Letters to the Editor: Los Angeles is already ‘overcrowded.’ It doesn’t need more cars and people

To the editor: Guest contributors Dana Cuff and Christopher Hawthorne mention the “Small Lots, Big Impacts” jury they sat on (“Let’s Los Angelize L.A.,” July 9). That project title seems particularly apt when you look at the pictures of the two winning designs: tall, bulky, oversized boxes squeezed onto small lots in established single-family neighborhoods. The writers avoid any touchy details such as already crowded streets, lack of parking, worsening drought and water supply issues, and aging, failing infrastructure already stressed by our current population.

They mention comparisons to Manhattan, a 23-square-mile island. The city of L.A. is an area of more than 500 square miles with no realistic hope of a sufficient mass transit system in sight. We have woefully inadequate public park space even for our current population and insufficient budget resources to permanently right-size and adequately equip our fire and police departments or even fix our dangerous, crumbling sidewalks.

Politically incorrect as this may be, in what universe does it make sense to cram even more cars and people into this already overcrowded city?

Kathy Reims, Los Angeles