PUBLIC FORUM : RANKING OF MTA BIDDER WAS MISREPRESENTED.Does the truth matter to the news media anymore? In every story concerning the pending contract to manage construction of the East Los Angeles East Los Angeles, uninc. city (1990 pop. 126,379), Los Angeles co., S Calif., a residential suburb of Los Angeles, in an industrial area. It has a large Mexican-American population. There is a performing arts center and a cultural center. A junior college is there. subway, the Daily News states that our team, Metro East Consultants, was ranked third by a panel of independent experts. The fact that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's chief executive officer, Joseph Drew, recommended Metro East for the contract was therefore considered suspect by the mainstream press. But as Drew carefully explained on numerous occasions, Metro East did not finish third. The independent panel ranked Metro East first in the scoring for the technical proposal. The panel ranked Metro East second in the scoring for the oral presentation. The panel then met in a session they called a ``round table,'' during which an MTA (1) (Message Transfer Agent or Mail Transfer Agent) The store and forward part of a messaging system. See messaging system. (2) See M Technology Association. 1. (messaging) MTA - Message Transfer Agent. staff member apparently coaxed them into coming to a ``consensus'' recommendation, which placed Metro East third. Drew recognized that this ``round table'' discussion injected a flaw into the process, for two reasons: The Brooks Act, which governs this procurement, does not allow for ``round table'' discussion, only for scoring on the technical proposal and the oral presentation. An MTA staff member, whose identity is yet to be confirmed, can clearly be heard on the tape of the ``round table'' to be pushing the discussion toward a desired conclusion, favoring one team and disfavoring Metro East. The rank unfairness of this ``round table'' discussion is evident to anyone who has heard this tape of the discussion. Transcripts are available to the media, but they have been ignored. By standing up for the lawful process, by making the kind of tough call that is expected of the CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. , Drew was pilloried by the news media and by the MTA board members with clear political ties to other bidders. Now we have seen the sad result of this illicit smear campaign smear campaign n → campaña de calumnias smear campaign n → campagne f de dénigrement smear campaign smear n . Joe Drew has resigned and the MTA is once again in turmoil. The pressure on Drew would have been far more bearable bear·a·ble adj. That can be endured: bearable pain; a bearable schedule. bear if the news media had bothered to take Drew seriously and explore his point of view. But the media instead chose to espouse the politicized smear campaign against Metro East and in doing so allowed Joe Drew to dangle dangle Nursing A popular term for the first movement a Pt is allowed, either after surgery under general anesthesia, or 'under local', where the recuperee allows his/her feet to dangle over the side of the bed in the breeze. On behalf of the Metro East Consultants, we wish to express our sympathies for Joseph Drew, an honorable man who deserved better from the news media. The people of East Los Angeles and indeed all users of Metro Rail and bus system are the real losers in this process. - David C. Lizarraga Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. `Health care rationing' Froma Harrop (Opinions, Nov. 26) poses the ``health care rationing'' issue this way: ``Should life-and-death matters be determined by society at large? Or should they be the province of HMOs, hospitals, and other medical groups in the business of making lots of money?'' At least Harrop has the honesty to admit that ``this writer's opinion is obvious from her manner of posing the questions.'' Allow me to restate re·state tr.v. re·stat·ed, re·stat·ing, re·states To state again or in a new form. See Synonyms at repeat. re·state the question in a way that will reveal more than Harrop's manifest statist stat·ism n. The practice or doctrine of giving a centralized government control over economic planning and policy. stat  ist adj. bias: Should life-and-death matters
be determined by politicians? Should influence and power determine who
lives and who dies?
My answer is ``obviously not.'' Yet, this is Harrop's preferred solution. She denigrates the method that society has chosen to allocate scarce resources among unlimited needs: the free market. The question of access to health care is precisely the sort of economic decision that the market excels in making. Market-driven choices are always inherently fair; indeed, they cannot be otherwise. Adam Smith understood this. Sadly, Harrop hasn't a clue; she represents the ``conventional wisdom'' in our benighted be·night·ed adj. 1. Overtaken by night or darkness. 2. Being in a state of moral or intellectual darkness; unenlightened. be·night age. If Harrop believes that more government involvement in ``the delivery of health care'' will make things better, she had better review the sad history of health-care delivery in the Soviet Union, East Germany East Germany: see Germany. , and even in the United Kingdom. All these countries had ``universal free health care.'' - James F. Glass Chatsworth Firefighters thanked Our family wishes to extend our grateful thanks to the firefighters from Los Angeles Fire Department The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD), also known as the Los Angeles City Fire Department to distinguish it from the Los Angeles County Fire Department. It is the agency that provides fire protection and emergency medical services for the city of Los Angeles. Station 70 at Lassen Street and Reseda Boulevard who rescued our grandson, who was trapped in his home Nov. 26. In an age of growing criticism of fire and police services, we wanted the public to know that Los Angeles firefighters came through in a crisis. At noon, our 1-year-old grandson trapped himself in the bathroom. After several attempts to reach him, our daughter called 911. Within four to five minutes, the engine companies had responded to our daughter's home and began the process of rescuing Jake. As a commissioner for the County Emergency Medical Service Commission, I have often admired the work of firefighters on numerous ride-alongs on behalf of county Supervisor Mike Antonovich Mike Antonovich might refer to:
However, when a member of your family is rescued, the work of the fire service takes on a new meaning. The fire captain and firefighters who responded to the call were professional, courteous cour·te·ous adj. Characterized by gracious consideration toward others. See Synonyms at polite. [Middle English corteis, courtly, from Old French, from cort, court; see and a welcome sight. Little Jake has a heart condition and his rescue was very meaningful to our family. Gary Washburn Chatsworth |
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