Seismic safety
Editor:
In a laudable and sensible move, the Santa Monica City Council is bowing to the logic of a mathematic certainty that there will be more large earthquakes visited on the city in the future and are taking concrete steps to ameliorate expected damage. The City is requiring more extensive seismic retrofitting of buildings to make them more resistant to collapse. That is a responsible and far-sighted thing to do.
The City is not, however, planning to do the easiest, cheapest, and most important thing they can to help it citizens in times of major disaster. Part of the City's preparedness should be the plans to keep and use the municipal airport as an integral part of mitigation plans for any major disaster and not close it so that it can reuse the land for other narrower purposes
This is a strange schizophrenia in our city government. If you believe that a catastrophic earthquake is lurking in the future, why not use all your resources to prepare for it? Perhaps a Council field trip to the airport with its vast unobstructed views might conceivably broaden their perspective on this crucial issue.
Bill Worden
Venice
