Letters: Don’t let the Edge scar Malibu

Re “Edge may get his Malibu mansions,” June 16

Money is power for better or worse, and U2 guitarist the Edge has the money to build his dream house — or rather, five houses — coastal protections be damned.

His lobbyists are pushing legislation to undermine the California Coastal Act while denying it has any connection to the Edge, although it happens to mirror his lawsuit against the Coastal Commission.

Contrast this with how his bandmate, Bono, has used his money to help the world’s downtrodden, earning him a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Does the Edge, whose real name is David Evans, want his legacy to be that he helped to gut the crown jewel of California’s environmental protections? If he truly is “working with Coastal Commission staff to resolve the conflict,” he should publicly disavow this damaging legislation.

As his own lawyer said: “It’s not about one person; it’s about everybody.”

David Ewing

Venice

Perhaps there are already too many mansions in Malibu. With beach access limited by the moneyed residents, now the Edge wants to destroy a beautiful ridgeline with his mansions. Already turned down by the Coastal Commission, he wants to have legislators do his bidding.

I live in Encino and have seen the character of the neighborhood change, with 1950s and ‘60s homes transformed into “mansions” that go from the curb back, trying to use all available land. Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but not in the eye of the neighbor.

In an age of dwindling resources, perhaps it is time to say no to such wasteful (and ugly) building. California has been blessed with a natural beauty; let’s not allow such crass buildings of the ego ruin what nature has given us.

Murray S. Levine

Encino

I’m disappointed but not surprised to read that a wealthy landowner is trying to do in Sacramento what the law, good planning and his neighbors deny him locally. Malibu is full of folks who are sure life’s rules don’t apply to them.

A bigger question concerns Ben Hueso, a Democratic Assembly member from San Diego who is carrying water for a project far from his district.

Lee Moldaver

Santa Barbara

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