Editor:
In keeping with a common opening sequence to a TV series, if you haven't read the Daily Press Letters to the Editor for the last couple of years, here's what you've missed.
We don't want any more hotels in Santa Monica, even if they have great amenities and are designed by world-class architects. The city doesn't need more visitors, vibrancy or tax revenues. (Translation: I have a guest room and I don't go out after 7 p.m.)
The Santa Monica Airport should be a park. The city doesn't need the tax revenues. (Translation: How great for my property value.)
We support reasonable, attractively-designed projects, not the eyesores the Planning Commission has approved. (Translation: We will never admit that a new building meets our standards.)
The City Council is insane for approving residential buildings that don't provide parking spaces. (Translation: I need a car for everything I do, and everyone lives like I do.)
The city should never approve a project that puts more cars on the street. (Translation: My move to Santa Monica did not add to density or traffic problems, the problems are entirely the cause of all the people who moved here after me and who still hope to move here.)
Bicycles are far more dangerous than cars, because unlike car drivers, bicyclists sometimes ignore stop signs. (Translation: I hate it that bicyclists can get somewhere faster and far more cheaply than I can.)
Now you're all caught up.
By the way, thanks for publishing the results of the survey indicating that a majority of respondents between the ages of 18 and 44 think that the city's future is bright, whereas respondents age 45 and up believe that the city is going downhill. ("Opinion of City Hall divided along age, ethnic lines," March 1-2). This article made me feel so young!
Paul Bergman
Santa Monica
