To the editor: I generally agree with your editorial positions on climate and the environment. But you totally failed to support Frank McCourt's gondola to Dodger Stadium.
You uncritically accepted the claims of your defenders. The gondola is a trick. It will not significantly affect traffic, pollution or greenhouse gas emissions. There are better solutions.
Its sole purpose is to unlock McCourt's potential to develop a massive luxury retail, entertainment, hotel and housing complex on the stadium parking lots. And that, in turn, will increase traffic throughout the year.
The failure of the final environmental impact report to address this obviously foreseeable impact is illegal under the California Environmental Quality Act. You should know that. It will also illegally take land and airspace from the Los Angeles State Historical Park in Chinatown.
We're all going to have to get a lot better at recognizing false solutions to our real problems. And we're going to need your help.
Jon Christensen, Venice
The writer is a founding member of the LA Parks Alliance, a group opposed to the Dodger Stadium gondola.
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To the editor: Now that Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and others are putting conditions on their support for the gondola, the question should be: Who benefits?
While this proposal is marketed as easing street traffic to Dodger Stadium on game day, the reality will be very different. This project will benefit McCourt if he develops the stadium parking lots with retail and housing.
The new cable car will also negatively affect the people living below it. Imagine having a house along the road and all year round the sky is no longer clear. Rather, they will be filled with people heading to the stadium or new shopping centers.
This question raises many more questions about the ownership of empty blue skies than it answers. Where are the protections for those living under projects like this?
Kathryn Louyse, Glendale
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To the editor: The capacity of the proposed gondola (5,000 passengers per hour) means it would take up to 10 hours to get everyone to Dodger Stadium for a game if everyone used the gondola (very unrealistic).
But it also means that if only 5,000 people use it for a game, many would wait up to an hour after finishing the game to get transportation. They would get to Los Angeles Union Station faster if they walked.
Keith Price, Los Angeles
