To the editor: The hollowing out of Alhambra’s middle class serves as another sad testimony to the damage that the deadly trifecta of unaffordable housing, predatory student loan debt and real estate speculation continues to inflict on Los Angeles County. The average home price sitting at around $900,000 is pricing out local residents, such as the family mentioned in this article.
When more and more middle-class families are forced to abandon their roots in search of affordable housing, everybody pays the price. Schools are forced to close, families unravel — placing incredible burdens on those who provide elder care — and communities lose their cohesion.
How many more communities like Alhambra, where changes are leaving room for only the very wealthy and those who receive government housing assistance, will erode before our City Council finally acts on the rezoning that we so desperately need? How long will Los Angeles continue to cater to the loudest and whitest voices calling to preserve the exclusionary zoning that ultimately leads to the displacement of the middle class even in areas that were once considered affordable?
A vibrant middle class is essential for a society to function — these are our teachers, nurses and law enforcement officers. If they continue to be pushed out of the communities that they serve, we will have a city in decay.
Lisa Ansell, Beverly Hills
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To the editor: Through the years, many families especially with school-age children have moved away from Alhambra. Rent is too high, or people like the middle-class family you have written about cannot qualify to buy a home. I am an Alhambra apartment owner, community activist and affordable housing advocate. I have no children and my husband passed away in 2021. I live in my apartment building and want to continue living here for some time. However, I have given a lot of thought to, who will become the next owner?
After researching options, I have decided I want to sell my building to a nonprofit that will ensure that only low-income to middle-class people become owners of their unit. The selling price would have to match high reasonable offers. The priority would be teachers, longtime Alhambra residents and small families. Finding the right nonprofit and financing may be a challenge. I would need the cooperation of Alhambra’s City Hall, City Council and, likely, planning commissioners. I want to be an example to owners who are selling to consider this option.
Shirley Tatsuno, Alhambra
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To the editor: I’m a former high school teacher and school counselor who lived for 15 years in Alhambra and South Pasadena, pinned between affluent school districts and Los Angeles Unified School District, my then-employer.
Considerations that constantly came to mind on my 15-minute commute to work: Are private schools and/or affluent neighborhoods better in any way for students? And what meaning does it have when one sees vehicles in a student parking lot that are more recent, more expensive models than those in the faculty lot?
Wendell H. Jones, Ojai
