No Welcome Mat Out by Neighbors of Hotel

The real estate section carried a lead story (Feb. 9) on the start of construction of the Four Seasons Hotel at Burton Way and Doheny Drive. It starts off: “Beverly Hills’ loss is Los Angeles’ gain when it comes to the Four Seasons Hotel.”

We take exception to this statement. The residents of the area are not gainers, the homeowners are not gainers, the income-property owners are not gainers. The people who gain are the architects, developers, promoters; the very people who do not have to live with the havoc they are causing with their huge project in an already overburdened and fragile residential area.

What is particularly galling is the sneaky and underhanded way the promoters wormed approval out of the city. No public hearings were held, no environmental impact report was prepared, no traffic study was done to support this 15-story building. Not one of us even knew that this parcel, which had been zoned R-3, was magically transformed to an unrestricted C zoning.

We are now stuck with yet another huge shadow-throwing traffic generator in an area where all major intersections are already at saturation or near-saturation levels.

Why do you foist off puff pieces like this on your readers in the guise of news? Had you done a real news story you would have discovered that not everyone is so delighted with yet another hotel stuck in an almost totally residential area.

When is The Times going to understand that people also live in Los Angeles, not only developers, and give some thought to making our city fit for human habitation and not only for bulldozers.

HARALD R. HAHN

Los Angeles

Hahn is president of South of Burton Way Homeowners Assn.