Filling His Pockets

Arnold Springer and other Ruth Galanter hangers-on have been filling their pockets by squeezing developers as fast as Councilwoman Galanter has been filling her campaign coffers in like manner. Referring to them as community activists is like calling Saddam Hussein an environmentalist.

The area near the intersection of Lincoln and Washington boulevards (the 10th-busiest intersection in Los Angeles) is already plagued by the effects of overdevelopment. The increase in auto and foot traffic has brought noise, dirt, crime and much higher rents. This has been particularly difficult for poor and elderly residents.

Even a delay in construction of yet another huge development in the neighborhood would have been a godsend to these people. Mr. Springer had the power to bring about such a delay (Times, Jan. 27), but he gleefully gave up that privilege for what he refers to as “play money.”

I do not refer to Mr. Springer and the other people who engage in the same practice as extortionists. Extortionists do not sell out entire neighborhoods to line their own pockets while claiming to be community activists. We who live near the Channel Gateway project simply call them “Galanter supporters.”

FRANCES LONGMIRE

Los Angeles