Resident is steamed over Sport Chalet

On “Given a sporting chance: Sport Chalet’s founder is seeing his dream come true” (Aug. 20):

My family moved to La Canada Flintridge last year. Despite the inflated housing costs, we saw the area as a great place to raise our small children, with good schools, low crime and a sense that one lived in a real small-town community.

Unfortunately, deep pockets of the likes of Sport Chalet founder Norbert Olberz and his developer buddies -- and an absolute lack of foresight by City Hall -- have pretty much destroyed this small-town feeling and are replacing it with the overdeveloped ugliness that comprises most of Los Angeles County.

This, despite the fact that Sport Chalet already had a large store in a good location, and that every single resident I’ve spoken to about the town center project is opposed to it. For over a year the citizens of La Canada have endured endless construction and out-of-control traffic for a glorified strip mall.

I’m glad Mr. Olberz is an immigrant success story. But a line is crossed when, instead of embracing the community responsible for one’s success, one thumbs his nose at the neighbors and essentially dumps his garbage at their front door.

Fred Decker

La Canada Flintridge