Readers Take Aim

February 20, 2001

Dear Editor,

I just read Dennis Zane's editorial, excoriating the Target project in downtown Santa Monica. He seems to forget that it was on his watch that we developed the Third Street Promenade and that Pacific Park was his brain child. Don't these two Dennis Zane projects bring traffic to our
community?

You bet they do. And they bring something else...lots of tax dollars. Mr. Zane's "the sky is falling" mentality seems to be born out of some NIMBY (not in my back yard) mentality. It is even more insidious when you consider that he hoisted himself up on his own shoulders with the
Pacific Park project but is now a dyed-in-the-wool "no-growther."

Mr. Zane cries about a lack of parking in the downtown area but fails to inform your readers that the Target project will add an additional 600 parking spaces that are desperately needed. He also whines about the Target store being "larger than necessary or appropriate to meet the shopping objectives of the Santa Monica community." I'd like to know who appointed Mr. Zane the definitive expert on what's appropriate for the shoppers in this community.

I, for one, would like to see a downtown Target store. With some aggressive traffic planning, we can have our cake and eat it too...a fine retail establishment and smoother traffic flow.

February 19, 2001

Dear Editor,

Columnist Frank Gruber is right on "Target," our City needs a store like Target. Why should Santa Monican's travel out of town to give other cities tax dollars! It appears our council would rather see us spend our hard-earned money elsewhere.

I am a long time resident of Santa Monica and work for a local company that has been here for 30 years and contributed tens of millions of dollars in taxes and franchise fees.

The city doesn't seem too worried about traffic, just look at the intersections of Colorado and 26th as well as Olympic and 26th. My god, in a few years those two intersections are going to be worse than Santa Monica Blvd and Sepulveda, which I hear is the busiest in the country.

Keep the articles coming.

Richard Neylan
Santa Monica