PUBLIC FORUM : L.A. DUO OBSTRUCTING `DEMOCRATIC PROCESS'.

Re ``Derail secession? Valley activists blast plan to hold quick vote,'' Daily News, Oct. 22:

So now it's been exposed - Los Angeles City Councilwoman Ruth Galanter is paranoid and Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg is a hypocrite.

I worked for an elected official in his district office for more than five years. Hearing the public's complaints, concerns and, yes, their threats, is what the job of an elected public servant is all about. If Galanter is ``tired of people walking around threatening . . . '' maybe it's time for her to leave. Sounds like a classic case of burnout.

And Jackie, Jackie, Jackie: Remember the Free Speech Movement? Shame on you!

This is the democratic process. We the people have the absolute right to speak, scream, whine, complain, etc., etc. Talk of secession is not a threat. If you're tired of hearing it, get out. There is no place in city government for a person like Galanter.

Thank heavens for the thoughtful legislators who understand the role of government. Little by little, we the people will get rid of obstructionists like Galanter and Goldberg at the ballot box.

- Caryn Veasey

West Hills

Some have voiced concern over higher costs of living if the San Fernando Valley breaks away from the city of Los Angeles. They say that the Valley has no water, power, police, or other services to speak of.

We say: The Valley has paid for one-third of all development in this city. Unless the city is prepared to settle the books and write a huge check to the Valley - after all, just the Red Line represents $1 billion, more than all the development money poured into the Valley in the last 15 years - the city of Los Angeles had better guarantee that those costs don't go up.

They say: But how can we be sure other municipal services will not be more expensive?

We say: Just look at the disaster downtown bureaucracy has become. How could we do any worse?

They say: But still, where are the benefits?

We say: Freedom. And getting a dollar's services for a dollar's taxes, rather than 70 cents of services for a dollar's taxes.

- Steven Levin

Van Nuys

Hollywood sex club

So, Jackie Goldberg is giving her support to a gay sex club operating without a permit in a residential neighborhood in Hollywood (Daily News, Oct. 21). Her support didn't really surprise me, but I found her explanation absolutely appalling.

She stated, ``Men's sexual encounter clubs offer an opportunity for safe sex education and HIV prevention. The proposed sexual encounter club will provide a way to reach men who otherwise may not identify (themselves) as gay or go to gay bars.''

What is this - recruitment? This club, operating illegally, is near an elementary school and close to homes. Does Goldberg have any concerns for the families and children in this area? Does she have any respect for the city ordinance, which prohibits such establishments from operating in residential neighborhoods?

I guess we can have a councilwoman who supports her own agenda with no consideration whatsoever for the laws of our city.

- Vicki Van Camp

Sylmar

Police work schedule

Regarding your editorial, ``Parks makes the right call,'' Oct. 19:

I beg to differ with your conclusion in regard to the appropriateness of the compressed work schedule for police. It is apparent that you heard only one side of the story. Unfortunately for the men and women of the Los Angeles Police Department, it is the factless version represented by Chief Bernard C. Parks.

First of all, it should be known that LAPD management produced two evaluations of the compressed work schedule pilot program.

The first, based upon quarterly evaluations, surveys and statistical analysis, came to the conclusion that the compressed work schedule was a cost saver, estimated at $24 million annually; lowered officers' use of sick time and overtime; and had no detrimental impact on officers' fatigue.

The report found no negative impact on the department or its ability to carry out community-based policing. In fact, numerous communities throughout the country utilize compressed work schedules with great success.

The second report, produced under the direction of Parks, was based on no new information. In fact, it relied on none of the hard data collected by LAPD management over the 2-1/2-year term of the pilot program. It was nothing more than a shallow, factless justification of Parks' own personal feelings, rather than a fair evaluation of the program.

The truth of the matter is that the compressed work schedule benefits all parties involved. The community benefits because they know exactly which officers work their community on each day, on each shift because the compressed work schedule platoon system has consistent days and hours worked, unlike the current LAPD schedule of random days off, which is inconsistent with community-based policing.

The officers benefit by having set working hours and four days off a week. Every officer works 40 hours a week, just like other workers. And most importantly, this schedule carries out a primary Christopher Commission recommendation by providing a strong incentive to attract and keep quality officers in the patrol assignments.

- Gary Fullerton

Director

Los Angeles Police Protective League

Community policing

I am a Neighborhood Watch member. The decision to remove senior lead officers from their position as community liaison has greatly upset our community.

We have worked hard to form a bond with our senior leads, those dedicated officers that know their respected areas, the residents, the needs of those residents, and respond to those needs quickly and efficiently. Together, we have addressed repressible crimes, scams of the elderly, graffiti, nuisance crime, drug dealers, gang members - the list goes on. This is a partnership that works.

The only way Neighborhood Watch will end is if Chief Bernard C. Parks ends it himself, and he's well on his way to doing just that.

- Sandra Munz

North Hollywood

Re Fred Weinhart's statements that we do not need police to be social workers, teachers and baby sitters (Public Forum, Oct. 14):

In the years I have worked with the lead officers, never was this activity ever used.

- Frank Jacobs

Sylmar

Cigarettes and alcohol

I'd like to differ with the Public Forum writer (Daily News, Oct. 13.) who considers alcohol as hazardous as cigarettes. Here's why:

If I'm in a bar surrounded by drinkers and smokers, I become an instant victim of secondhand smoke.

A drinker, however, is no threat to my well-being unless he inadvertently topples off his bar stool and falls on me.

- Ray Ginter

Simi Valley

LAUSD success stories

In response to ``Break it up'' by Andy Anderson, Daily News, Oct. 5:

Anderson confesses disbelief that anyone, especially teachers, would oppose dividing up this district, one he considers too big to give his children a proper education. Perhaps the answer is simply that, beyond all the criticism to the contrary, L.A. schools are meeting the needs of children in kindergarten through grade 12.

Certainly, examples of success in the LAUSD are easily found.

No magnet school family wants the district divided into smaller entities. Magnets provide preferential programs with respect to the selection of staff, funding, and a college preparation curriculum.

The parents of special education students realize the benefits of small classes subsidized by the state and taught by talented teachers with extraordinary patience and concern for their pupils.

The families of immigrant children learning a new language in ESL (English as a Second Language) do not clamor for smaller school districts.

Moms and dads whose children participate in the PWT (permits with transportation) program are glad ``busing'' is available for their children, even if it is ``one way'' - away from, let us admit, tougher schools and communities.

Hundreds of parents and even larger numbers of students are grateful for the continuation schools, vocational programs and adult schools, which daily give young people still another opportunity to achieve success and build a new life.

So, who is for ``breaking up the district?'' Only ex-principal Anderson and his political cohorts who fall back upon sophomoric proofs to bolster their position as quoted in his article - Birmingham High's logo controversy, Yvonne Chan's success in one elementary school, the malevolence of teacher unions and the greed of teachers and, finally, ``institutional bigness and community impotence.''

The solution for Anderson is Balkanization - end complexity and bureaucratic size by endorsing a simplistic remedy: Give power back to the principal by breaking up the school district, and at the same time, reduce the teachers union to anemic influence.

I have been a teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District for more than 36 years.

- Robert Livingston

Dean, Van Nuys High School 

Trigger locks

Regarding Kristen Rand's Opinion, Oct. 15, ``Children are losers in gun makers' trigger-lock offer.''

Trigger locks are not the complete answer to handgun safety. Education is the best answer.

We teach our children to look both ways before crossing the street, not to run with a knife or scissors, not to play with matches or lighters, etc.

As the old sayings goes, ``ignorance breeds contempt'' and ``curiosity killed the cat.'' Parents: Please educate yourself and your children in handgun safety.

- Russ Taylor

Valencia

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2 Photos

PHOTO (1) JACKIE GOLDBERG

(2) RUTH GALANTER