Playa Vista ‘Fiasco’

The fiasco over the developer’s traffic fees and how to handle the increased traffic from the proposed Playa Vista project is not unlike that of an insane asylum where the inmates have taken over the asylum and everybody is running amok. Ruth Galanter’s proposal to let the developers solve the traffic problems by building roadways within the project, is analogous to letting the fox guard the chicken coop . . . and is also a classic smoke-and-mirrors deceptive ploy. Her scheme to use affordable housing to mitigate the traffic problem is so far out, that it is obviously just a Trojan horse gimmick; and doesn’t merit further comment.

While the Department of Transportation proposal to let its traffic engineers determine the roadway requirements, and let the developers select from an option list, has merits--it does not provide a viable solution because it is too narrowly focused on the area around the project, and not on the peripheral streets.

The only viable solution to the traffic, water shortage and sewage problems associated with the developments is to drastically scale back or eliminate most of the major development projects in the area (including Playa Vista--which is the largest).

As stated in my letter (Times, Jan. 23) regarding the wetlands pact between Maguire Thomas partners and the Friends of the Ballona Wetlands--the proposed Playa Vista project should be converted into a beautiful, environment-enhancing green belt, instead of a pollution generator.

MILTON T. BASSETT

Los Angeles