Mini-Mall Problems
Is the mayor’s and councilmen’s moratorium on mini-malls a mite too late? Maybe not.
Mini-malls are as much an environmental blight as their predecessors, the gas stations. We allowed conversion from concrete, glass and gas-fumed pumps to concrete, glass and grease-fumed doughnut depots. These segments must be restored to provide more breathable air. The exchange of oxygen and carbon-monoxide comes with trees and grass.
City Council missed the boat when Councilman Zev Yarovslavsky’s office rejected my recommendation that Proposition U provide that a healthful proportion of greenery be part of these developments. The yawning response, paraphrased was “I’ll think about it tomorrow.”
It’s now, today and not too late. I now recommend that installations of large potted trees and plants be mandated for all existing mini-malls. (Pots can be affixed to prevent theft).
Restoration of greenery must become the credo for all future developments too.
SYLVIA FLISS
Panorama City
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