Fresh Ideas for Boulevard

Steve Hymon’s opinion column of Oct. 20 (“Ventura Blvd. Plan a Dead End”) was right on. I agreed with everything he proposed. Are there any like-minded people on the City Council or in some organization that you know of?

Also, I agree the $75 million for the Ventura Boulevard Specific Plan, as I understand it, is a waste of money. What persons are responsible for this plan?

Please continue to give voice to this important issue. The building of our cities to accommodate cars to the detriment of people severely impacts our quality of life and is largely ignored as an issue.

ROD DAMER Studio City

* I loved, loved, loved Steve Hymon’s “Perspective on Planning” in The Times. He captured everything I’ve been feeling since I relocated here four years ago.

Through the years, I had visited here on numerous occasions, [but] when I moved I was terribly disappointed to see what had become of this lovely San Fernando Valley. Of course there are beautiful pockets, but overall, I have to agree wholeheartedly with Hymon’s analysis. Ventura Boulevard is a mishmash with no defined character.

What gives a place vitality and energy? People--people walking around. What stops people from walking? In my estimation, it’s the profusion of very unattractive mini-malls stuck back from the street because of parking lots in front. What apparently began as convenience has wound up keeping people from mingling. If people have convenience and pretty places in which to shop and walk, they will.

I also go with [the idea] of light rail (not subways because most people here wouldn’t ride them, and with just cause) and building high-rise apartments and condos.

People keep saying the San Fernando Valley is a city; to me, it’s a huge suburb with all the attendant suburban sprawl. I’d just love to see Hymon’s ideas come to fruition.

EUDICE M. BERNSTEIN

Woodland Hills

* Hymon’s column was like a rare breath of fresh air in the San Fernando Valley. His ideas were a lot better than others I’ve read about, like the idea of metal monkeys and neon palm trees on the boulevard. It is weird to see all these expensive, fancy cars driving on such a decrepit, sterile, dirty, ugly boulevard, devoid of any real life.

It is a shameful embarrassment that we have such poverty in the midst of all this wealth. Lush greenery and big trees are a sign of true riches. Along with a greenbelt and bike / jog / walk path on Ventura Boulevard, it would be great if the abandoned railways, which connect to the Sepulveda Recreation Area, were also turned from rails to trails so that people could get out, enjoy our nice weather and actually go somewhere without a car.

Along with this, the L.A. River and its tributaries in the Valley should be restored to a more natural condition. We spend millions restoring human masterpieces; why can’t we find funds to restore creation’s finest works of art, of which trees, open green spaces and rivers are a part? Other cities with far less wealth have done it, and so can we.

RACHEL C. KARNO

Encino