Editor:
Recently, since you excerpted Robert Redford's observation that there has never been a real master plan for Santa Monica ("Redford not a fan of Santa Monica," Community Briefs, March 29-30), your readers, some activists, but mostly just citizens active in trying to live their lives in Santa Monica, have nailed the city planning shortcomings of your city.
When the person on the street can verbalize the lack of vision and the detrimental effects of your city's over-development, with so much authenticity and dead-on detailed specifics, the City Council and all the power brokers in Santa Monica should bow their heads in shame. The avalanche of letters to the editor reflects that folks cut through the PR and "progress" smoke screen to enumerate the construction mistakes and their impacts as if they each had a degree or two in city/urban planning and sustainability-green design. The citizens' letters are a pathetic indictment of your elected officials, public servants and big names.
Kieran Connell
Venice, Calif.