Attitude is one that developers love

Regarding Paul Carney’s Feb. 22 letter, “Close that open space and put people to work,” I am compelled to chime in, because I was involved with land-use issues in the Crescenta Valley for years.

Carney’s admonishments that “nobody cares about the Verdugo Hills Golf Course,” and “nothing lasts forever,” represent the kind of attitude that developers hope for when they propose projects that are mostly in their own interests.

After all, it’s private property, no? “What business does anyone have telling me what to do?” say the developers.

I witnessed first-hand the efforts of Whitebird/Canyon Hills, the mega-project just west of the Verdugo Hills Golf Course, to rewrite land-use laws and redefine zoning to its benefit. Where did the original Community Plan, land-use rules and zoning designations come from? A decades-long process of community participation and democratic voting.

When government works well for people, government and the ground rules it establishes are a good counter-weight to the greedy.

I’m not aware of anyone in the general area of the golf course development (including the part of Glendale that is in the Crescenta Valley) who thinks it’s a good idea. A profit-driven developer over-paid for the property in hopes of making an outsized profit. He may think he’s proposed adequate mitigations to all the harm his project will create, but he doesn’t have to suffer with the problems like the rest of us must.

Listen to the people who will be most affected for the best advice on what to build (or not) in our neighborhoods.

Steve Crouch

Editor’s note: Crouch was president of the former group, Canyon Area Preservation.

Tujunga

Kimber column strikes home

More than a few times I’ve enjoyed Dan Kimber’s column, clipped the page, planning to send an e-mail to Kimber or the newspaper. More often than not, I find the newspaper clipping a week or two later and fail to follow up on that initial thought.

That’s why I really enjoyed Dan Cabrera’s recent letter (“Kimber’s column on elections rang true,” Feb. 24). Frankly, the “test of three” rule applies to all of Kimber’s columns that I have read.

Regardless of the subject matter, Kimber always brings a magnifying glass to what is good and what could be better. I thank him for that.

Karen Zimmerman

La Crescenta

Kimber’s views are biased against corporations

I resent the fact that Dan Kimber lumps corporate America with criminals (“Education Matters: Learning to adopt one another,” Feb. 24). Who does he think provides the jobs in this country and pays enormous taxes into the system we call the government?

I do not think that asking new immigrants to this country to obey the law is being racist. As a descendant of a family that has been here since the early 1600s, I find it necessary to remind people that you are welcome to America, just do not take advantage of our good nature and break the law.

I sure hope that his biased view toward corporate America was not shown in the classroom where young minds can clearly be influenced.

Foster S. Dennis

Glendale