Readers React: Is Chinese money changing Arcadia for the better?

To the editor: I moved to Arcadia in 2001 because it had great public schools and was still affordable for a single parent like myself. In the intervening years, I have seen the changes brought on by wealthy Chinese immigrants, but the article misses a major point: What happens to the sense of community when skyrocketing home prices make it unaffordable for young families? (“How Arcadia is remaking itself as a magnet for Chinese money,” Dec. 3)

What happens to neighborhood safety when the homeowners don’t live in their newly built houses for most of the year? What vested interest do they have in improving the quality of life if the house they bought is simply a place to park their money?

Development and community should go hand in hand, but this notion has been lost in the real-estate frenzy gripping not only Arcadia but also other cities in the region.

Linda Wong, Arcadia

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To the editor: As the article notes, an immigrant who invests at least $500,000 in a U.S. business can receive a EB-5 visa, a green card and permanent residency in the United States.

Do we value the rich over the poor even in the granting of citizenship? Whatever happened to the Statue of Liberty’s inscription, “Give me your tired, your poor,/ Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,/ The wretched refuse of your teeming shore./ Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me”?

The “wretched refuse” built this country from the ground up and earned their place in America.

Pascual Garcia Cuellar, Van Nuys

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To the editor: While reading about Chinese immigrants building mansions in Arcadia, I wondered how there can be so many wealthy people in a communist country.

Pat Langdon, Cypress

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