I’ve followed the Ahmanson Ranch controversy for a long time. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why Al Gore has come out against a project that placed 10,000 acres of open space into public ownership and reserves 25 percent of its homes for low and moderate income families.
Gore’s colleague in the Clinton administration, Bruce Babbitt, described the Ahmanson Ranch in a recent news story as “one of the more progressive urban communities in the country.” Given the facts, Gore, who championed Clinton’s “Liveable Communities Initiative” as vice president, ought to agree. His sudden intervention against this project suggests that scratching the back of a big-time campaign donor is more important than progressive principles or finding a reasonable balance between housing and open space needs. What a travesty!
Ron Golden