PUBLIC FORUM LACK OF CLARITY.

Re ``A bright idea'' (Aug. 15):

If City Hall officials were truly serious about improving the appearance of Ventura Boulevard they would do something about the proliferation of billboards and signage. Not only are these advertisements a visual blight but they constitute a safety hazard as well.

Try to find an address while driving down the street. Your eyes are overwhelmed and distracted by signs of all sizes and types, and adding to the confusion are the sheer numbers that are permitted on each business. I have suggested to our ex-Councilwoman Cindi Miscikowski and now to Jack Weiss that standardization of signage - size, number - is necessary. I have yet to get any response from either of these elected officials.

It is not a lack of light that is the problem it is a lack of clarity on the thinking of the representatives who serve us.

- Barbara Starr

Encino

First things first

A bright idea would be ``If it ain't broke don't fix it'' in this case. How long will it take to recoup the $8 million in energy savings, etc.? We could use the money better under our feet and tires. When do we get the sidewalks repaired that can lead to trips and falls and broken bones? When do we get the potholes repaired so we don't have to get auto repairs and realignments?

New lights for Ventura Boulevard so they will all be the same and improve the look and continuity of the boulevard all the way is fine, but let's get the ground under our feet and wheels fixed first before we start looking at the light over our heads.

- Betty Jenkins

Chatsworth

Arts high school

While I applaud any effort by Los Angeles Unified School District to bring the arts back in our schools, I can't figure out why they would build an arts high school available only to local students at the same time they are cutting many other art programs districtwide? The Valley has the Milikan Performing Arts Middle School available to all LAUSD students by the magnet point system and a Performing Arts Academy available by audition to LAUSD talented students.

We need a local high school for these students to continue their training. The Westside and downtown have the Los Angeles Performing Arts High School and Hamilton High Performing Arts Magnet. Build the next art school in the Valley or better yet build them both, the students will come.

- Debra Van Tongeren

Studio City

Academic performance

As the senator who wrote California's school testing law, I read with interest the Associated Press article on the Academic Performance Index that appeared in the Aug. 15 Daily News. For the record, I did not ask the experts who created the Academic Performance Index to reconvene and fix flaws in the system; in fact, I have asked the experts to clarify their methodology for policy-makers and the public.

Notable researchers from Stanford, the Rand Corp. and other experts tell me the API is 98 percent reliable, and, because of the mass of data collected in California with testing of all grades 2-11, it is more accurate than the accountability systems of most other states.

I have always thought the API should be refined over time, and early this year I introduced a bill that will make the state's accountability system even more reliable by assigning each student a unique identification number. This will allow California to track students from year to year, from school to school, and provide a measure of the progress for individual students.

- Dede Alpert

State senator 

San Diego 

In the dark

Re ``Davis ads focus on social issues'' (Aug. 16):

Gary South, Gov. Gray Davis's senior campaign adviser, states that ``you cannot assume for one minute in any campaign in California that voters know anything about anything. You have to tell them.'' This kind of dictatorial politics is beyond belief in a free, democratic society.

South assumes that Californians are incapable of finding and comprehending the truth on their own and therefore must rely only on the ``Davis News'' of manufactured propaganda. There are only two people in this campaign who do not know anything about anything, and they are Gray Davis and Gary South.

- Robert L. Rosebrock

Brentwood

We let it happen

Dennis Hawthorne thinks it is stupid for people to file suits against the government for damages done to them while committing a crime (Public Forum, Aug. 7). In fact, there are dozens of cases where such suits have been successful and there will be more. The person filing the suit risks nothing (the suits are all on contingency) and they may collect big bucks.

The ones who are stupid are the City Council members who authorize out- of-court settlements, the judges who allow such suits to go forward, and, above all, the voters who continue to elect and re-elect judges and City Council members who commit these atrocities.

- Virgil Weatherford

Woodland Hills

Being there

I want to reply to Charles Wilken who professes to feel so sad every August (Public Form, Aug. 14). After the island of Okinawa was secured and the fighting ended, everyone (to a man) knew the next island invasion would be Japan itself. That was to start in November 1945. Gen. Douglas MacArthur had an uncanny knack for predicting casualties and his estimation was over a million for American and allied military forces and hundreds of thousands of civilians.

I stood near ground zero in awed silence witnessing the massive destruction of Hiroshima. A month later I viewed the second destroyed city (Nagasaki) and thought ``better them than us.'' Had the bombs not been dropped and we had invaded Japan instead, Charles Wilken might possibly have grieved each November for the million young men who died to end that terrible war that an unprovoked attack forced us into.

- Jerry Lane

La Crescenta

Role of the parents

Regarding the kidnapping of Jessica Cortez. Thank God a million times the child was found sound and well and was not harmed physically. Also, I hope the woman who kidnapped her is slapped with serious prison time.

Similarly, her parents should also be slapped with legal charges of neglect to start with. What parent in his or her right mind takes a child to a park, especially a large park like Echo Park, and does not keep an eye on their child. I am surprised the parents have not been charged for being negligent in the caring of this child instead of being made celebrities.

- Robb Melchor

Los Angeles

Where charity begins

In Craig Lennon Kysar's Aug. 15 Public Forum letter, he states that tax money belongs to the government. News flash: Government is of the people, by the people and for the people of the United States. L.A County is having a health care crisis, closing hospitals, cutting back on services because we provide free health health care to everybody around the world except our own citizens.

In a democratic society, the citizens have a right to know how their money is being spent. Who is paying the hospital bills for the Guatemalan twins who were operated on at UCLA Medical Center? Who is paying for lodging, transportation and food for the family members of the twins? Does not charity begin at home?

- Dennis Wilkinson

Winnetka

News as entertainment

In the July 30 article ``Making a Miracle'' that summarized the rescue of nine mine workers in Pennsylvania, a statement was made about how ``Hollywood couldn't have written a better ending to a saga plagued by desperate and heartbreaking setbacks.'' The Hollywood the journalist writes of is actually his very self.

Part of this ``Hollywoodizing'' can be witnessed every day on any local evening news program. It involves an elaborate musical score leading into a catchy title with flashy graphics. Then a picture resembling a movie poster appears in the corner of the screen like a coming attraction to tease the viewers into staying tuned. Maybe they should spend less time on their eye-catching graphics and spend it on actually reporting news events. Since when did the word ``news'' become defined as entertainment? News is news.

- Alison Munson

Woodland HIlls