It’s Crazy to Build on the Hillsides
* Les Hardie (“Drawing a Line in the Ashes,” Valley Commentary, Dec. 12) expressed the viewpoint of many of us. To put it bluntly, you have to be nuts to live in the hillside areas.
Simply put, we live in what is essentially a desert area. There is no rain for six or seven months every year. Chaparral and other vegetation is bone dry, and any spark, whether natural or human-caused--especially when our severe Santa Ana winds blow--is bound to result in the horror the residents in these areas recently went through.
And now with the rainy season arriving, picture if you will the mud oozing knee-deep into the remaining homes. We already see the sandbags being packed up high in anticipation of this.
Of course, when the hillside building began years ago, the city or county should not have allowed it. After all, why desecrate our natural beauty?
But who cares about natural beauty? Only a screwball.
Still, all and all, let us at least not permit further encroachment. Enough is enough.
As it is, our hearts go out to the poor devils still there, with visions of fire and mudslides to occupy their addled brains.
JACK H. CHESNER
North Hollywood
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