Proposed Housing for Seniors

Your editorial supporting the construction of the senior housing project in Sherman Oaks (“Approve Senior Housing Complex,” June 14) makes the same mistake Councilman Mike Feuer made in his support of the project: not considering the specific problems with which the neighborhood currently struggles.

Contrary to spin propagated by the developer and by Feuer, the residents near Noble Avenue and Moorpark Street have no quarrel with senior housing. We understand the shortage and support the project under existing building codes.

However, this neighborhood already faces the proposed expansion--also supported by Feuer--of the Galleria shopping center. In addition to triggering more . . . traffic and noise in the neighborhood, the Galleria proposal doubles commercial office space and retail sites while providing no additional parking.

The issue, in fact, is that the neighborhood is a bucket, already full to the brim with traffic and parking problems. The Times failed to note that the number of units supported by the building code for senior housing on this site is 55. While the community could marginally sustain 55 new units, a 30-nit increase to 85 units will cause the bucket to overflow.

Its bad enough that our councilman has selectively deconstructed the facts, but our newspaper too?

JILL DYCHE, Sherman Oaks

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Throughout Los Angeles, thousands of seniors struggle every month simply to pay for food and shelter. Many of them, lacking sufficient family support, live in substandard housing and have little hope of finding a decent, affordable apartment.

To me, that is unacceptable. The city can do a better job providing our seniors with affordable housing, and we can do so in a way that enriches our community in the process. That is a key reason I support the proposal for a low-income senior housing development at Noble Avenue and Moorpark Street.

The need for new, affordable senior housing must, of course, be balanced with the legitimate concerns of existing residents and businesses. Working with the developer, we achieved a project that is actually better for the neighborhood in all significant respects--size, traffic and parking--than what is already approved for the site.

The previously approved project is a large, four-story condo development that would generate more traffic and off-site parking. The second proposal, for a market-rate assisted living complex, has many more units and far less parking than the affordable senior housing project now on the table. With 85 units and 85 parking spaces, this is a well-designed, lower impact project that serves a vital social purpose.

Providing for our seniors is not only the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing. Seniors teach our children; they protect our neighborhoods while we work; they give us perspective in our hectic lives. Seniors are an asset to our community, and by including them we make it stronger.

MIKE FEUER, Councilman, 5th District