Lincoln Blvd. Development

The Times article on effects from planned development on or near Lincoln Boulevard (Part A, April 4) describes a traffic gridlock catastrophe in the making. Planning experts quoted in the article, and your editorial (April 8), call for the formation of regional planning agencies as a solution to limit uncontrolled development.

I believe regional planning will be ineffective without crucially needed accountability at the local level to prohibit irresponsible decision making on development.

With the exception of Culver City’s Marina Place proposal, all of the runaway offending large projects mentioned in the article, and most of the smaller ones, are directly under the control of Councilwoman Ruth Galanter. Galanter is a proponent of piecemeal, project-by-project deals with developers, an approach that ignores the cumulative effect of development on the quality of our lives.

For several years Venice residents have asked Galanter not to approve development that exceeds the capacity of our community. The Venice Town Council, a grass-roots community organization, gathered petitions asking Galanter to sponsor an objective study to set capacity limits. Galanter rejected these requests.

STEVEN SCHLEIN

Venice