From Our Readers
Peninsula News – Saturday, April 14, 2007

Open season for developers

 To the Editor:

        "Substantial, unavoidable, irreparable, adverse effect on air quality, traffic congestion, utilities infrastructure, emergency services and social infrastructure of the Palos Verdes Peninsula and surrounding areas" That is exactly what the Village Plan environmental impact report says, multiple times, in regard to any and all development in that 92-acre zone we think of as the shopping area of Rolling Hills Estates - the proposed "Village".

       In spite of the EIR, and in spite of the wishes of 70,000 Palos Verdes residents to remain rural, RHE City Council and Planning Commission members have let three or four condo projects begin, and residents' request for a moratorium on permits (until the effects of the current projects are felt) has been ignored. It’s open season right now for developers in RHE. The City Council is letting developers pour cement over every square inch of Palos Verdes they can get until there is no more money to bleed out of us. Then the developers will move to another lovely community that has a "friendly" city council. That’s what they do - it's just business to them.

       It’s home to us. How can we make it stop - now - before it's too late? Well, we do live in a democracy and we do have the right to recall elected officials who are not serving us well. Let's call RHE City Hall (310-377-1577) and ask how to begin recall procedures. We've never done it before and we hope we never have to do it again, but it's time to be brave and fight for Palos Verdes. Getting 70,000 phone calls about recalling the council members might be enough to turn them around.

       We are the nicest people in the world. We would rather negotiate than fight, but no one gave us the choice. Developers launched their assault to take over Palos Verdes -- with the blessings of the City Council members. We are still trying to be nice and we're losing -- we're losing Palos Verdes. Are we going to be transformed into "that neighborhood between San Pedro and Lomita that used to be rural before developers ruined it" if we don’t stand up and fight? After we throw the traitors and developers out of our home, we can go back to being nice again.

PF. Bacon
Rolling Hills Estates