Don’t Give Free Rein to Racing Backers

There is a lot of promotion going on about putting a racing complex in the Antelope Valley at 110th Street and Avenue K. May I offer a few cons to all this pro rhetoric?

Avenue K and 110th Street is just 2 1/2 miles west of the most recently approved subdivision, with three others previously approved by the county Planning Department. Most of the westside residential development is along the foothills, right on course with this racetrack proposal. How many people want to purchase a home next to a racetrack, with its dust, exhaust fumes, noise and light pollution?

Avenues I, J and K are narrow, two-lane roads, as is 110th Street West, which also has a bad curve at the site of this complex. Is the county taxpayer going to have to pay for the widening of any of these streets to accommodate the 4,000 cars they hope to attract?

Who is going to provide water and sewage? Will the county run a sewer line five miles west, and who will pay for that? Septic systems on a hillside development have proven to be unsatisfactory. It just pollutes the water wells and properties downhill.

Plans on this westside complex include an amphitheater for concerts. Do you parents of teen-agers want this type of entertainment for your kids? Look what happened recently at Magic Mountain. It took more than 300 sheriff’s and Highway Patrol officers to control a crowd. We often read about riots and near riots in the papers. I don’t believe our valley youth would act in a like manner, but those concerts would be advertised all over down below and what kind of youths will be attracted? Druggies and groupies and so on.

This proposed development of a bucolic almond grove into an attraction for all kinds of out-of-town riffraff is a shame.

NORREN A. CADE

Lancaster