Building-Limits Initiative

Backers of the Initiative for Reasonable Limits on Commercial Building and Traffic Growth have oversimplified the solution to the present development environment created through a lack of legislative planning.

It’s almost laughable that they now want to cut in half almost all commercial development--poof, problem solved! Almost laughable unless you are a property owner about to lose half of your property value.

Los Angeles is one huge suburb spread willy-nilly out along its network of freeways and boulevards. City fathers must begin planning a city for people, not automobiles. In order to short-circuit gridlock, people must be forced out of their cars in our urban areas.

Look at San Francisco, New York, Boston or Chicago. We must end the Los Angeles mystique that the car is king; not only an extension of our feet, but also of our personality. Further, our city fathers must encourage and permit walking neighborhoods where residents are attracted out of their cars to shop, socialize and play.

Good examples of cities friendly to the pedestrian exist throughout Europe, not to mention New York and San Francisco-type American cities. The initiative process should not be allowed to become a tyranny of the majority by packaging all Height District One property owners with a few developers who took advantage of legal development rights. Why should every property owner be penalized because of past failures in the government to balance community interests?

Whatever the outcome of the proposed initiative its backers should not be allowed to draw the bridge up behind those who have already maximized the value of their property and those who have moved to the Westside. If this were to happen we would slowly strangle in a stagnating community in a place that author John Gunther once described as Iowa with palms.

GREGG GANN

Los Angeles

Gann is vice president/district manager of Grubb & Ellis.