Opinion: The ups and downs of L.A.’s tower boom

To the editor: Those of us who live, work and play in downtown L.A. welcome the investment being made by Chinese developers in our emerging urban community.

(“Chinese builders think big in downtown L.A.,” Aug. 27)

The new development improves our streetscapes, gives us more living and shopping options and encourages additional investments by entrepreneurs in restaurants and other businesses catering to the blossoming downtown population.

Many of the developers in L.A. are required to provide community benefit packages that include funds to rebuild our parks and streets and in some cases provide additional low-income housing.

Patricia Berman, Los Angeles

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To the editor: That Chinese real estate giants (one curiously called Greenland) are building mega shopping and housing in downtown Los Angeles gives me the willies. I’m struck that this is happening while thousands of people in L. A. are working for stagnant wages where the cost of living is getting preposterous, and the homeless population keeps growing.

I wonder what other reason to build on such a massive scale than to make fast profits from sky-high rents? I find it worrisome that after supply exceeded demand in China, the real estate giants rushed to the U.S. and other countries to continue raking in profits.

Lucienne Ryerson, Los Angeles

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To the editor: It is inconceivable to me that the city fathers want to emulate Beijing and Shanghai with their populations in the millions.

It is bad enough that L.A. is almost 4 million with continued high density, intolerable traffic and parking problems, unaffordable housing and all while undergoing a continued drought.

How much revenue is needed at the expense of quality of human life?

Linda Roberts, Altadena

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To the editor: The building spree in downtown L.A. will add thousands of units of much-needed housing and retail space. The article mentions the possibility of “overbuilding” that may result in vacancies, as has occurred in China.

For housing to be “sellable” and sustainably occupied, it must also be accompanied by the support facilities residents require, such as retail space, schools, hospitals and libraries, for example.

My neighborhood of single-family homes was developed in the 1960s and the developer built a school, a park and adjoining retail space. Today our local school is a major factor in families continuing to move into our neighborhood, as are the park and the convenient nearby stores.

It would be good governance to require developers in downtown L.A. to include schools, parks and similar facilities in their developments or, at a minimum, to help the public sector pay for such facilities.

Ken Murray, Thousand Oaks

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