Editor:
By misrepresenting City Manager Rick Cole's comments on placemaking to be supportive of an initiative being circulated for signatures, Phil Brock and Ron Goldman ("City of LUVE," 4/30) do Mr. Cole, our community, and their own credibility a disservice.
City Managers don't endorse (or oppose) political measures. Mr. Cole's comments were made before the LUVE initiative was written.
The truth is that LUVE is an extreme no-growth proposal, one which would inhibit successful placemaking. By strongly discouraging anything over two stories tall anywhere in our city, LUVE would deprive us of needed housing, decrease affordability, and ultimately threaten current Santa Monica renters as price competition for existing apartments increased due to housing scarcity, leading to even worse tenant harassment.
Many people are rightfully concerned over traffic. I get that. So am I.
Over the 40 years that I've lived in Santa Monica, I have supported every slow-growth measure until this one. LUVE is just too extreme. And trying to twist Mr. Cole's placemaking comments to support LUVE is extreme misrepresentation.
Kevin McKeown
Councilmember
