Dear Editor,
The message from Monday night’s Downtown Specific Plan meeting was clear: The enormous high-rise projects are out of line with the city — and clearly not supported by the residents who will have to deal with the traffic, noise, and shadows caused by their massive towers.
Resident after resident told the City that the concept of “opportunity sites” just means that big developers can create huge skyscrapers without being subject to the same reasonable restrictions as the rest of downtown. The proposed 20-story Fairmont Miramar Hotel is a key case in point.
It is a dangerous precedent to allow towering high-rises to be built at the oceanfront—and right next to neighborhoods. It’s clear that if these projects get the green light one at a time, their aggregate effect will be massive and dramatic.
Santa Monica has already become one of the most congested cities in the country. Why in the world would we want to allow massive development that would only exacerbate that?
Sincerely,
Avery Auer
