Coping With Fear of AIDS

I am a neighbor of Hughes House, and I agree with Ron Wolff, the director of Hughes House, when he says that AIDS patients need a place to be cared for in the final stages of life (“AIDS Hospice Loses Zoning Ruling,” Metro, June 7). The concerned neighbors have no argument with this.

But why is Wolff fighting so hard to house the health-care facility in an R-1 zone? (R-1 is zoned for single-family dwellings only.) Must the health-care facility exist in R-1 to be successful, to provide a loving, homelike atmosphere? Of course not, but Wolff would have the public believe that if it fails in our R-1 neighborhood, it fails!

Zoning Administrator Franklin Eberhard, in his decision that Hughes House is existing illegally on Ogden Drive in Hollywood, said that hospices are already legal in R-3 or R-5 (both of which are multiple-use residential zones).

What could this facility mean to the future of our neighborhood? If Wolff wins his appeal to let Hughes House remain, it could mean health-care facilities in every neighborhood--nurses and caretakers in and out on a regular basis, doctors on call, and coroners, hearses and/or ambulances arriving frequently. All this in an area originally zoned for single-family homes. The bottom line is: Health-care facilities such as Hughes House are already legal in other residential areas. But we who choose to enjoy the only residential area that is strictly for single-family homes are being denied our legal rights.

B. ROSE

Los Angeles