HomeMy WebLinkAbout6/2/2020 Item 12, Ayral
Wilbanks, Megan
From:Odile Ayral <
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Item 12
Mayor Harmon and Council Members,
This note is in regard to the project the Staff wants you to approve at 545 Higuera. Since I am neither an
architect nor a lawyer, I will speak in the plain terms of a long-time resident who has inherited a certain
amount of good taste from her French ancestors. It is evident that this project clashes with everything
in sight and will tower above our dear Jack House. Its pseudo Mediterranean façade and its huge girth
belong in L.A. or Miami, not in SLO. Furthermore this multi-housing complex far away from any grocery
store offers very little parking. I am sure that none of the Staff is planning to live there.
Please, look around that area and you will see that the developers are attempting to marry a
Brontosaurus to your favorite dog. I know that our poor little city has seen more than its share of bad
taste during the last ten years or so, but must we continue on this path until nobody can recognize SLO
anymore? To make matters worse, sometimes the bad taste is pseudo Mediterranean, sometimes
modernistic or industrial, sometimes light and sometimes dark. There is no rhyme nor reason, no
cohesion, no harmony, no planning.
I hope you listen to the professionals who belong to the San Luis Architectural Protection and to Save
Our Downtown, and approve the appeal. It would finally be the important gesture that developers need
to hear in order to pay attention to the character of our city. Thank you.
Odile Ayral
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