Islamic School Decision Was Unfair

* I am appalled by Irvine Mayor Christina L. Shea’s comment in your article “Work Starts on Islamic Elementary,” (Nov. 19).

Shea states regarding locating the school in Irvine after failing to do so in Rancho Santa Margarita, “They had absolutely no problems and I made sure they didn’t.”

I live within a few hundred yards of this new school. I expressed my concerns to the City Council and Planning Commission about the volume of traffic this school would cause on Roosevelt. I know some of my neighbors did also. As a director of the Northwood Villas Homeowners Assn., I know the association also submitted a letter raising concerns about traffic.

For Shea to say she “made sure they didn’t” have any problems demonstrates that she did not give the concerns raised a fair hearing. She was an advocate, not an impartial decision-maker.

There has been a failure of the planning process that purports to give Irvine residents input and consideration. The people of Rancho Santa Margarita were successful in addressing their concerns about traffic. Why weren’t Irvine residents? All the so-called protections for quality of life in the planning process in Irvine are clearly worthless.

MICHAEL PRELL

Irvine