Crystal Cove Plan Will Destroy It

Re “Built Upon the Sand,” May 5:

In Southern California we have few communities that function as such: locales in which residents work daily to build and maintain their sense of connection to the place and the people. Crystal Cove is such a place and will be destroyed if the state follows up on its plan to evict residents and bring it up to code for use as a “public” resort.

It is easy to preserve and refurbish buildings and contrive for tourists the appearance that nothing has changed. But community building is a long, painstaking commitment. We attempt to create it with “gated communities” to keep everyone else out and cul-de-sacs lined with garage doors. We build everything to code, yet fail every time.

And now this village will go extinct. And this is in the public interest? Let’s take an inventory of what we really value in terms of community and public interest, and only then look at economic and property issues.

MATT CARROLL

San Diego