To the editor: The authors of this op-ed would do well to talk with the people in charge of L.A. County zoning (“Building a more beautiful L.A. in an age of ugliness,” March 11). The very design features they criticize — setbacks, pop-outs, jagged roof lines and plane changes — are all among the architectural design features from which I am required to select for permit approval on my latest building project.
I personally prefer our current white boxes over the dreary apartments from decades past, and the authors’ only style recommendations are for more stone and tile on the facades. Is the market willing to pay for those upgrades? I lost considerable out-of-pocket money building white boxes last time. So no more design requirements, please, if we wish to assist, not hinder, our housing goals.
John Nelson, Los Angeles
This writer is the owner of construction and renovation company Artistic Home Builders.
