Is Soka Preserving Land or Hogging It?
You would think that when senators propose “special-interest legislation,” they would at least try to make it look like it would be good for some part of the country. Why then pass a special-interest law to enable a foreign business to locate in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, forever damaging the land and privatizing the very lands Congress set aside for protection for the American public?
Soka University plans to teach English to 4,000 Japanese nationals at a time. Their current use of English raises a lot of questions. Soka University claims to be a “church” or a “business” but never a “school,” even though Soka University is accredited in Japan and Soka Japan’s credits will transfer to local schools.
Soka avoids state and land-use regulations with this inaccurate but convenient labeling.
Soka can move to another place without impairing its ability to teach English. But by remaining in the national recreation area, Soka permanently impairs the mountains and the NRA. Soka can leave the NRA and visiting Soka students can then enjoy these mountains undamaged, the same way the American public does.
Why are our senators protecting a foreign “business” instead of protecting our national recreation area?
SUSAN GENELIN, Sherman Oaks
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