I want to express my gratitude for Michele Monda’s eye-opening “Common Sense: Rejuvenating Downtown” column in the Nov. 22 issue of the Indy. Many of us haven’t been tracking the ins and outs of the new Downtown Specific Plan (DSP) with the increase in downtown building height and mass, and severe reduction of current parking requirements—a nice Grinchy gift for the holidays. Thankfully, Monda brought all of this to our attention with her investigative reporting column. It sounds like all of us need to appear at the Dec. 17 City Council meeting, or we’ll be getting this permanent lump of coal in our stocking. She even offered some great ideas for improving downtown without increasing density: a maintenance ordinance for downtown landlords; making Forest Avenue a pedestrian mall on Farmer’s Market days and/or one night a week; and, maybe a residents Downtown Working Group that actually gets action from the city. Creative ideas and informative columns like this are a gift—thanks!
Deborah Weiss, Laguna Beach
