[Editor’s Note: After six consecutive days of “Body Parts” poems — from her collection of poetry on aging — Dr. Hoult takes a break. Today she comments on one of the hottest political subjects in Culver City, the much disputed proposed 220-foot tall Entrada Office Tower at the southern edge of the city.]
Towering Concerns
A thirty-year resident of Culver City
I’m hearing things that aren’t so pretty
Like the plans afoot for a building so tall
To tower over others and make them look small.
A tall, tall building is really dumb
It will stick way out like a big sore thumb.
In other SoCal towns we hear
The moans and groans loud and clear
That when the buildings are built so high
The residents can no longer see the sky.
Our city residents should be concerned
And feel perhaps that they’ve been burned
Especially since our officials agreed
To keep the height limit at 56 feet.
The difference between 56 and 220
Would certainly create problems aplenty
With far more traffic and lots less sky
And more pollution by and by.
We fear that our city may have been bought
By developers who care for naught
But filling their wallets or getting notoriety
In Architectural Digest, maybe even Variety.
We ask, “Have our officials have forgotten their vow
To serve their constituents right here and now?”
Why not take a look at what would be best
To continue with progress as we’ve done in the past
With beautiful buildings like our City Hall
And additional construction to the Fox Hills Mall?
These are not taller than 56 feet
They fit our town and look quite neat.
We need to think this through, my friends,
Or else building tall ones will not end.
Keep your current decision in sight
Don’t allow an increase in height
Or the next developer who comes to you
Will say, “You changed it for him. Why not me, too?”
Ms. Hoult, who lives in Carlson Park with her husband Charlie, may be contacted at HOULTight@aol.com
