The Griffith Park fire was completely preventable!

The worst aspect of the Griffith Park fire is that it could have been easily prevented if our city "leaders" had done their jobs.

We at The Friends do not blame the apparent homeless man who's a "person of interest" in the case. Nor do we blame the Los Angeles Police Department or our beloved Griffith Park Rangers for failing to remove him from the park before this all started.

Even so-called "bums" have to live somewhere, and he and all the dozens of other homeless living in various encampments in the park should have long ago been resettled to apartments in neighborhoods more to their liking elsewhere in the city.

He was also apparently smoking, which is once again a public disease with a public cure. Not once has Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa spoken out against this practice, nor has he moved to help smokers recover from their addictions.

We at The Friends blame the mayor and Councilmembers such as Tom Labonge for failing to do their duty to develop Griffith Park and keep it free and accessible to all, just as Colonel Griffith required it to be lo those many years ago.

If Griffith Park had been developed as we suggested, none of this would have happened. New roads in the park would have made it very easy for firetrucks to quickly, safely, and easily reach even the most previously inaccessible locations. Roads would have also made it easier to clear brush away from many of the most-clogged hillsides. Without fuel, there is no fire. Yet, the fuel was allowed to build up instead of being pruned away as any good gardener would do.

Furthermore, with more structures and transportation facilities in the park, buffer zones would have been established, meaning that previously brush-clogged areas would become verdant green zones.

And, with public-private partnerships in place, many of those buffer zones would be maintained by the companies themselves, who would have a financial incentive to maintain them: truly the free market at work.

And, of course, more facilities in the park would translate directly to the city's bottom line, enabling it to buy more and more advanced fire fighting equipment.

Please contact the mayor and the city council, and urge them to get off their duffs and begin fully developing Griffith Park.

Los Angeles is an urban city; we deserve and we demand an urban park.

We invite all Angelenos, shareholders and others to join the Friends at the monthly meetings which are held to discuss the plan and other vital issues. Do not let the fanatics rule the Park.

Thank you.

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