Good riddance to car wash

The Hillel brothers exercised their property rights and cut down a landmark walnut tree in Old Agoura. As your opinion piece mentioned, it was inevitable because "nature has to pay the price of progress."

Progress had nothing to do with it. The Hillel brothers had every opportunity to bring an appropriate development project forward. They chose to develop that lot into a car wash facility. They told us they just wanted to be good neighbors with a good project for the neighborhood.

Unfortunately for them, at every public hearing I attended they had a big credibility problem. The public process proved unanimously that the project was not good for the neighbors or the neighborhood. The court backed up that decision.

The only people that ever thought a car wash on that lot was a good idea were the people that would profit from it, a few nonresidents with dirty cars, and The Acorn opinion editor.

The Hillel brothers had every right to cut that tree down "for progress" but we all know that good neighbors never would have.

Steve Casey

Agoura Hills

Editor's note: Last week's editorial did not say the destruction of the tree was "inevitable because 'nature has to pay the price.'"

It said: "A black walnut tree may once have stood where your own house was built. It's too bad nature has to pay the price of progress, but once again it has."

At no time did the editorial endorse the car wash.