Sound Walls for Freeways

For some time I have been house hunting in the San Fernando Valley. I remember one house in particular in Toluca Lake, a very desirable area. It was good sized, well appointed, and very attractively priced.

Why? Well, it was located smack-dab against the Ventura Freeway. And it was noisy.

But, as the agent pointed out, the price reflected that. And this area is scheduled for sound walls, which will raise the value $50,000 immediately. There was no doubt in my mind that she was right.

However, I didn’t buy the house or her schedule. As your article on sound walls pointed out it could be a long wait (Metro, July 11).

But I could have been one of those people who bought knowingly and cheaply and started clamoring for public funds to be used to increase the value of my private property. And I suspect there are a lot of them out there.

Now, Jim Kelley (who has lived adjacent to the San Diego Freeway since 1949) gets my sympathy. He was there long before the freeway and I would vote to compensate him for decreased value when he goes to sell his home. But property owners who bought after the freeway was built negotiated their sale price down because of it.

If they want walls which will benefit them, both aesthetically and financially, they should be prepared to pay for them either through assessment bonds or by agreeing to return the amount of increased value realized by the construction of these walls at the time they sell.

Perhaps a combination of these ideas could be used to put future sound wall construction on a self-supporting basis.

As it stands, I am opposed to the spending of public funds to directly benefit a very small number of people, the majority of whom knew exactly what they were doing when they bought.

MICHAEL J. GORMAN

Glendale