LAX Control Tower

This is in response to the “On California” column (Part A, Sept. 11) regarding the proposed LAX control tower.

The writer is correct that the Cultural Affairs Commission doesn’t want “Plain Jane” design for structures erected on city property. About six years ago, a number of new commissioners began to take a strong position, insisting that city departments, their architectural staffs and their outside architectural firms greatly raise the quality of design. Today, as we drive around the city there are more and more new structures that get high praise.

Your writer is right in thinking that we could have approved a bland, characterless cylindrical tube and called it a control tower, but it’s unlikely that anyone in Los Angeles--perhaps with the exception of your columnist--would have been happy with that. Yes, the commission insisted on a design that “makes a statement,” and we will continue to do so for anything that comes before us and especially highly visible structures like the LAX tower.

For decades, Los Angeles was mocked as a cultural wasteland because its arts and its design were considered below par compared to other major U.S. cities. Los Angeles is now taken seriously, often considered innovative in the arts and design throughout the world.

DAVID H. SIMON, President, Board of Cultural Affairs Commissioners