More from Moe on Playa Vista
Aside from the florid prose in “The Death
of Playa Vista,” there are many factual
errors.
First: No parking for Lincoln
small businesses is being taken.
Aside from the florid prose in “The Death
of Playa Vista,” there are many factual
errors.
First: No parking for Lincoln
small businesses is being taken.
Second: The frogs not only have not
gone, but are there in droves at the freshwater marsh – more than there
ever were. Not only that, but the freshwater marsh has, in its first year, drawn
over 110 species of birds, virtually all native. That’s almost half the
number of species recorded at Ballona cumulatively since record-keeping began.
Fish and invertebrates are also thriving and the water quality exceeds standards
by far.
Third: Centinela Creek
isn’t being replaced by “sewer pipes”. Centinela Creek is
being replaced by a more viable stream at the bottom of the bluffs and a
riparian corridor of native plants. The bluffs above will also be replanted with
natives. There will also be over 50 best management practices installations
(some already installed) that will filter out pollutants that used to enter the
wetlands completely untreated.
Fourth:
The best methane detection devices are at Playa Vista. I don’t think any
of the other developments nearby, also on depleted oil fields, has
them.
Fifth: The west bluffs
aren’t owned by Playa Vista but by
Catellus.
Sixth: The roadway projects
wanted by Playa Vista were granted. The one denied was pushed by CalTrans and
neither PV nor the Friends nor any other organization (except perhaps the
Chamber of Commerce) supported it – that was to widen Lincoln north of
Jefferson Blvd. It was basically left over from when PV planned development west
of Lincoln. After PV dropped that, they didn’t care whether that widening
went through or not.
Seventh:
“Crushed burrowing owls??” The burrowing owls had disappeared years
ago and are now returning, probably drawn by the goodies at the freshwater
marsh.
Eighth: Native American remains,
under the supervision of legitimate Tongva-Gabrielino monitors, are not being
cavalierly tossed into buckets, but preserved and labeled and stored according
to the law.
Ninth: Development east of
Lincoln, where Playa Vista is, is not on wetlands, but rather the old Hughes
Aircraft site and its former runways, most of the area 10 to 15 feet above sea
level, hardly a wetland
environment.
Tenth: If PV is at risk of
a tsunami, how about Venice? The whole Marina is also a State designated
“Seismic Hazard zone.”
Posted: Sun - February 1, 2004 at 06:17 PM