RIV VU

What do Rem Koolhaas’ MCA Universal City project and Steven Ehrlich’s DreamWorks SKG animation studio project in Glendale have in common (“Hollywood’s Fresh Blueprint,” by Frances Anderton, Sept. 22)? They are both along the banks of the Los Angeles River.

What else do Koolhaas’ and Ehrlich’s projects have in common? Neither one of them appears to in any way acknowledge the interface between their sites and the river. All over the Los Angeles Basin, community groups and environmental organizations are working with public agencies to reclaim the river as public space, for flood protection, water conservation, habitat restoration, parkland creation and storm-water cleanup.

However, most of the riverfront remains in private hands. We don’t think it’s asking too much of both the architects and their supposedly forward-thinking, community-minded patrons that they contribute more to the future of the Los Angeles riverfront than 10-foot-high walls and parking garages.

LEWIS MacADAMS

Friends of the Los Angeles River

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Anderton’s article reinforced the fears many citizens have that DreamWorks is planning to build a theme park-like structure for its headquarters on the Ballona Wetlands near Marina del Rey. They will use helicopters to commute to Glendale while the rest of us deal with 200,000 new car trips and 10 tons of new air pollution daily, and a 28% increase on a San Diego Freeway that is already at gridlock. Their helicopters will create havoc with the beautiful wildlife of the wetlands.

Citizens United to Save All of Ballona, a coalition of environmental groups, has asked to meet with Messrs. Spielberg, Katzenberg and Geffen for a year now, and they have refused to listen to our concerns. Somehow, all this glitz doesn’t mean much to me if the bigger picture is the destruction of a most valuable resource.

KATHY KNIGHT

Santa Monica