In Poor Taste

People living in the Rancho Santa Fe area should certainly be embarrassed to be represented by anyone of the ilk of Ed Foss, their so-called “civic leader.”

His remark in The Times (“Rancho Santa Fe Cityhood Backed,” May 2) that “people who live in low-cost housing would be just as uncomfortable here as we would be having them here” is reprehensible. It exhibits not only a flagrant insensibility and poor taste, but a type of bigotry that equates the value of one’s home with their contribution to the community where they live.

It may interest Mr. Foss to know that since many long-term citizens in Rancho Santa Fe paid considerably less for their homes a decade ago, their monthly house payment could actually be less than that of someone who would buy “affordable” housing today in the same area.

But Mr. Foss really showed his true stupor when he suggested that maids’ quarters in the community might be used to fulfill Rancho Sante Fe’s affordable-housing obligation. Maids’ quarters as affordable housing? Give all of us a break, Mr. Foss.

If Rancho Santa Fe wants the privileges and protections of an incorporated city, it cannot shirk its duty to provide housing opportunities for people who work in or near the community. If people are good enough to work and do business there, they should certainly be good enough to live there--and not just in maids’ quarters.

C.A. CURTNER

San Clemente