8/18/07

The Santa Monica Daily Press asks readers to respond to a question that runs in the weekday editions. Known as the Q-line, responses are printed in Saturday's paper.

This week, the SM Daily Press Q-line asked: Do you think the City Council should enact a freeze on all building or would such a measure be overkill?

Fifteen printed responses appeared in the Saturday 8/18/07 edition. All are in favor of a freeze. SMCLC learned that by Wednesday the voice mailbox was full and additional residents were unable to respond.


THE CITY'S BUILDING BLOCKS ARE HIGH ENOUGH

CITY COUNCIL SHOULD PUT A STOP to out-of-control building. They should put a moratorium on development so they can work on the land use plan. I am all for this proposal to stop over-development.

THE CITY COUNCIL SHOULD HAVE PUT a freeze on building in this city years ago. It is so overbuilt now that, pretty soon, we won‚t be able to enter or leave the city due to gridlock. Never mind the overpopulation and concrete jungle we are fast becoming.

THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA LOST ITS virginity when it was changed from a sleepy quaint beach town into a quagmire of factories and high-rise office buildings that are totally devoid of architectural art and character. A congested quagmire that has severely damaged the infrastructure of what was once a well-managed, immaculate, quiet and nice coastal residential community. A freeze on construction at this time is a great idea.

I THINK THEY SHOULD PUT A COMPLETE moratorium on all building in Santa Monica unless they want the Las Vegas on the Pacific, and then we could just change the name of the city. But the building here is getting ridiculous and so is the traffic. It‚s unbelievable the way they‚re just carrying on without any regards to the future plans of the city.

I THINK THAT THEY SHOULD ENACT A freeze on all buildings. And the only thing that‚s overkill is the amount of development that they‚ve allowed and will continue to allow if there‚s not any freeze.

THE GREEDY DEVELOPERS ALWAYS TEAR down something small and put up something big, which leads to more traffic and more people. But they don‚t live here, so they don‚t care. They‚re just in it for the money. Instead of having a total ban on building we should just say that whatever they tear down they can only build something of the same size in its place, with the same amount of people who lived there before; that way there won‚t be an impact on the city.

I BELIEVE THE CITY COUNCIL SHOULD enact a freeze on all building and it would not be overkill. There are many around me that feel the same.

I SUPPORT A FULL MORATORIUM ON building because affordable housing options and rent control are being destroyed by displacing long-term residents. City Council is meeting this week and I support a full moratorium on building, except on single-residency or six-unit apartments or condos here at Village trailer park.

I AM IN FAVOR OF A FULL MORATORIUM on building in Santa Monica, except for those exceptions of single-residency or six-unit condos at the Village.

NO, DON‚T BU I LD ANY OTHER housing except for rent control housing.

I ALSO WANT TO SUPPORT THAT moratorium and stop the building, especially all this massive big building that‚s going on. Small units are OK, but all this building is just making life more difficult, more complicated, and adding more traffic and more pollution.

YES, I THINK THE CITY COUNCIL should enact a freeze on all building until everything that is under construction now is up and running properly, the dust settles and we figure out what this city looks like. This city is getting way overwhelmed with New York City-ification. There‚s just much too much consumption of water ˜ the pace is happening so fast that planners cannot possibly intellectually (even with computers) take it in. And we who drive and walk in this city are miserable. It‚s horrible. I can‚t imagine how many people benefit from this development, but for the majority of us, the rest of us, it‚s horrible and totally out of control and that‚s why I think we should simply stop doing something we all know is dangerous and crazy and then figure out what it looks like when we stop, and then we can start again. But I think we‚re going to find that this city is being overbuilt and resources are being consumed like land that could be for parks, oxygen or simply a nice view. That doesn‚t count cars; that doesn‚t count human beings using water; that doesn‚t count garbage collection. This city has a lot of assets, but they‚re getting stretched thin by the greed of developers.

I SUPPORT THE BUILDING MORATOrium and I just think rent control and fair housing are getting destroyed. They said they‚d give us a good deal on a condominium that starts at $800,000. I mean, jeeze, we could never afford that!

I DO THINK THE CITY COUNCIL should enact a freeze on all building. We need it desperately and I feel strongly that we must do it until we figure out the consequences.

I DEFINITELY THINK THERE SHOULD be a freeze on certain projects in Santa Monica. There is too much development and rampant growth will definitely destroy what is very special in this small, beachside city. The developers seem intent on turning Santa Monica into Manhattan by the Sea. There should definitely be a moratorium, except for single family residences, public facilities such as hospitals and affordable housing. But, absolutely, let‚s keep what‚s so special here.

I THINK THE CITY COUNCIL SHOULD enact a freeze on all building except for affordable housing, though we never seem to get any affordable housing here, we could use some!

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