Wetlands Issues

NATURE'S LAST STAND

Ballona is the last remaining significant coastal wetlands in all of Los Angeles County. Beverly Hills billionaire, Gary Winnick, CEO of Global Crossing, through his Playa Capital company, is among the major investors in Playa Vista, a mammoth planned development, larger than Century City.

Photo by Eagle Aerial courtesy of Bruce Robertson Enlarge

Playa Vista is now under construction at Ballona Wetlands between LAX and Marina del Rey. If allowed to proceed, it will generate an additional 200,000 vehicle trips per day, in an area which is already gridlocked.

Meanwhile, Winnick has purchased the classic Paul Williams-designed MCA/Litton headquarters building, across the street from Beverly Hills City Hall.

While Winnick and his colleagues, including Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are devastating the landscape with their bulldozers at Ballona, Winnick has meticulously restored the landscaping at his Beverly Hills corporate complex.

Winnick, a noted philanthropist, would be well-advised to take a look at an unprecedented opportunity to serve this and future generations.

That includes residents, visitors, students, fish and all the birds reliant on the Pacific Flyway.

He could talk to his co-investors about becoming willing sellers at Ballona.

Then, Winnick could talk to his friend, Governor Gray Davis, about the state acquiring Ballona, as a nature preserve, at its fair market value.

That way, we'd all become Winnick Winners.