City Should Bend Over Backward for Builders

Surprise, surprise, surprise! The city fathers have discovered that development has stopped on Ventura Boulevard.

Could it be that the “trip fees” that they slapped on developers were disincentives to development?

When a developer can no longer pencil out a project because of city permit fees, the loss of jobs in the construction industry is the fault of the city fathers who are not doing their job and who ought to all be fired themselves. Instead of inhibiting development, the city fathers ought be bending over backward for the developers. Spending money on new construction not only creates jobs, it has a ripple effect on the entire economy.

But because they were so efficient at sucking the life out of development, now the city fathers are sweating out where we are going to get the money for welfare and unemployment benefits, the police and fire departments, and all the other services we have charged them with providing. They have screwed up our tax base but good.

SAMUEL PLATTS

Sylmar