Some Possible Effects of Proposed Bluffs Ordinance

I spent a weekend studying and rereading the contents of the proposed Playa del Rey-Westchester Bluffs ordinance (Times, Aug. 30) searching for a shred of reason, a particle of awareness, a single real need or a drop of humanity. I found none of these things.

As a resident of this community and as an architect-builder for 42 years, I have never examined a planning proposal so insensitive to the citizenry, so ill-timed, so impractical and so dreadfully intrusive as the horror story I read. Stephen King couldn’t have done it better.

The proposed ordinance is a hideous mass of writhing tentacles which would pick the homeowners’ pockets and remove their rights and dignity along with grabbing their money.

The document is beyond revision; only an exorcist would be of any benefit. It is Orwellian; it is Frankensteinian; and much worse, it is “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas”--not only scary, but a spoiler of the potential for joy, for satisfaction, for pride, and yes, for developing family values that belong in the personal home building/remodeling, landscaping experience.

The ordinance is ill-timed. It arrives when we are all sick of over-government and micro-management of our lives.

I urge my neighbors to just look at the Channel Gateway buildings at Lincoln and Maxella--then decide if this ordinance will benefit you. They were approved by the same people who want to manage our lives, design our homes, restrict the use of our lots, stifle our ideas and to patrol our gardens.

There is carnage in our streets almost every weekend--we are told that there isn’t money to hire more officers. The inner city is seething because this city does not have resources to properly expedite the rebuilding of the ruins from the recent disturbance. The Building Department is so understaffed now that their long “hold” in the permit process causes the loss of construction jobs, and adds expenses to the owner during the loan process.

What are the priorities of those who will use your money for a “Petunia Patrol” to police the gardens of those daring to cultivate politically incorrect plants?

I beg my neighbors, no matter where they live or intend to live in Los Angeles, to take the threat of this ordinance seriously. This time the monster wants to take a three-mile-long bite. The next gulp may include your home, your yard, your privacy, and more of your rights.

There are many issues in this election year--but this one should be “no contest” in opting for liberty.

When it comes to keeping control of your own home, your own yard and your own taste, “pro-choice” and “right to life” mean exactly the same thing.

BUD PLONE

Playa del Rey