Soka University

Re “Coastal Commission Consideration of Soka,” Feb. 1.

Thank you for printing a letter from Jeff Ourvan, PR man for so-called Soka University. I am pleased to have the opportunity to answer Ourvan on behalf of the Coalition to Preserve Las Virgenes. We are dedicated to preserving the public’s great investment in public land, which surrounds the Soka-owned property.

How did you obtain that land, Mr. Ourvan? The BBC claims your bank account is $125 billion strong. No wonder you were able to outbid the National Park Service.

Protect the environment, Mr. Ourvan? Westwood village was just that, 40 years ago, a village. What will Soka Village look like 40 years hence? No, Mr. Ourvan. You are a developer. We want to preserve the National Recreation Area for all the citizens of metropolitan Los Angeles and Los Angeles County.

JOAN H. KAY

Calabasas

* Stokes Canyon Homeowners Assn. does not approve of this project since there is no such organization. In fact hundreds of local residents are opposed to it as evidenced by the response at the November 1997 hearing.

If the university were for 650 students maximum, then even I could accept that. What is at stake here is an amendment to the Malibu local plan. What Soka is requesting is an additional 120 acres of developable land that eventually would allow them to build their Soka Gakkai convention centers.

JAMES D. WRIGLEY

Calabasas

* Only in America could a foreign corporation, much less a cult, be able to purchase what was meant to be national parkland. Imagine them being able to purchase Yosemite.

JANE SCOTT

Calabasas