Letters to Voices : Santa Anita Expansion

Re “Do We Want Our Kids Hanging Out at the Racetrack?” (Gripe, Feb. 3). As longtime residents of Arcadia who are concerned about the future of our city and our children, we support Santa Anita’s plans to build a new arts and entertainment complex on part of the parking lot at its race track. It will create hundreds of new jobs and pump millions of dollars in tax revenue into Arcadia’s dwindling coffers, and also provide a safe environment for dining, shopping and entertainment.

Certainly our city could use the estimated $2.3 million in annual tax revenue that the complex will generate. Arcadia has already been forced to tap its reserve fund to pay its bills, and the city manager recently said that the town will be close to insolvency within a few years if it doesn’t find a major new source of revenue. In fact, he pointed to the proposed center as the only potential revenue source on the horizon.

We Arcadians take pride in the fact that our community boasts one of the best police departments, fire departments and school districts in all of California. But sustaining such a high level of public services takes money, and frankly, we’re running out of it.

If the entertainment complex is not approved, Arcadia’s homeowners will see significant increases in local fees and taxes to keep services from being cut or else learn to live with reduced services and police protection. While opponents of the center have advocated an increase in local taxes rather than approval of the complex, we don’t think most homeowners in Arcadia agree with that approach.

We also think the new complex will become an integral part of Arcadians’ social lives. Currently, too many of us--both our youth and adults--must drive to other cities while seeking entertainment.

DICK CLOSSON

GAIL JENSEN

Arcadia

(The authors are co-chairs of Arcadia Tomorrow, a local group that supports the Santa Anita plan.)