NIMBYs Need to Look in the Mirror

The hypocritical gall of the Letter to the Editor March 23 by Larry A. Rothstein, criticizing Donald H. Brackenbush and the Ahmanson Ranch project, amazes me. He personifies the self-interested NIMBY who needs to look in the mirror.

Rothstein states that he and his fellow litigants live in mountain View Estates, the property adjacent to the proposed project. Mountain View Estates is exactly the type of development that Rothstein is opposing--a new, large residential development of million-dollar tract mansions. I have enclosed some of the promotional material I received when looking at the development myself. Just a few years ago, where Rothstein now resides, there used to be barren, rolling hills--just as there are now where the Ahmanson Ranch project will be. Why is the next development an “urban monster” while his neighborhood is not?

He calls Brackenbush a “self-interested environmental carpetbagger.” It is the self-interested NIMBYs like Rothstein, concerned only with the equity in his $1-million tax-assessed home, that have made affordable housing an impossibility in this city. The unnecessary EIRs, public hearings and lawsuits caused by these people have sent housing costs through the roof.

I have no involvement in the Ahmanson project. I’m simply a frustrated citizen who has endured the nightmare of trying to build a home in the San Fernando Valley.

ELLEN FITZMAURICE

West Hills