[Editor’s Note: The letter writer sent the following message to the City Council last week before it approved the Entrada Office Tower project.]
My husband and I, residents of Culver City for over 20 years, are now disabled.
Recently, he had to be hospitalized and required the paramedics to come for him. The traffic on Sepulveda, Overland and Jefferson was so congested it was nearly impossible to get through to the hospital.
Culver City, if you don’t fix the traffic problem, you will be responsible for my husband’s life and the lives of others who depend on assistance from our Fire Dept.
Why are you now considering allowing the construction of a 220-foot tall building on Centinela near Sepulveda? How many more cars will be traveling Sepulveda, adding to the congestion and the pollution?
Are you trying to kill off disabled residents like me who have difficulty breathing?
I urge you not to vote on the Entrada project this evening.
Do not approve something that the newly elected City Council will be left to deal with.
It is totally unfair to rush into something and leave the new Council holding the bag to deal with angry residents who have been left out of the loop in the decision-making process.
Not long ago, you heard from many angry citizens who live along the Sepulveda corridor and, fortunately, you listened to them.
We wonder what would have happened if you had gone ahead with the Bob Champion project. Would you have razed all the buildings on the west side of Sepulveda so that now, when the dollar is in extreme difficulty, we would see only rubble and no buildings, or empty buildings with no tenants?
It doesn’t follow that, if you build it, someone will come and lease it.
There is a risk in this down-market that there will be a repeat of what happened in Houston – empty buildings on every street.
Why not look at building affordable housing so people will be able to live here comfortably.
Not mixed use, which I endured in New York living over stores and constantly fighting roaches and rats, but actual housing for people who would have a stake in the life of the city.
Does redevelopment have to mean destruction of people’s lives – and businesses, in the case of the Sepulveda Project?
How many times must we tell you that we, the citizens, do not wish these huge developments in our city?
I understand that next week you will, once again, be reviewing the Sepulveda Project. Please listen. Make sure that redevelopment in our city is helpful to us, your citizenry.
Do not vote on the Entrada Project in haste. Provide time for a review and input from your citizens. Allow us to have some say in the process. After all, we voted for you to represent us.
Do so, now.
