Permit Process Needs to Be Streamlined

* The article “Conditional Use Permit System to be Streamlined” (Aug. 11) truly caught my attention and praise.

I started the long, arduous process of obtaining a conditional use permit to open a small nursery and child-care center in Northridge in November, 1992. I worked within the guidelines set up by the city of Los Angeles and was granted a conditional use permit at a June 15 hearing.

Still I am challenged by a small handful of neighbors and a homeowners’ group president. They seem to be looking for a “needle in a haystack” as they seek to find something wrong with the project or even with me personally.

This has proven to be very costly. I am guaranteed by the city clerk that the City Council hearing will be no later than Oct. 13.

As a private citizen seeking to open a service business here in the San Fernando Valley, I applaud the efforts of Mayor Richard Riordan and Councilman Hal Bernson to speed up this process.

One would think, especially in the area of child care, that this process could be simplified and not thrown in the same arena as adult entertainment establishments and liquor stores.

MICHELLE VENTIMIGLIA

Van Nuys