To the Editor: Your editorial board has been unwavering in its commitment to progressive politics that has been described as “if I can’t have it, no one can have it” – punitive social justice disguised as enlightened politics. (“LA can’t be an affordable, livable city by protecting single-family zoning,” editorial, June 17)
Eliminating single-family home zones would erase the neighborhoods that give Los Angeles its unique character and turn it into a third-rate (and ultimately failed) version of a city characterized by a distinct downtown, high-rise development, and a concentrated population served by a long-established, comprehensive public transportation system.
For better or worse, Los Angeles is a sprawling, strangely fascinating metropolis with doughnut-shaped buildings, a Hollywood sign designed to advertise real estate, and neighborhoods where “Spanish-style” homes stand side by side with Tudor, Norman and Disney-style cottages and McMansions.
We do need housing. Let’s start by redeveloping underused malls, shopping centers, commercial properties, and light industrial sites. And if that doesn’t work, come back and we’ll talk again.
Shelley Wagers, Los Angeles
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To the Editor: A few years ago, a family bought the house three doors down from us, but they didn’t like the interior, so the road was constantly full of dirt for six months before they moved in. The worst part was when a five-inch construction nail destroyed one of our tires.
Imagine how much fun it would be if the single-family home zone disappeared and a new apartment building project opened next door.
It will take a year. It won’t do us any good, but it will be nice for other people to use our on-street parking space. And when it’s finished, the people on the fourth floor will have a nice view from their windows.
I’ve lived in Burbank, Northridge, Pacoima, Sepulveda, West Los Angeles, Redondo Beach, Lakewood and Orange, and I fondly remember the days when people would reach through the screen door of my apartment to steal something, or my car alarm would go off at 2 a.m., or I would have to walk through my neighborhood in the dark looking for a place to park after work because all the on-street parking spaces were filled.
Why did we move?
Lou Livingston, Orange