PUBLIC FORUM : VALLEY DEBATE CONTINUES ON SURFACE RAIL VS. SUBWAY.

Re ``About the Valley's phantom rail; residents have already paid for 20 miles of deep-bore subway; billions more will be spent for naught'' by Bob Scott and Nate Brogin, Opinions, July 1:

When those of us who live in the Valley were told there was going to be a public transportation system through the Valley, many of us expressed the desire for an above-ground system.

Somehow, we ``knew'' a subway here in Southern California would be a disaster. We were not engineers, we were not scientists, we were not politically connected or loudmouth members of the City Council. We were just ordinary citizens. We knew the Metropolitan Transportation Authority couldn't manage the building of a subway and the ground was not able to support the process of tunneling. But, what did we know? As a result, the MTA and the City Council decided to build a subway. Isn't that the way the government is supposed to work?

Almost as soon as the work started, the problems started also. The subway is practically at a standstill. It is a fiasco. The subway needs to be stopped completely in favor of an above-ground system we dummies advocated before the system was started.

Other above-ground systems in the city have been started and completed with very few problems, and they are working fine. Can't we all learn from that? Why is that so hard? Above ground - yes; below ground - no. End of story.

- Gary M. Barnbaum

Woodland Hills

While Vasco de Sena (``MTA incompetence,'' Public Firum, June 27) may well find a number of people who agree with his assessment of the MTA, his solution to the cross-Valley rail line question shows a considerable lack of knowledge of the discussion that has taken place within the editorial pages of the Daily News.

It is not ``that simple'' to remove the middle two lanes of a freeway and construct a rail system. The MTA does not own the right-of-way to those freeway lanes; the state does.

Second, it will cost even more to build such a rail system. As proof, look at the Green Line, which was constructed along a dedicated right-of-way on the Glenn Anderson Freeway.

I would like Mr. de Sena to ask any private-sector company if it could construct such a project at a cost that would allow its operation at a fare structure comparable to MTA's $1.35 per trip. The answer would be no, because only public works projects by a government agency can receive the construction and operating subsidies necessary for a reasonable fare.

There is indeed ``no reason why'' full privatization of transit service could not happen - provided you want to forego affordable service in order for the private company to turn a profit.

A much-deserved cross-Valley rail line can eventually be constructed, but only if the politicians and well-meaning but uninformed citizens leave the MTA alone long enough for it to regain the respect of those in Washington and Sacramento who have the power to restore the level of funding necessary for it to be constructed.

That includes not trying to bring pet projects like rail down the center of freeways when the MTA already owns an ideal right of way along the Burbank-Chandler corridor. Muddying the waters will only increase the chances that the federal government will reject the MTA's response to a request for a clear, defined plan to provide both bus- and rail-based transit over the next decade.

- Kymberleigh Richards

Van Nuys

Regarding the letter from Frank Barron of Van Nuys concerning the subway system proposed for the San Fernando Valley (``Idle cars for a subway `people didn't want,' '' Public Forum, July 8):

I would like to say that Mr. Barron is not talking for me when he states that the ``people didn't want a subway and voted against it.''

I am definitely for and always will be for a subway system. As has often been pointed out before, many, many cities have subway systems and far better transportation than we have here.

This is the worst city in the world for getting around unless you have a car. People who should not be driving and those who cannot drive at all are penalized by those who think that the Valley can survive on buses alone.

What will people do when they are no longer able to get behind the wheel of a car, and have to hand their driver's licenses back to the DMV?

Frankly, I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of the subway system - the sooner the better.

- Anne Donnelly

Studio City

Volunteerism lives

Americans are the most magnanimous people in the history of the world. They are the first to respond to any type of disaster anywhere on Earth, and that response is primarily civilian, or voluntary, in nature.

Why then the Volunteer Summit in Philadelphia recently? Simple. The seeds of the Great Society planted some 30 years ago have been bearing fruit for some time now - generations of welfare families, highest teen pregnancy in history, highest abortion rate in history, highest crime rate in history, etc.

Before the Great Society instituted the myriad of federal welfare agencies whose primary goals were to expand the welfare rolls and whose employees were very well paid, volunteer groups performed yeoman service in helping those in need. However, with the advent of the welfare megabureaucracies, private sector volunteerism was more or less overpowered by the sheer size and trillions of dollars expended by those bureaucracies.

Now, with the welfare rolls and costs rising daily and the national debt still increasing, the Clinton administration must find some way to lower welfare costs or taxes may have to be increased again, and that would be very unpopular with the American people. Hence the call for real volunteers, not paid volunteers such as Americorps.

But President Clinton and his fellow summiteers need not worry. Volunteerism is alive and well in every nook and cranny of this great nation; always has been and always will be, even without the bells and whistles and hoopla of a presidential photo op. But even it may not be able to bail out the Great Society.

- H.L. Bradbury

Granada Hills

New airport commissioner

We welcome Gerald Briggs as a commissioner on the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority representing Glendale. We wish him well in his term of service and hope that he will enjoy his experience.

As a commissioner, it is important that Briggs understands that nobody is trying to close the airport. It is here to stay, and is a viable public asset. The desire for a new, functional, better-located terminal is not reserved only to Pasadena and Glendale residents; we all would like to have it. But we must acknowledge there are people deeply affected by this proposal.

There are a few realities regarding this Airport Authority that are worthy of note as Briggs takes his place as a commissioner.

First, we should be aware this is not a body that transacts public business in an open and unashamed manner. Most decisions and actions are taken in secret behind closed doors, even to the hilarious extreme of the recently imposed $1 increase in the public parking fee. Generally these covert operations are concealed under the guise of attorney-client privilege. Some privilege.

A new delegate to the Airport Authority - a public body, not a private club - must either be shocked by its distortions and shameful policies and try to remedy the wrongs, or he will fall into the established Pasadena-Glendale lock step and not make waves.

At this new beginning, we assume Briggs is a man who has the ability to perceive and react on his own rather than as an automaton responding only to the signaled party line - as is so often demonstrated in the authority by those who represent Pasadena and Glendale.

- Ralph W. Gee

Burbank

Future looks brighter

I was present for the swearing-in ceremonies for Los Angeles Mayor Riordan and Councilwoman Laura Chick. I was proud of both of them, as I feel they epitomize the resurgence within Los Angeles.

Mayor Riordan is following the wishes of the public in making public safety, including the Fire Department, a very high priority. Chick also is a solid supporter of public safety. Riordan called for a high-level coordination of his office and the Los Angeles Unified School District. That surely can only bring better cooperation and improve our schools.

I had seriously considered moving out of Los Angeles, but now I am not so sure. I may want to stick around.

- John Adams

Northridge

Landlord-tenant disputes

Re ``Landlords and tenants,'' Public Forum, June 30: I would like to add another perspective as well as comment on one of the points.

I agree with Paul Davis' statement, ``Once in, the tenant can make life hell for both the property owner and the good, law-abiding tenants.''

Unfortunately, tenants don't have to commit illegal acts to cause problems. Tenants who don't follow the rules, endanger the health and well being of other tenants or aren't considerate make life miserable not only for property owners but other tenants who are legally entitled to the quiet enjoyment of the premises.

On the other hand, there are landlords who don't care, make promises they might not be able to keep or tell prospective tenants what the tenants want to hear. When the tenant moves in and discovers discrepancies, the tenant will become angry. The landlord might lose a good tenant when the lease expires.

- Eden Rosen

Burbank

`1984' revisited

It was interesting to read the article about the experiences of Los Angeles Police Lt. Richard Dyer (``Rejected LAPD official claims discrimination,'' Daily News, July 6) in confronting the current and former American Civil Liberties Union attorneys who were involved with the proposed Tipton-Whittingham consent decree, which would have imposed additional ethnic- and gender-based hiring and promotional ``goals'' on the Los Angeles Police Department.

After finishing the article, I thought of George Orwell's novel ``1984,'' in which the meanings of words were perverted by the party for purposes of ideological conformity and the subordination of the individual to the collective - war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength.

- Stephen Kirby

Chino 

Scrap the hyphens

I enjoyed reading the intelligent common-sense letter from reader Calvin T. White (Public Forum, July 8), the black American who astutely stated that ``I am no more African than any of my brothers, who are fifth- and sixth-generation American.''

Teddy Roosevelt was right when he stated that there is no such thing as a ``hyphenated'' American. We are all Americans. And I add: As long as feeble-minded, short-visioned and low-intellect Americans in government, social and educational groups continue the partitioning of the American society, the country will remain less than united, not optimizing on its total potential and postponing its entry into an era of enlightenment.

- Michael A. Campos

West Hills