Reseda Extension to Mulholland Drive

Reseda does not want Reseda Boulevard connected to Mulholland Drive.

It wants to keep commuter traffic out, and it fears that the unpaved portion of Mulholland will eventually be paved, succumbing to ever-increasing traffic pressure.

Encino wants Reseda Boulevard paved to alleviate its own horrendous cross-mountain traffic and demands that Reseda share the burden of city traffic.

Our Hollywood Hills community is fighting the proposed Mulholland Plan as it will attract a projected 5,000 tourists’ cars every day in addition to the 90,000 that cross at Laurel, Coldwater and Beverly Glen canyons.

Yet all three communities want the mountains to remain scenic, rural and free of traffic.

The planners address the problem piecemeal, shifting the problem from the loudest to the more laid-back communities under pressure from the politicians who seek slogans for their campaigns with good-sounding “solutions” for the naive.

The Santa Monica Mountains are in desperate need of a comprehensive, regional traffic plan with imaginative and real solutions.

Now that communities are fighting each other for environmental quality as if it were food in days of hunger, people may finally realize that times are desperate.

We are heading toward irreversible disaster unless the politicians and planners can show us the leadership and visionary planning.

GEORGE CALOYANNIDIS

Los Angeles

Caloyannidis is president of Hands Off Mulholland, a community organization.