PUBLIC FORUM : RIORDAN `VOCALIZING THE NEED FOR CHANGE'.``Critics say Riordan is out of steam,'' Daily News, June 22, includes this quote from John Ferraro John Ferraro (May 14 1924—April 17 2001) served as a Los Angeles City Councilman from 1966 until his death. Early life Ferraro was born in the working class suburb of Cudahy, California, just south of Los Angeles. , a longtime member of the Los Angeles City Council  The Los Angeles City Council is the governing body of the City of Los Angeles, California, United States. : ``Someone coming from the outside, like Dick (Mayor Richard Riordan Richard J. Riordan (born May 1, 1930) is a Republican politician from California, U.S. who served as the California Secretary of Education from 2003–2005 and as Mayor of Los Angeles from 1993–2001. Riordan ran for Governor of California unsuccessfully in 2002. ), and not having been in an elected position before, all they hear is criticism of politicians. So they come in and think we're all a bunch of idiots. Sometimes, it takes time to realize that's not the case.'' On the other hand, the public doesn't need any time at all to realize exactly what politicians are. That is why term limits, ethics investigations, special prosecutors, grand juries and ballot initiatives are all part of government today. Ferraro and his fellow members of the City Council appear to me to be ``poster children'' for charter reform and the main reason behind signatures being gathered for the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. to secede from the city of Los Angeles
The mayor is simply vocalizing the need for change and a very long-overdue shake-up and housecleaning house·clean·ing n. 1. The cleaning and tidying of a house and its contents. 2. Informal Removal of unwanted personnel, methods, or policies in an effort at reform or improvement. of a poorly run, dysfunctional municipal government. I don't care
"Don't Care" is a 1994 (see 1994 in music) single by American death metal band Obituary. if he uses ``steam'' or not. I just want it done. - Kenneth W. Keller Valencia `Expensive handshakes' In regard to ``Expensive handshakes; cushy cush·y adj. cush·i·er, cush·i·est Informal Making few demands; comfortable: a cushy job. [Origin unknown. contracts for questionable work put L.A. residents last,'' Editorials, June 21: The Daily News should inform its readers about who has the power to negotiate these contracts, which once finalized are binding. The fact that neither I nor the Daily News editorial board approves of the liberal nature of these lawful contracts does not make them go away. If the mayor and his appointees want to negotiate consulting contracts, and the City Council chooses to go along, there is nothing the city controller can do to lawfully block payments unless the contractor fails to perform the duties prescribed in the contract. The Controller's Office does review the current batch of contracts with former general managers, and we have asked for documentation where it is lacking. - Rick Tuttle Rick Tuttle (born 1940) was Los Angeles City Controller from 1985 to 2001. He stressed the importance of creating a strong democratic influence at UCLA, which was in his words "the best large public university in a major city. City controller 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. Although I wholeheartedly whole·heart·ed adj. Marked by unconditional commitment, unstinting devotion, or unreserved enthusiasm: wholehearted approval. whole agree with many of your examples, in well-thought-out instances an ``expensive handshake'' can be worth every penny. Call me in a year and I'll document the final results of (general manager) Jackie Tatum's 12-month contract to help the Department of Recreation and Parks complete the funding of public/private partnerships that involve more than $15 million in corporate/foundation contributions that she initiated. No Tatum, no money. Also, if you haven't been to the L.A. Zoo in the last six months, you haven't been to the L.A. Zoo. Dr. Mark Goldstein was very helpful to us in conceptualizing the changes in governance that allowed $25 million to be funded to the zoo when the voters approved Propositions A and K. Unlike the council's decision to spend an extra $150 million to renovate the upper floors of City Hall, the decisions of our commission have created a great return to the taxpayers. - Steven Soboroff President Recreation and Parks Commission Los Angeles Tardy tar·dy adj. tar·di·er, tar·di·est 1. Occurring, arriving, acting, or done after the scheduled, expected, or usual time; late. 2. Moving slowly; sluggish. legislators Re ``Tardy again; a penalty is in order when legislators fail to meet deadline for passing a budget,'' Editorials, June 18: For years the Daily News has rightly criticized the well-paid legislators for not performing the job they were elected to do. Rather than the amendment suggestion (no raises) proposed in your editorial, I would like to see an initiative voted on by the people stating that no state funds of any sort would be payable to legislators for missing the constitutionally imposed, penalty-free California budget deadline. If the legislators took a month to resolve their differences, their salaries, per diem per diem adj. or n. Latin for "per day," it is short for payment of daily expenses and/or fees of an employee or an agent. and any other state funding would be lost during their period of nonperformance. In addition, all legislators would be required to remain in Sacramento performing legislative duties until a budget was signed. Once the legislators resolved their differences and pass a state budget, their pay and per diem would not resume until the governor signed the budget. Should the governor and legislative branches encounter difficulty in agreeing on a budget, as frequently happens, then all state elected officials would also forfeit their salaries until such time as a budget is approved by the Legislature and signed into law by the governor. Maybe when it starts to cost these overpriced o·ver·price tr.v. o·ver·priced, o·ver·pric·ing, o·ver·pric·es To put too high a price or value on. overpriced Adjective costing more than it is thought to be worth Adj. representatives money out of their own pockets, they will see that the public is serious. Until that time, editorials such as yours, while calling attention to the problem and demanding a solution, make little impact on this group of prima donnas. - George B. Pyfrom Simi Valley Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. Legacy of the '60s According to Thomas Sowell (``Poverty, crime brought to you by the 1960s,'' Opinions, June 19), the '60s gave us societal disaster with a skyrocketing increase in murder, crime in general, venereal disease venereal disease (vənēr`ēəl): see sexually transmitted disease. , out-of-wedlock pregnancies and a concurrent deterioration in education and, worst of all, the family - all of it ordained or·dain tr.v. or·dained, or·dain·ing, or·dains 1. a. To invest with ministerial or priestly authority; confer holy orders on. b. To authorize as a rabbi. 2. by a group of the ``liberal anointed "Anointed" redirects here. For the process of anointing, see Anointing. Anointed is a Contemporary Christian music duo consisting of siblings Steve and Da'dra Crawford. Their musical style includes elements of R&B, funk, and piano ballads. .'' What Sowell failed to mention in his excellent article is the fact that the ``liberal anointed'' are overwhelmingly anti-religious - anti-God. The social revolution in the '60s had good intentions for the people, the same as the leaders of the Communist revolution in Russia. Why did they both prove to be disasters for the people, the opposite of what the ``anointed'' atheist leaders of those movements wanted? Very simple: They were defying God to his face. - Ross Yerkes Los Angeles Race and the movies I had to write my first letter to the editor after reading ``Film list is a whitewash'' by Richard Roeper in Opinions, June 22. This guy gets his lines right out of the liberal handbook. He's another white guy trying to be everyone's hero by attacking other white people. For what, you ask? Why, it's the color of their skin, Oexactly the sort of thing that liberals like himself claim to be the ``biggest problem facing America today.'' He states that the list of America's 100 greatest movies didn't contain any people of color Noun 1. people of color - a race with skin pigmentation different from the white race (especially Blacks) people of colour, colour, color race - people who are believed to belong to the same genetic stock; "some biologists doubt that there are important . He followed that up by mentioning all the minority actors and actresses in the list but discounted them as insignificant. He then used an example from ``Dances With Wolves'' and criticized the use of a white woman for the part of Stands With a Fist. If he had done any research at all, he would have known that in the story, Stands With a Fist was a white girl taken from her family as a child and raised by the Indians. I guess he thought it would be a good idea to have an Indian playing the part of a white girl, even though he also criticized ``West Side Story'' for having an Anglo woman play a Latino. It's the typical double standard of liberals. The mark of a good movie, as Roeper sees it, is the race of the people acting in it and not the quality of the work or the enjoyment it produced for the people who went to see it. I thank the Daily News for printing his piece and showing us all the idiocy IDIOCY, med. jur. That condition of mind, in which the reflective, or all or a part of the affective powers, are either entirely wanting, or are manifested to the least possible extent. 2. Idiocy generally depends upon organic defects. of this sort of thinking. - Scott D. Hurt Agoura Hills Alarcon and Polanco There has been much discussion regarding the gains made by Latino voters in the state Senate race between Richard Alarcon and Richard Katz. What is not mentioned is what the state's 20th District has lost. We have lost experience and strong representation. We now will have a junior senator, unfamiliar with Sacramento politics, who will need at least half his term to learn the ropes in order to be effective for the residents of his district. The only one to gain from this election is Sen. Richard Polanco, who bought not only the race for Alarcon but another senatorial sen·a·to·ri·al adj. 1. Of, concerning, or befitting a senator or senate. 2. Composed of senators. sen puppet for himself at the same time. For Alarcon to even hint that he is not beholden be·hold·en adj. Owing something, such as gratitude, to another; indebted. [Middle English biholden, past participle of biholden, to observe; see behold. to Polanco would be to take us all for fools. - Carlos E. Ferreyra Van Nuys Don't bell cats I am writing to warn otheOr cat owners about the dangers that neighborhood dogs pose. My cat was killed in a dog attack. I feel partially responsible - I kept a bell on her collar so she could not kill birds, and so I would know where she was. However, that bell gave her no chance to run from this dog, as he could hear her every move. Please if you have a bell on your cat, remove it now. Give your cat a chance to get away. And to you dog owners: Keep your dogs confined. - Mary A. Mullinax Lancaster Police `collection agents' Thank you for enlightening me. Before ``Valley speed trap; Tickets on rise in effort to save lives,'' I was convinced that there was an unannounced crime wave in the San Fernando Valley. There was no other reason why LAPD 1. LAPD - Link Access Procedure on the D channel. 2. LAPD - Los Angeles Police Department. motorcycle officers were crouched undercover in driveways and side streets along the north-south roadways such as Winnetka Avenue and Balboa Boulevard. It seems that we have our police deployed to cash in as collection agents to raise more funds for the corrupt and out-of-touch city government. This misuse of our police to harass the drivers of the San Fernando Valley is another perfect reason why the Valley must leave Los Angeles and set its own priorities, including policing. - Sidney Gold Granada Hills Gun-control laws Re ``Chicago weighs lawsuit against manufacturers of guns, rifles,'' Daily News, June 11: This article states Chicago has the ``toughest gun-control laws in the country.'' Also, the rate of gun violence has remained steady while the national rate has declined. Thirty-one states have relaxed gun-control laws by allowing concealed-weapon permits very liberally. Is there a correlation? Sure looks like it. - Vic La Forest West Hills CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: Mayor Richard Riordan, left, inspects a cart-littered area in Van Nuys. Evan Yee/Daily News |
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