Slow-Growth Controversy

Garcia and Shapiro make a good point: “ . . . the city’s major asset--its ability to grant variances and to change zoning”--should be used for “stimulating growth in economically depressed areas of the city.” I say great. Let the developers make a buck by doing what’s in the public interest--something for the have-nots.

But to grant variances and changes of zoning merely so the developers can make a buck--and the public be damned (as in Pacific Palisades)--this can only breed voter rebellion.

By clamping down on this, Garcia, as president of the City Planning Commission, can help avert that rebellion.

Sure developers deserve to live--but the home dweller too. All of us deserve protection from the doubling population-and-traffic density that’s bound to stem from their monstrous four-story condos.

HAROLD WATERHOUSE

Pacific Palisades