Stone Canyon Parcels Offered to Developers

It was good to read your Sept. 22 editorial about the city’s success in acquiring the Cornfield property alongside the Los Angeles River to be used as a public park. While this is good news, the bad news is that part of a priceless city-owned wilderness area is about to be sold off to private developers. The eastern ridge of Stone Canyon, near Bel-Air, is owned by the L.A. Department of Water and Power. At this moment, 17 parcels, out of 200 parcels, are being offered for sale to developers, with bidding closing Oct. 5. This could be the first phase of turning this mountain wilderness into as many as 200 homes with supporting streets, sewers and an additional 400 cars crowding the area.

All of this land should be parkland or open land dedicated to the people of Los Angeles. This land is already publicly held. It is owned by the people. There is no money that has to be raised to save it. All the city of Los Angeles has to do is to dedicate it as parkland. But the city had better do it fast, because if the DWP has its way, it will be buried under asphalt and concrete.

Andre Stojka

Los Angeles