I read the “At Long Last, More Housing to Come” letter to the editor in the Feb. 24 edition of the Leader.
I don’t know the writer and don’t mean any disrespect, but I’m assuming he does not live in the Rancho Area, has never owned a horse and/or has no low-income family living in his backyard or perhaps even his neighborhood. Yet, he is quick to throw a brick at my Rancho neighbors and I, who pay full fare for Burbank city services. I have lived in the Rancho since 1974 because it is not just a unique neighborhood in California. It is the most unique neighborhood in the entire U.S. Nowhere in our country is there a neighborhood where one can keep horses in their backyard and access a 4,000-plus acre park with more than 50 miles of riding trails in a major metropolitan area. No where!
Everyone wants “affordable housing,” but if one can’t afford housing in a particular area, such as Beverly Hills, Toluca Lake, La Cañada Flintridge, Burbank, then one must look elsewhere. Destroying neighborhoods is not the cure. The Rancho is under attack. I’m disappointed in some of the City Council’s decisions regarding our beloved Rancho, but I’m not leaving despite knowing the traffic is going to increase dramatically and police and fire services are going to suffer.
I’m guessing my brother, the Feb 24 letter writer, is a bicyclist, due to his complaint he can’t use the Mariposa horse bridge to access Griffith Park. His complaint is disingenuous in that he can ride his bike all over Burbank and L.A. County on hundreds of miles of designated bike lanes denied to horseback riders. And that should keep a smile on his face.
Jim Nichols
Burbank
First published in the March 2 print issue of the Burbank Leader.
