Views on Cleator

Bill Cleator once again proves that his vision of San Diego is as devoid of logic as his approach to planning (Letters to the Editor, Aug. 30). He seems to be proud of his performance in championing the cause of the developers who have left us with monuments of poor planning, such as North City West, Mission Valley and other areas that are destined to become slums.

Mr. Cleator has totally ignored the issues of managed growth and instead chooses to mount a vicious attack on the leaders of the Citizens for Limited Growth. As a self-proclaimed native-born San Diegan, I’m sure that he can remember the wonderful place this was, before we became the second smoggiest city in California with grid-locked freeways, overloaded sewers that have polluted Mission Bay and a non-policy toward the future growth of San Diego.

As for the second-class “interlopers” who have been less blessed than Mr. Cleator for the sin of not having “native” status, let me remind him that this country was founded by a “bunch of foreigners” who came to our shores from Europe.

The issue is clearly not who is behind the Citizens for Limited Growth, but what they stand for. In the narrow myopic world of Mr. Cleator, this means that anyone who disagrees with his irresponsible runaway-growth policies must be championing depression.

The real facts are that San Diego has added 135,000 homes since 1980, of which over half have been built in the last two years! The Interim Development Ordinance calls for a limit of 8,000 new units in the next 12 months. The facts are that with Mr. Cleator’s help and the developer interests, we will see over twice that amount built.

This mad rush toward total build-out of our most precious asset, the irreplaceable land, must be tied to our ability to provide sewer capacity, transportation, breathable air and the other components that assure a quality of life that we cherish in San Diego, whether we were born here or not. Thank goodness that all of us will have an opportunity to vote on this vital issue when we and thousands of San Diegans sign petitions to put this issue on the ballot--a prospect that seems to mortify Mr. Cleator.

BYRON SLATER

San Diego