Soka Gambled and Lost Little
In the recent barrage of articles regarding the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy’s attempt to acquire the Soka property by eminent domain, we have lost sight of the reasons why this is happening.
Six years ago, a foreign-based religious organization came here and knowingly outbid our National Park Service for a piece of property that had been earmarked as a top-priority acquisition for 20 years.
They purchased this property knowing that it did not have the zoning rights they would need for their intended use, to build a 4,000-student private-university campus.
Soka entered into this land purchase knowing that they were gambling. If they won, they won big. If they lost, they lost little, if anything.
Soka purchased the property at the height of California’s inflated real estate market for $15.5 million (not the $17.7 reported by The Times). They have been offered over $18 million in today’s deflated real estate market. Are we supposed to feel sorry for them?
I am sick of foreign organizations with billions of dollars coming into my country and telling me what they will do with our land, whether we like it or not.
DIANE NARDIZZI
Calabasas
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