Dissatisfaction? Glad You Asked

In the Westside section of The Times on July 2, in an article describing the hold that Dean Dana enjoys over the 4th Supervisorial District, Robert Fronke, city auditor of Long Beach (was) quoted as saying, “I am not aware of any deep-seated dissatisfaction with what Dana is doing.”

As a resident of Malibu--which is also included in the 4th District, as well as Long Beach and all the other intervening coastal communities--I can only say (to Fronke), “Where have you been lately, or how were you persuaded to utter such an erroneous statement?”

Are you not aware that the residents of Malibu, most of whom are not at all wealthy--contrary to the popular conception--are shortly to be obliged to cough up anywhere from $12,000 to $60,000 per household for a regional waste disposal system that they neither want nor need; and this indeed without benefit of a popular vote. This is the will of our Mr. Dana; and he seems dead set on achieving this goal, in the face of massive opposition from the local residents. The only beneficiaries of this ill-conceived hallucination are the developers, who stand to be years ahead in their planning as a result and who will effectively enjoy a nearly free ride on the backs of our cherished bank accounts, such as they are.

Oh, yes, and the company which was commissioned to carry out the preliminary study that led to a preferred recommendation for the sewage project (a study for which we Malibu residents also paid, by the way), is none other than an engineering firm whose principal business is constructing sewage treatment systems! How do you like them apples?

JAMES E. LOTSPEICH

Malibu