More Development Is Not the Answer
The article on the reach of Orange County’s overdevelopment because of the access provided by toll road extension into the county’s interior [“A New Engine of Growth in Orange County,” Sept. 28] paints a grim picture about the future of California. What happens to this state and its habitants when developers have managed to cut into every hillside and permanently pave over every acre of level land?
I realize the history of Orange County is one of selfish gratification for . . . generations of developers while ignoring the needs of countless future generations of citizens, but isn’t there some limit to their hellbent absurdity? And I am surprised that The Times still, after all these years, refers to the process of development and exhaustion of available open land as a “boom.” I would think that working and living in one of the most overcrowded and least-nurtured cities in the county would teach The Times something about the perils of unplanned and uncontrolled development.
People like Louis Masotti, director of UC Irvine’s real estate management program, and the other development sorts quoted in the article are going to have to realize, at some point in time, ever more population growth with ever more development is not the answer for sustainable human existence in California.
One can nonchalantly forecast a politically popular 50% increase in population by 2025 or a 100% doubling by 2040, but no matter what population forecast chosen, there will be no corresponding percentage increases in the amount of land available in California--ever.
ALFRED DANIEL ELIASON
Santa Barbara
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