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Readers React: Sorry, Arcadia -- mansionization is unstoppable

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To the editor: I hate to disillusion the Arcadia residents unhappy about enormous houses replacing traditional ranch-style homes, but that horse left the barn 30 years ago. (“In Arcadia, frustration builds as more homes give way to mansions,” Aug. 11)

I lived a couple of blocks outside the Arcadia city limits for 40 years, and I can well remember this trend to the humongous beginning in the 1970s. We moaned about it then, as the singular attribute of these homes is that they are huge; they are not attractive, much less beautiful.

I wish the dissidents good luck in their efforts to buck the trend, but it would have been nice if someone had paid attention long ago.

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Carolyn Ziegler-Davenport, Pine Mountain Club, Calif.

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To the editor: The Arcadia homeowner associations decrying the mansionization movement don’t protest the $1.5-million to $2-million prices for 1,900-square-foot homes described as traditional or ranch style. You can update the windows and put in quartz countertops — but that’s it!

Unfortunately the buyers of these properties don’t value quaint, 1940s and ‘50s bungalows; they value lot sizes and proximity to Los Angeles. They can pick up these homes, mess around with zoning codes for two years and still make a buck on the future McMansion.

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Sorry, Arcadia, but these new settlers in America are richer than you, and good old-fashioned capitalism allows them to say no to worshiping and preserving your bygone era. They’ll take 2015 luxury and size, thank you very much.

Tricia Bregman, Santa Ana

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