Controversy Swirls Over ‘Steel Cloud’

As a lifelong Los Angeles resident, I’ve seen oddments come and go over 50-plus years, but Hani Rashid’s “Steel Cloud” is a visual embarrassment and thematic nonsense (Metro, Dec. 11).

If our reputation as a city of loonies has to be epitomized, I suppose this bizarre jumble of junk will do. I fail, however, to see how this pile of girders (with less aesthetic appeal than a Catalina channel drilling platform) could possibly represent the fascinating diversity of peoples who reside here.

What ties this example of the emperor’s new clothes to our cultural heritage? Who defined this object as art--aside from Rashid?

I think the melting pot that is Los Angeles deserves something better than this urban atrocity that resembles a pot handle a lot more than it does the pot.

Why not use the money to landscape the downtown area and clean up the litter? Make it a garden spot--a welcome sign--in which residents and newcomers alike can take pride and pleasure.

ERNIE CHACON

Glendale