Editorial: Why Did You Move Here?

Photo courtesy of Carol Ford

Why did you move here? The decision was made easy for me when my wife fell in love with a place where you could keep a horse in your backyard and be on the trails minutes after coming home from work. I'd never even heard of a community where one side of the street had sidewalks and the other a horse trail.

Over the years, I've talked to hundreds of people who board their horses, ride the trails, visit the parks, or live here. Some equestrians and some not. Some active in the community and some with just enough time to catch their breath between work and kids.

In all that time and all those people, the common thread was they moved here because of the open spaces and the special character of the neighborhoods where people have animals and horse keeping. Even the few land speculators I met along the way were more interested in the value of their property because it was horse keeping and worth more as a result. Our Community Plan and zoning is representative of the people who live here, and people moved and invested in homes here because of it.

Of all the people I met along the way, not one who lived here and invested in this community ever volunteered they moved here because they wanted to live next to a high density housing project, see the ridge lines filled in with houses, or thought all that open space was a waste.

So, why did you move here? Take a moment will you and write to City Councilperson Wendy Greuel and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Let them know why you moved here. The Whitebird developer would like variances to our zoning and ridge lines ordinances to build hundreds of houses. Our community plans call for the protection and preservation of our scenic corridor and agricultural zoning.

Write to: Councilperson Wendy Greuel, 200 North Spring Street, Room 475, Los Angeles, CA 90012

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, 200 North Spring Street, Room 303, Los Angeles, CA 90012

If you can spare the time to write a few more letters, please write each City Council member because the Whitebird development will be coming before the PLUM Committee and the City Council very soon. You can find all their names and addresses online at www.lacity.org.