Values Are the Issue

The die is cast. Westlake North is considered a “done deal.” I had the misfortune of going to City Hall recently to hear the City Council approval.

How fitting that this choice is coming to its climax on Earth Day, when we are highlighting the values of clean air, water, and the environment.

The real issue that is before us is one of values, the value of the tax revenue from Westlake North project versus the cost to the environment: traffic, pollution, water use, loss of natural beauty, the strain on schools, and so on.

Unfortunately, we are not able to calculate all of the costs involved, particularly when these costs extend through the next generation.

If we could calculate the cost to the environment in dollars, like we can with tax revenues, what a different story this would be.

It’s truly alarming when we watch the subtle, cancerous growth killing our city.

Here are a few vital signs: Have you noticed how the pollution index in our area has increasingly gone up over the past five years, or that more and more doctors are treating lung and respiratory illnesses and allergies, or how our water bill continually increases, or the overcrowded classrooms at White Oak and the two portable buildings at the school?

This explains two essential needs: visionary leadership, and long-range planning, neither of which this City Council seems to demonstrate.

If we are to have adequate air to breathe, water to drink, land to use as a sanctuary for the soul, then we need new leadership, we need new attitudes, we need new policies. And we need them fast!

MARILYN SULLIVAN

Westlake Village