PUBLIC FORUM TIMING IS EVERYTHING.

Just over two months ago Mayor Hahn was promising Valley residents that services would be improved by keeping the city together. People familiar with the time it takes City Hall to plan and propose spending of funds know that it takes months of work and meetings to finalize proposals.

The Jan. 18 Daily News reported that Mayor Hahn had sent the City Council a proposal that gave the Valley only 9 percent (one quarter of its per-capita share) of federal grant money. Considering the timing involved, Mayor Hahn's saying that he has to break his promises appears to be quite an understatement. What is the truth?

- Victor N. Viereck

North Hollywood

Vehicle license fee

Re ``Hahn calls for raising auto fees'' (Jan. 21):

I'm glad to see our elected officials wanting to raise the vehicle license fees, which it seems is going to be a 307 percent increase. After all, these officials all have vehicles with the ``E'' or ``CA'' exempt license plates so they aren't affected by this huge increase. Whatever happened to the Republican regime surplus?

- Gary Pesselt

Winnetka

Ordinary citizen

I attended the anti-war protests in Los Angeles on Jan. 11 and in San Francisco on Jan. 18. Some of the photos published by the media include a few of the colorful characters in the crowd. If they had chosen to include photos of the majority of the participants, they would have been boring photos indeed - the people who attended are those you would find in your local supermarket or on your own block.

I have served in the Peace Corps and been a public school teacher. I am now a businesswoman and grandmother. In short, I am just an ordinary citizen who loves my country. I believe it is my patriotic duty to protest the possible U.S. attack on Iraq and will continue to join my neighbors in peaceful dissent.

- Joyce L. Evans

Valencia

DWP's scooters

Re ``DWP approves scooter loan for Hawaii firm'' (Jan. 22):

A while back I wrote asking someone from the DWP to explain why it, a public utility, has to promote itself by offering ``free'' slouch hats to all attendees at Dodger games, or why it has to underwrite PBS specials. All those are good things, but it's not the role of the DWP - a public utility that's a monopoly with no competitors.

Now I find that the DWP is a lending institution. It just approved a loan of nearly $2 million to Personal Electronic Transports Inc. of Hawaii to develop some scooters. Of course reps from the DWP and Mayor James Hahn's office all had to go to South Africa to ``explore markets for the scooters'' (that's a whole other letter). But what business does a public utility have lending money to anyone? Isn't that the role of a bank?

- Robert Villar

Sherman Oaks

Death Row

Re ``Death or life: Governors don't agree'' (Viewpoint, Jan. 19):

The current Death Row was built in 1934 to house 68 inmates. It now takes in three antiquated buildings which house 604 condemned men. The aging facilities are not as secure as they need to be for Death Row inmates and have an inefficient operational design that requires extra staffing. The exercise yard is on an exterior wall and about 35 feet from San Francisco Bay.

In 2001, there were two escape attempts from Death Row. One incident involved two inmates who got out of Death Row and into a control room where they had intended to take hostages. At the time, however, there were five officers in the room rather than the normal two and the inmates were quickly overpowered. Finally, it should be noted that the new Death Row will be built with revenue bonds. We will not be cutting health and education programs to fund the construction.

- Stephen Green

Assistant Secretary

California Youth & Adult Correctional Agency

What values?

Sen. Joe Lieberman has said, ``I am pro-values, pro-faith, pro-family and pro-choice.'' (``Democrats vow abortion rights support,'' Jan. 22.) Pro-what kind of values? Faith in what? Pro-what kind of family? I don't know any families who worship together and embrace a moral lifestyle who feel it is an option to kill an unborn baby simply because there may be difficulties to face.

Each and every year 2.5 million American unborn babies are slaughtered simply because their lives were inconvenient to their mothers. Lieberman would like to be president and yet has stated that he refuses to help these most vulnerable and helpless of all American citizens. What could he possibly offer the rest of us?

- Vicki Van Camp

Sylmar

Inequities of prejudice

Affirmative action is causing a few irate whites to experience once in their life what all minorities put up with for most of theirs. Airwave prattle on affirmative action is pretty well-divided along color lines. Recent complaints from these discriminated whites are but a whisper compared with the continued scream of discontented minorities locked in a state of rejection.

Yet, this whisper has caught the president's ear long enough for him to voice his disapproval of affirmative action and its negative affect on whites because of their skin color. Some whites will never know or understand the subtle and sometimes blatant inequities of prejudice.

- Albert Obregon

Sunland

Redistributes taxes

With all due respect to Bill Martin (Your Opinions, Jan. 20), who I'm sure works hard for his state paycheck, I believe he is mistaken when he says that he pays taxes. Since his paycheck is drawn on state tax revenues, he redistributes state tax money to other government agencies.

- John King

Granada Hills

Alcohol taxes

Herman Berman (``Tax alcohol,'' Your Opinions, Jan. 16) has the naive idea that taxing alcoholic beverages has been overlooked. Alcohol is taxed every step of the way in its journey from production to consumer. Just this month I read that both the federal government and California impose excise taxes - so much so that taxes on liquor have increased the retail price to such a level as to depress sales - resulting in diminished tax returns, not new tax income. It was noted the ``liquor golden goose has been killed.''

Still, last year alone, over $6.6 billion of federal excise taxes were collected by ATF from the licensed beverage industry. Next Herman may suggest gasoline is also tax-free and a good target.

- Jean Casey

West Hills

It's that time

It's about this time of year the politicos start looking for an NFL team to offset their loss of revenue in L.A. The fact is that they had a championship team and treated them like dirt.

Al Davis, like so many other business owners in L.A. County, was forced to move elsewhere to escape the politically correct/socially sanitized dregs of society that control the City Council, the Mayor's Office and Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. Go, Raiders.

- Dennis Wilkinson

Winnetka

Beyond fibs

The Jan. 21 View from the Valley editorial cartoon depicting Mayor James ``Pinocchio'' Hahn really says it all. Considering the mayor's continuous betrayal of his Valley constituents, I wonder how they are feeling now - would they change the way they cast their ballot?

If we held an election today, what would the outcome be - not only for the mayor, but also the secession issue? How outrageous must the lies become before the gullible finally catch on?

- Jack Alexander

Granada Hills