Planners have out-of-touch views on zoning: Letters

Re 'Zoning is ruining California's cities' (Aug. 7): The discussion from M. Nolan Gray is exactly what one would expect from a 'professional city planner.' The role of a city planner is to facilitate the efforts of developers. The notion in his last paragraph that diminished zoning regulations would support sustainability is unacceptable. It is zoning regulations that have provided the mechanism to address sustainability issues since long before that word entered our vocabulary. Does anyone actually believe developers have the slightest interest in the long-term viability of changes to a community after they get in, collect their profit, and get out? Does anyone actually believe that the proposed housing density increases are appropriate given our inability to meet the water and energy demands of the existing population? One must seriously question the motivations of a YIMBY advocate, and who actually stands to benefit.