A rebuttal to Anne Hoffman’s letter last week concerning her support for more brush clearance and habitat destruction is in order. The Fire Department has done an admirable job on one front with the actual confrontation of the fire, but on the other front, in order to make their job easier, has encouraged or mandated others to decimate thousands of acres of natural habitat around their homes. Think back to why most people have moved here-to be with nature. Why do you not live in the city/cancer that constricts this small mountain range with its death-like grip of pollution? You must either accept what natures doles out, both good and bad, or you must go back to the cancer of the Valley or Los Angeles.
Every plant you bulldoze, every acre of brush you clear because you don’t want to spend the time or money to build a non-flammable house is a criminal act against our mountains. It shouldn’t take a mandate of law by a corrupt Commission to instill preservation in our minds. It needs to come from within. Perhaps build a smaller steel, glass or concrete house instead of your planned 10 or 20 thousand square foot edifice of self-grandeur. And if it burns (as mine has), so be it.
I realize that Anne Hoffman would love to pave the mountains with concrete but if she could get away from the TV long enough to hike the nearest peak, she’d gaze distantly to see what the cancer has already done and realize (maybe) why we’re here.
J. Wilson