‘Selfish’ Residents? No, Just Aggravated

Jean Garland’s letter (Westside Nov, 19) presented a disturbing point of view on a couple of issues. First, she referred to neighbors of Santa Monica College as “selfish” for their opposition to street parking adjacent to their home by students.

Garland has evidently never lived in an area where non-resident curbside parking was so intrusive that visitors to her home could not find a place, day or night, to park their cars.

She has obviously not come home time and again and found her driveway obstructed by cars that intrude on her access space.

Nor has she been plagued by fast-food wrappers, empty beverage cans, litter of half-eaten junk food or ashtray refuse that non-residents are prone to leave on lawns and parkways, or in the gutters. It is easy to label such aggravations “minor inconvenience” when they are someone else’s problem.

Furthermore, she complains: “These people (at least the longtime residents) have houses most of us will never be able to afford, and low taxes, thanks to voter initiatives in the past.” If she cannot afford to buy a house, I understand her plight, and I sympathize. But I condemn her bitterness. Does she feel that longtime residents (translate that to “retired folks”) should be taxed out of their property, as was the threat before Proposition 13?

I would urge Garland and others of like mind-set to rethink their positions. It is easy to have an “open mind” when it is someone else’s ox that is being gored.

D.L. WARREN

Culver City