Housing project reaps benefits

Editor:

Regarding the new public housing project on 15th Street and Broadway, it is ironic that this post-apocalyptic monstrosity that looks like a prison with tinfoil on the front could ever get approved without public input. Maybe it’s no mystery that it got approved because one of the owners of the firm that designed it — Gwyne Pugh — is on the planning commission and has come out on record as opposing any public review of public housing projects. The city can build a 23-unit building on a standard-sized lot, but not private citizens. It would appear that Pugh is in a direct conflict of interest when he is approving policy and projects that benefit his business, are sponsored by his employer — the city of Santa Monica — and negatively impact the surrounding residents. Pugh should be excused from voting on any projects or policies that benefit his firm as a member of the planning commission. Other commission members who have similar conflicts should also be prohibited. How many other architects or business people who are doing business with the city are also on commissions and approving projects that they would benefit from?

Burl Michael
Santa Monica



Dressing for the occasion

Editor:

I’m often at odds with David Pisarra, but I find myself in agreement with his Jan. 3 column (“Let’s Take 2007 back to kinder, gentler time,” page 4) advocating improvement in civility and dress. Similar to his bike experience, I was recently on a crowded Vegas sidewalk and a young man walking right, but looking left, ran into me. Needless to say, he felt the collision was my fault. It was a cold night and he, like many young people out that evening, wore only a thin shirt. Maybe being cold made him grouchy. But there you have it: They’d given so little thought to their mode of dress they were not even dressed warmly enough. The fact of the matter about one’s appearance is that it doesn’t take a lot of time or money to be well-groomed and well-dressed. And so-called “proper” dress is often just as comfortable to wear as all the shorts and T-shirts sported by some of the men on the promenade. These self-styled, rugged individuals are no more comfortable than a guy in long pants and a nice shirt. Further, better dress — like good manners — not only garners more respect for the wearer, as Pisarra points out, it also demonstrates the wearer’s respect for those who have to look at him or her.

As for Jerry Rubin’s response to the column and admission that he’s “often criticized” for wearing shorts (“The long and short of it,” Jan. 6, page 4), this criticism should tell Rubin that his fellow human beings find his ultra-casual attire and in-your-face T-shirts sporting his personal opinions disrespectful, at least on certain occasions. If he believes in being civil toward his fellow man, he should consider this — his attire is not in any way bold, creative or inspiring as he may believe; it is merely eccentric.

Sunny Collins
Palm Desert