PUBLIC FORUM.

What is the limit?

Re ``Sylmar: Preserve our community'' (Feb. 7):

We live in times where it routinely takes an hour to commute a distance that our highways were designed to take us in 30 minutes. Schools are overcrowded. Emergency rooms are closing. We don't have enough parks and so-called experts propose we condemn homes to make room for larger highways.

All these point to one thing: city population density. Yet our civic leaders ignore it. Creating more housing to address a ``shortage'' only treats a symptom, not the disease. The tax base gained by developing open land will never make up for the myopic planning that has created these problems and will only serve to exacerbate them. If we have not already reached capacity now, then what is the limit to the population of Los Angeles?

- Michael McNamara 

Sylmar

Hillside development

Re ``Hillside moratorium'' (Editorial, Feb. 23):

Thanks so much to the Daily News for covering the Canyon Hills/Whitebird project in Tujunga. Your editorial was right on target. I'm really horrified at our city elders' behavior in this instance. My future votes will certainly be changing.

- Benita Bike

Sunland

Prime example

Re ``Pork barrel raided to hire cops'' (Feb. 24):

Well, isn't it just amazing? All of a sudden, after months of campaigning by his honor the mayor and his cohorts to raise the taxes for more cops, the City Council comes up with almost a million bucks. Money that was supposed to go to, get this now, ``pet nonprofit organizations.''

Do you think that Mayor Hahn was unaware that this pork barrel existed? Do you think that if the City Council did not divert all this money to the police fund that some pet nonprofit organizations would have been angry for the loss of free money? It's a prime example of politicians who refuse to take no for an answer. I find it difficult that the mayor just flat refused to accept the will of the people.

- Robert E. West

Palmdale

Tigers and predators

The Fish and Game people should not be criticized too much. They had to protect themselves from the most deadly of all predators: lawyers. If by some far-out chance there was injury to the public, especially a child, the lawyers would have had a feeding frenzy that would put sharks to shame.

- Tom Suter

La Crescenta

Arrogant American

Re ``Bush to Putin: Push reforms'' (Feb. 24):

I wonder if President George W. Bush would appreciate Vladimir Putin coming to this country and telling him how to run it? Small wonder the rest of the world views America as arrogant.

- Don Gately

Valencia

Long-term overtime

Re ``County OT still soars'' (Feb. 27):

In the short term the city and county can save money with overtime. But what about the long-term effects? The mayor mentions that city crews were working 12-hour shifts due to the storm. How much overtime did they work before the storm? After reading the article in the news and seeing that some in certain departments earned twice and three times what they normally make, why was the overtime not spread out among more workers in the department?

Some workers are gearing their life and spending habits with the expectation of overtime. How much money is lost due to fatigue and possible liability suits plus workers' comp claims?

- Mike Hoblinski

Burbank

Every year

Re ``Two killed in city yard; longtime co-worker held'' (Feb. 25):

Today's news (Feb. 25) tells us that two mutants using AK-47s have killed four people in Texas and in Los Angeles. Yesterday it was a coward in Florida executing his family. And tomorrow? Who knows.

Meanwhile, the NRA and their sycophantic reps in Washington continue to distort the Second Amendment ensuring that approximately another 30,000 Americans will die this year from guns. That's 10 times more than the World Trade Center, folks. Every year. In fact, the only forces on Earth that have matched that death count have been the recent tsunamis, the Rwandan massacre and Saddam Hussein.

- Chuck Heinold

West Hills

Anti-gun agenda

Re ``Feinstein to push assault-weapon ban'' (Feb. 27):

Once again Dianne Feinstein wants to use a tragedy to push her anti-gun agenda. The AK-47 style rifles have been banned in California for years; that didn't seem to matter to Thomas Sampson when he killed city maintenance workers Rene Flores and Ricardo Garris.

Does it really matter if a banned gun was used to kill those men as opposed to some other politically correct gun or maybe a knife? Perhaps Sen. Feinstein can help California by pushing to enforce the death penalty since the assault-weapon ban is clearly not effective at stopping crime.

- Robert D. Keil

Valencia

Weapons that kill

Sen. Dianne Feinstein wants assault weapons outlawed. Must have been another shooting, huh? Where was she when that butcher knife murdered a family of seven? Hatchets, axes, pitchforks, hammers, screwdrivers, machetes and above all ``assault knives'' have been implements of mass murder, senator. Why aren't you crying out for their banishment? They're just as deadly and they make no noise.

What about bare hands, senator? Let's chop off all the hands that could strangle innocent babies or punch women and children to death? Admit it, senator, you only hate weapons that make the most noise and garner headlines.

- Dean Brassfield

Toluca Woods

Closing military bases

Re ``Arnold for the defense'' (Feb. 28):

Instead of closing military bases in the United States, isn't it about time to close some of our bases in foreign countries? We have nearly 400,000 U.S. troops in 65 foreign countries, some of which resent our presence. We have been occupying Germany and others for as much as 60 years! The reason for these bases has long since passed.

The billions of dollars we spend to maintain these bases benefits the foreign countries' economies and depletes our own. Activating our reserves and National Guard would not have been necessary if these troops were available and utilized.

- William Krambo

Tujunga

Why distortion?

The Academy Awards ceremony hit a new low Sunday, and I am not referring to Chris Rock's ``humor'' or the rear of Hilary Swank's dress. No, it occurred during the segment honoring those in the film industry who had died in the past year.

The ABC broadcast used special effects to distort the image of, and make the caption illegible for, only one honoree - a black male. Was he Ossie Davis? If so, was this dissing due to his opposition to war, and what does it say about the film and broadcast industries?

- John Zuehlke

Sherman Oaks

Tiger vigil

Re ``Tiger-gate?'' (Your Opinions, Feb. 28):

I would be more than glad to answer your question about what kind of ``loser'' would waste his or her time going to a candlelight vigil for a ``dead animal'': The kind of person who would go to a vigil is someone who has compassion for other living beings on this Earth, and is truly saddened by the unnecessary killing of the tiger.

On the other hand, there are losers who don't have a life and choose to waste time and space in the Daily News Opinions with pointless and meaningless diatribe on a ``dead animal.''

- Sophia Sherman

Sherman Oaks