PUBLIC FORUM MOSTLY BITTER.

I hardly would characterize the implementation of an east-west busway at a cost of $325 million (up from $245 million) a ``bittersweet victory'' for the Valley, as Mr. Orlov put it (``Finally! Busway's a go,'' March 1). It is more like a wretched waste of money that the area communities, most of whom are not Orthodox, or even Jewish, worked to oppose.

Instead, we got just what the Metropolitan Transportation Authority wanted, another project to use up scarce state money. Hopefully, the governor or new blood in Sacramento will stop this waste of state money before it is dumped into a project that already has a cost overrun of over $50 million and a slower than promised travel time of over 40 minutes (up from the promised 30 to 35 minutes).

Bittersweet indeed.

- Neal Jannol

Los Angeles 

Try a trolley

I have followed the pros and cons of the busway route for years now, and I keep coming back to the question: Why not a trolley on the existing track?

Maybe the MTA would not be able to spend enough of my money.

- George Arnold

West Hills

Like a dictator

Gov. Gray Davis runs this state like a Third World dictatorship. What is the point of voting for any proposition that goes against his extremist liberal agenda? Prop. 187, passed by over 60 percent of the electorate, was overturned against the will of the people. Now Prop. 227, the English only initiative, is about to suffer the same fate. So unlike Hal Netkin (``Bilingual education sends wrong message,'' Feb. 28), I was not in the least surprised by Davis' move to restore bilingualism.

Governing against the will of the people is nothing new for Davis, so unless you want your vote to become something other than an exercise in futility, throw him out of office in November.

- John Starr

Simi Valley

Nonhuman rights

Re ``Humans vs. animals,'' by Michael Foxen, (Public Forum, Feb. 27):

The nerve of some people. To think that flora and fauna deserve the same respect that people do. How dare these misguided misanthropes deign to restrict developments to house our ever-growing population. Those ``pesky frogs and flowers'' should just go find some other place to live. What do they have to offer humankind, anyway? We'd be better off without them.

Well, count me among the misguided. I happen to believe that nonhuman living things have just as much right to survive as we do, without pushing them to extinction. These same living things possess intrinsic value, regardless of their worth to humanity. If we choose not to limit our numbers (6 billion and counting), other species would have to suffer from our obstinance and ignorance.

- Thomas J. Shepherd

Canyon Country

It's a symptom

The impending demise of that flower and frog on Ahmanson Ranch is only a symptom of a much greater tragedy - the cancer of overpopulation that is slowly but surely poisoning the Earth. Rather than face reality and attack the cause, we carry into our mine shaft a canary that has been fitted out with an oxygen mask.

- Cellestine Hannemann

North Hills

Chopped down the trees

I would like to know what took place on the Golden State Freeway all along the area of the new Burbank shopping center. Caltrans came in and chopped down all the trees in this area so that all can see the new shopping area. As everyone knows, trees and shrubs along the freeways serve many purposes. They make oxygen, they are sound barriers, they are noise abatement and they add landscape and soil erosion control to the freeway banks.

We as taxpayers paid to have this foliage planted, and now have paid to have it removed to the benefit of the land developer. May I have an explanation of who greased whose palm and for how much? I can't believe my eyes when I see this criminal rape of the taxpayers and total disregard for ecology.

- Jack Galbo

Burbank

Foreign aid

Back to the subject of foreign aid: Why should we give any to the people who dance in the streets when thousands of Americans are slaughtered? And now the Gallup Poll documents and quantifies how much we are hated by the beneficiaries of our largess - even those whom we liberated with American blood.

Better by far to direct it to our most reliable ally, Israel. Too bad they weren't included in the poll. We know generally that they have a favorable opinion of us, justify our actions in Afghanistan and believe that the Sept. 11 attackers were Arabs. They also like President Bush.

- Louis Richter

Encino

A nice distinction

Before finishing Belmont we should inform parents and students that when they sign up to use the Belmont facilities, the students (and their families) have to sign an agreement not to sue the school and/or the district for whatever physical and/or mental problems possibly arising because of the location on which Belmont is built.

Nevertheless, the students and their families are welcome to sue everyone (and their descendents) interested in promoting the use of the Belmont school.

- Dante F. Rochetti

West Hills

Not generous

Our politicians are generous when they give themselves pay raises. They have it set up so they get an automatic raise each year unless they vote it down. Each year, less than a majority vote against it. They take turns telling their constituents that they voted against it.

This year they voted a 2.6 percent increase for service-connected disabled veterans. But they rounded it down to the next lowest dollar. The largest group are the 10 percent disabled. So they get a $2 instead of a $3 raise. The word for Congress is cheap.

- Howard Knudson

Van Nuys

Leave them there

It is being reported that the U.S. government wants to extradite those involved in the brutal murder of Daniel Pearl and indict them here in the United States. I say let Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf prove to the United States that Pakistan is our true ally, and see to it that these cold-blooded killers are tried under Pakistani law. If they are brought here for trial and represented by another ``dream team,'' then face an O.J.-type jury, they may even be acquitted!

If they are convicted, you can bet your tax dollar they'll sit on death row for 20 years. In Pakistan, punishment is swift and just. Leave them there.

- John Reilly

Granada Hills

Childhood diseases

So young children who suffer early sniffles and coughs get fewer colds in elementary school (Daily News, Feb. 15). I wonder, does this support the concept that other early childhood diseases lead to immunity from more serious diseases in later life?

Maybe, just maybe, we do not want to vaccinate our children against every disease. Perhaps the inconvenience to mom or dad for a few days of staying home with a child who has chicken pox will prove its value when later in life their grown son or daughter will avoid the pain and suffering of shingles. Isn't it just possible that childhood diseases are what build our immune systems?

- Jeffrey S. Skinner

Northridge

Rosa was the one

I am of the opinion that there ought to be a Rosa Parks Day. Parks did a much greater service in a single day for Americans in general and African-Americans in particular than Muhammad Ali did in all his life. Rosa Parks will not be forgotten for a very, very long time.

- Aprim K. Abraham

North Hills