I guess I see both sides to this issue. And I'd have to say that I'm in favor of having the short anchor there.
If for no other reason, it gives people a place to start. For example, Japanese Gardens became overgrown, and was recently recleaned. But the guys who are sending it now will eventually move on, and it'll grow mossy again, because relative newcomers to Index won't have enough pitches like P1 short to keep them coming back. If these "lesser" options are available to "lesser" climbers, they're far more likely to eventually progress to doing the entire route.
True, there are a few other decent options at Index, but not many. With the elimination of this option, the 5.10 and under crowd just lost quite a large percentage of what is available for an after work cragging session at Index(i.e. the LTW). I'd rather have routes like this available than have people get bored with doing Toxic Shock and Godzilla all the time and deciding to go to Exit 38 instead...
I agree with those who say the anchors are in the middle of the pitch and don't necessarily belong there - there is no arguing with that. But I think they have created a nice option for getting people new to Index psyched on the place and keeping them coming back.