By Julia Reeves Santa Monica
The new Santa Monica Airport Park is the last place I want to bring my friends, children, my dog, or even myself to enjoy leisure time (“Making a stink about nothing,” May 10). I drove past it the other day while driving south on Bundy Drive and just happened to glance to my right. There it was. I perceived it as barren and uninviting. It was vacant — not a person or pet anywhere in sight. It looked so starkly barren and cold to me that I had to avert my gaze as I drove off.
I think the airport is unsafe because of its use by the ever-increasing number of jets. I, for one, do not want to share space with the roar of jets landing and taking off nearby. And I certainly don’t want to be there when there is an accident, which is a distinct possibility. I frequent the art studios and galleries located there, and I am disturbed by the noise of a jet landing or taking off, and that is when I am inside one of the buildings.
“With flights dating back as early as 1917,” let’s remember that the airport was not designed, nor was it built, to accommodate jets which use the airport regularly now. Emissions are a matter of great concern, and breathing them in while in the playground is not my idea of healthy recreation time.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 11, 2007. Read the original PDF.