Grissom’s Letter Raises Questions

* I find Lee Grissom’s recent letter amusing. In it he states that Calabasas “does not provide for linking city streets to the approved Ahmanson Ranch Specific Plan.” As director of the governor’s Office of Planning and Research, hasn’t he researched how this proposed development will adversely affect the neighboring communities? And why should this project warrant the governor’s attention? Why are the bordering cities of Malibu, Los Angeles, Calabasas and the bordering county of Los Angeles mutual plaintiffs against this development? And if Ahmanson Ranch is so self-sufficient as developer Donald H. Brackenbush reports (“Ahmanson Co. President Is Close to Building a Dream,” Feb. 22, 1993), why the big commotion about regional traffic patterns?

Let’s face it. Home Savings, parent of Ahmanson Land Co., wants its zoning entitlements from the county of Ventura and then will sell its land, tract by tract, to developers. Same old urban sprawl. Soon we’ll hear another ‘huge sucking sound’ as those homeowners with equity flee, leaving behind lower property values and tenant-occupied houses.

If Grissom wants to plan and research something, he can research why people are moving out of their long-cherished inner-city neighborhoods due to crime and urban decay. Maybe because the money giants see bigger profits in tearing up breeding habitat for mule deer, instead of redeveloping urban areas.

VINCE CURTIS

Woodland Hills

Curtis is director of Friends of Ahmanson Ranch

* I was surprised to find Lee Grissom’s letter regarding the city of Calabasas’ General Plan published in the Oct. 9 Letters to the Editor section. There is a veiled assertion that Calabasas may not have met its regional responsibility. It was our understanding that this issue was put to rest with Grissom and Gov. Wilson’s Office of Planning and Research months ago. I find it unprofessional for him to use his office as a vehicle for public opinion.

However, if the issue was really “regional responsibility,” why was this not raised to Ventura County as they set upon approving a development that had no roads from anywhere in Ventura County into that development? Why did Gov. Wilson send a letter of support of the Ahmanson Ranch project without those roads? Did not the issue of public safety enter Grissom’s mind when he realized that the Ventura County Sheriff or Fire Department could not get to their new Ahmanson “city” from Ventura County? Did Grissom complain to Ventura County about their going outside their own General Plan? Or is it just easier to put all this responsibility or blame on an outside entity, a small city within Los Angeles County that has no ability to fix Ventura County mistakes?

LESLEY DEVINE

City of Calabasas

Lesley Devine is a Calabasas city councilwoman