Don’t Ban Scooters, Redesign Helmets
Re: “Scooter Injuries Are Piling Up,” News, Feb. 7
Let’s face it: Scooters are here to stay because they fill a critical need for short distance commuting, and most people are not going to carry with them a Snell-approved helmet as they head to or from work, school or play.
It seems to me that safety experts need to be seeking to develop a helmet that is easy to carry, perhaps because it can be folded. Yes, it would not provide the protection of a hard-shell helmet, but I suspect it would be widely adopted if it reduced probability of serious lacerations or concussions when the head meets concrete during a simple tumble or slow-speed fall.
Some protection is certainly better than no protection, as long as it doesn’t give the user a false sense of security.
Michael Ernstoff, Mar Vista
No Longer Feeling Welcome in the Marina
Re: “No News Was Bad News” News, Feb. 7
It’s really amazing that no one thought to advise residents about what was going on with the oil well blowout and gas leak on Via Marina as these events were happening. Yesterday in the same area they cut a water line to my apartment building. It appears that Marina del Rey no longer cares about its residents. All that seems to matter is how many overpriced 500-unit apartment complexes they can squeeze into an already overcrowded place.
Soon the marina will no longer be attractive for families or older adults — only young people willing to squeeze themselves three at a time into a one-bedroom apartment, with lots of turnover. Transients welcome, all others move elsewhere.
We pay a fortune to live in lousy conditions on a daily basis thanks to construction and missteps by construction crews. It’s so sad that current residents are being priced out of a place we used to love.
Barbara Steinberg, Marina del Rey
Where is the master plan for Marina del Rey? We will have 7 hotels in a one mile radius and too many cars (gridlock) without the proper speed humps, cross walks and structure for the area. It seems to be a free for all when cars run 7 at a light to turn after the light changes, and scooters, bikes, skateboards in the street slowing down traffic – no one knows what the rules are. What is the end goal? To make Mdr so unlivable that most of us leave? Why would they add so many apartments on Via Marina when there are not the resources to support it? There is only Washington and Admiralty to leave the area, if there were an emergency it would not be good.