Out-of-Town Designers

Regarding Leon Whiteson’s article on the urban design ideas of AKS Runo (May 8)--was Mr. Whiteson deliberately quoting the phrases of the three designers out of context in order to hold them up to ridicule, or do they really espouse such ideas as “Los Angeles can’t be mapped in the mind,” “Arcades, paseos, and planted paths . . . would seem very phony here” and “The wide green lawn (in front of City Hall) is a . . . blank hole”?

Nobody could really believe that a mayor’s blue ribbon committee would hire inexperienced, “avant-garde” people from out of town to consult on urban design, a social art grounded firmly on local context.

DAVID R. WEAVER

Los Angeles