanson, a residential community with golf courses, they will have to plan on long commutes.

It is unlikely they will be able to afford to live there and there is no public transportation to get them there either.

But then maybe they can stay in the single-room-occupancy units.

Why have Ventura County supervisors gone along with this Washington Mutual sham of affordable housing rather than serving the real housing and job needs of people in Oxnard, Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley and Ventura itself?

Money needed for public schools, sheriff's and fire services will be diverted from the population centers of those Ventura County cities to serve Ahmanson through Los Angeles County.

In this day of dwindling public funding, how is that justified?

All of this comes at the expense of making the Ventura Freeway undriveable for anyone and brings unquestioned environmental destruction. Who could possibly win from this Ahmanson Ranch scheme?

Only the heads of Washington Mutual, running away with their profits and leaving the mess for your public tax dollars to straighten out later.

Look closely at Ahmanson Ranch and dream the alternative: a beautiful mountain saved as public recreation for your children and grandchildren.