Sharing the Planet Is Duty of Landowners
By her focus on the property rights movement, (“This Land Is My Land,†three-part series Oct. 4, 11, 18) H. Jane Lehman ignores the broad consensus in the United States that good laws, good planning and good zoning protect us all.
I own my home and my neighbor owns his. His ownership does not give him the right to erect a 10-story building (our zone is R-1), store barrels of toxic waste or grow marijuana. The laws protect us both.
Property ownership is not an absolute right. It is a very important constitutionally guaranteed right in the same manner as free speech is a very important constitutionally guaranteed right, and like free speech has limitations. Free speech does not allow one to shout “Fire†in a crowded theater. We are served by such limitations.
We all drink water. We all breath air. We all share this planet. Even those who “own†property are here but a short time in relationship to the land. We need to be fair to those who own it now as we need to be fair to those who will come after us.
ELDEN HUGHES
The writer is a past chairman of the Angeles chapter of the Sierra Club.
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