Photo: USC Digital Archive
In 1939, Sepulveda at Magnolia in Sherman Oaks was a country road, surrounded by open agricultural fields. Today, it is a busy urban boulevard.
In planning and developing a city, it is important to have at least an imaginary idea of how you hope it will turn out. Did the city fathers, 70 years ago, understand that endless sprawl, single family homes, malls and asphalt stretching 100 miles into the desert, with four cars for every family might make Los Angeles into the international dystopia that it is today?
And what about old Van Nuys? It went from orange groves and picket fences in 1945 to a thriving suburb of 1960 and then descended into decay and crime in the 1980’s. It is only now crawling out, slowly, unsure of where it is heading, but trying to deal with illegal immigration, air pollution, inferior housing, bad schools and an unacceptably high level of criminality.
I am conservative in matters of law and order and believe we need to greatly increase the number of cops in LA to patrol this city more effectively. But I cannot ignore the liberal arguments which correctly point out that a nation spending $453 billion in Iraq cannot muster the resources to take care of its own domestic priorities. We cannot even guard and defend our southern border, yet we have the arrogance to invade another nation halfway around the world!
Can’t most people see the connection? Spend America’s hard earned tax dollars on the American nation first, before wasting billions to “spread democracy” overseas……
What kind of a city would LA be if it had $450 billion to spend on public transportation, law enforcement, open space preservation, fine schools and health care?
Here in Van Nuys 