To the editor: I am not against development, but I am against clueless, privileged or unconscious development. Disney's Cotino project in Rancho Mirage is just another expensive Stepford project to isolate the rich in a fake environment where the climate changes only outside the gates.
Cotino scrapes 600 acres of subtle desert beauty, ideally suited to hosting the wide variety of wildlife he will destroy. Even now, the Coachella Valley’s notorious wind, dust and sand are exacerbated by snowplows spewing carbon, toxins and allergens in a herculean effort to eradicate what can only be moved.
Imagine the additional damage Cotino will inflict, not to mention the increased traffic on roads that already require frequent repaving due to the damaging effects of the relentless heat. Then there's Disney's attempt to pretend that resources and affordable housing aren't dwindling in this valley.
The only good thing about a massive, pointless development like this is that there will be more sand for its creators to stick their heads in.
Ellen Alperstein, Palm Desert
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To the editor: Is Disney building a community for the rich (of course) and installing a huge lagoon in the desert? How is that possible?
In these times of climate change and water scarcity, what government agency would allow this?
Raymond Wells, St. Peter's
