Our Readers Write: Herschel Avenue development, cellphones, opioids

Letters to the editor:

Planned Herschel Avenue building is nothing special

The rendering of the residential/retail development planned for Herschel Avenue in the space that is currently the parking lot for the La Valencia Hotel is just like any other new development up and down the coast, including the UTC mall (“2 major Village developments for residential/retail building and townhouse project get La Jolla DPR approval,” Oct. 27, La Jolla Light).

Just steps away from our beautiful La Valencia Hotel, the new building lacks any charm or relation to the Village of La Jolla. It’s as if the architects didn’t look at anything but the parking lot they’re about to develop.

It’s a nice building, but just another cookie-cutter development that is draining our town of charm, along with the seals and sidewalk vendors.

Alicia Quackenbush

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Dangerous device addiction?

I’m walking or driving through La Jolla and, lo, I see almost everyone on their cellphones, hands in their hip pockets, even when crossing the street, with eyes on the device. So, I wonder: Is this more addicting than fentanyl?

When watching sci-fi movies, why do the creatures want to invade Earth? Because it has a rep for being so terrif? And yet with complicated express buses for transport?

Magazines on Mars may be out of date regarding Earth. Rather, I would advise them, if queried:

“Save your extraterrestrial energies! Don’t come here. All you will find is a populace in the midst of a pandemic, with “robotic infatuation.” (And as always, “restrictions apply.”)

Neal Kline

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Everyone should know how to use opioid reversal drug

Members of the La Jolla Sunrise Rotary Club were recently trained in the use of the opioid reversal medication naloxone, commonly known as Narcan, which can be used to revive someone who may be experiencing a fentanyl or other opioid overdose.

The San Diego County Board of supervisors has declared illicit fentanyl a public health crisis and has taken steps to make naloxone easier to obtain. Last year, the number of overdose deaths in San Diego surged 33 percent — from 976 in 2020 to 1,303 in 2021. School district officials and the DEA [Drug Enforcement Administration] are also warning about “rainbow fentanyl” — pills that are made to look like candy and are putting our kids at risk of dying by experimenting with these seemingly harmless pills.

Everyone should have Narcan and know how to use it, especially if you or someone in the home has been prescribed opioid pain medication. For information on how you or your organization can be trained in the use of Narcan, please contact April Ella at (619) 670-1184 or visit anewpath.org.

Mark Powell
Past president, La Jolla Sunrise Rotary

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What’s on YOUR mind?

Letters published in the La Jolla Light express views from readers about community matters. Submissions of related photos also are welcome. Letters reflect the writers’ opinions and not necessarily those of the newspaper staff or publisher. Letters are subject to editing. To share your thoughts in this public forum, email them with your first and last names and city or neighborhood of residence to robert.vardon@lajollalight.com. You also can submit a letter online at lajollalight.com/submit-a-letter-to-the-editor. The deadline is 10 a.m. Monday for publication in that week’s paper. Letters without the writer’s name cannot be published. Letters from the same person are limited to one in a 30-day period. ◆