Dear Editor,
We are asked to “give” public input to the Monster Miramar project for the Environmental Impact Report (EIR), before June 3, 2013.
Note that there is no approved plan, project detail, negotiation details between the City and the developers. We do not know what happened behind closed doors, and what was promised and to whom, which we as city residents have EVERY right to know.
Yet, we are asked to give them the “go ahead” to do an EIR.
Who does the EIR? You guessed it: the developers! You think they will find anything wrong with this totally inappropriate project?
Athen Group is listed as the Miramar group’s principal advisor. They have developed Montage properties. Montage style is totally wrong for an urban area, especially for a small city like Santa Monica, which is at land’s end.
Every single one of Montage’s hotels/properties is a huge, enormous, massive development with a lot of empty space around them. Montage Properties at Deer Valley, Utah; Laguna Beach, CA; or Kona, HI,; and Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay, CA are all located in open space, not in an urban, fragile residential space.
Their (Athen’s) LEEDS certification means nothing for the gridlock, air pollution, resource hoarding, and unbelievable damage to our lives during a massive building project, at a crucial traffic artery and junction.
Miramar’s location is not suitable for such a massive development. Its location and geological placement are totally different from all the other “sensitive coastal areas” where there is ample open space, and none of those properties sits on a fragile bluff!
We have lost a considerable amount of bluff over the years, and heavy construction and massive development will put not only the bluffs, but all neighboring residents and properties at risk.
Are the City Manager, Planning Department, and City Council willing to take this gamble? If so, I hope they are ready to pay the consequences.
Instead, they should put an immediate freeze on all DAs, stop behind-the-door negotiations that are not open to public but obligate the residents. They should put a freeze on hiring, especially non-residents of the City. I am tired of working and paying for their retirement and benefits, while they are destroying the City!
Regards,
Julia Mangir
