PUBLIC FORUM.

Boondoggle by the Boo-boo

Re ``Billion-dollar plans set for `Times Square West''' (Sept. 14):

Calling the proposed Sports-Entertainment complex ``Times Square West'' shows just how far off the mark this project is. Times Square came to life using what had been a run-down area with beautiful old theaters that were mostly empty. It had great transportation and was accessible by foot from people's offices and hotels. Sound familiar?

Times Square West would be redeveloping our downtown, which is what New York did. This project isn't Times Square West. It's City Walk South or, as it is very likely to become known several billion dollars later for its proximity to the hapless convention center, ``Boondoggle by the Boo-boo.''

- Gil Gross

Sherman Oaks

Doing their best

Re ``Oops! DWP flub leaves 2 million powerless'' (Sept. 13):

So I see the hard-working electricians at the Department of Water and Power are now perceived as culprits. Yes, a mistake was made that had severe consequences. So are you calling for the person's head on a platter when they were just trying to do their job? If you don't ever try, you won't ever make a mistake. But good people doing their best still can make mistakes. Should they be given additional training? Absolutely.

But the power system protective scheme that has served the city of Los Angeles for nearly 100 years functioned perfectly by protecting the equipment so it was available to continue to serve the people of L.A. after the failure was cleared. The service the city gets from DWP doesn't need improving, but the politicians who want a news cycle with their name mentioned could be improved.

- Rod Luedke

West Hills

DWP compensation

As a wife of an 18-year veteran of a DWP lineman, I am astonished at people's view of the DWP in this column. Don't people realize that the DWP contributes over $185 million yearly to the general fund? The City Council is now just worrying about a 6 percent ceiling on the pay raises. Look at the national Consumer Price Index; it has never gone as high as 4, 5 or even 6 percent. Their concerns should have been addressed prior to the contract being presented to the union members for ratification.

I am in the same category as police and firemen's wives. Every morning my husband leaves for work and I never know if he will return. Doesn't he deserve to be compensated for the danger to his life that he deals with every day in order to keep the power on for Los Angeles taxpayers?

- Donna Thoman

Simi Valley 

With MTA in charge

Re ``Anger follows 405 bill failure'' (Sept. 10):

Watching the ``blame game'' unfold while waiting for action on the 405 HOV-lane project is like watching a smaller version of the ``brilliant'' political leadership shown at local, state and federal levels in response to Hurricane Katrina. LACMTA was given control of funding freeway projects many years ago by the Legislature. Since then, its focus has been buried somewhere other than highways, like the Red Line debacle, MTA Taj Majal with marble from Italy, etc.

They have failed to fund improvements to the freeway system. Drive the 5 or 405 freeways in Orange County, then return to the Third World version of freeways in Los Angeles. Politics first in L.A., whereas the Orange County Transportation Authority put politics aside and put the public first. Do we now want to put the MTA in charge of the design and construction on the 405 HOV?

- Charles O'Connell

Deputy director, Caltrans (retired)

Tried that, didn't work

Re ``Making a place for workers'' (Sept. 11):

Shelters for day laborers are already in effect at Home Depot's Woodland Hills and Van Nuys stores. They are very seldom used. Workers would rather invade the parking lots and bother patrons trying to shop. Fences have been erected and security guards hired, expenses passed on to the consumer. Do us all a favor, INS, round them all up and send them back to their countries of origin.

- Ken Thatcher 

Van Nuys

Poverty rate

Re ``Americans could stop U.S. poverty'' (Their Opinions, Sept. 6):

Al Sheahen asserted, ``Poverty rates in 2004 are the highest since the 1970s.'' That is not true. The current poverty rate of 12.7 percent is well below poverty rates seen in many years in the 1980s and early 1990s. For example, the U.S. Census Bureau reports that in 1983, 15.2 percent of Americans lived in poverty; in 1993, the rate was 15.1 percent.

We need to further reduce poverty by building on the welfare reforms enacted in the 1990s that helped millions of Americans find work and escape poverty.

- Rep. Wally Herger

Chairman

Ways and Means Human Resources Subcommittee

Universal preschool

Re ``Preschool drive unites business, labor in cause'' (Their Opinions, Sept. 12):

As a longtime educator, I truly believe universal preschool reduces bureaucracy by empowering all preschools equally, whether they are private, faith-based, for-profit or nonprofit.

In the case of my school, the community has benefited because we are providing a high-quality early education program to 80 children who have never before attended a preschool because their parents couldn't afford it. Our staff now receives health care benefits and extensive training based on results of the most recent research in how young children develop and learn. It was a collaborative effort between our ``school family'' and the LAUP staff and it is working.

- Cyndee A. Riding

Executive Director

Kids Korner Early Learning Center

Income property

Re ``Rent freeze needed'' (Your Opinions, Sept. 11):

Some people have never owned property and don't know what the continued responsibilities are with increasing property taxes, insurance, utility bills and general upkeep. Asking for a rent freeze is only half as funny as when one of my tenants asked for a rent ``rollback.''

Has Jeffrey Whapham seen the price of real estate lately? Has he ever been a landlord? Tenants pay their rent and so ends their responsibility. They don't have to repair plumbing on Christmas Eve or climb onto the roof in a rainstorm. Renters who complain about high rents should pay attention the next time they go to the polls. A bond measure will increase property taxes, and increased taxes mean higher rent. After all, it is called ``income property'' for a reason.

- Sheri Small

Burbank

A once-free republic

Re ``Should have known,'' and ``Katrina aftermath'' (Your Opinions, Sept. 14):

I tried to stay away from the fray over blaming the feds and the president for a hurricane. The latest rants made me snap. The idea of cradle-to-grave socialism has left us a nation of people waiting for the president to come and take out the trash for them. Usually smart-thinking people (are) reduced to babbling lemmings who expect help from the government for their every whim.

Personal responsibility be damned, local control of governments be damned. Marx, Engels, Lenin and even Trotsky would be proud. The conversion from a free republic to a socialist hell is complete.

- John K. Taylor

Chatsworth

Claiming 100 mpg

Re ``Always a myth (Your Opinions, Sept. 13):

John King's comment ``The 100-mile-per-gallon carburetor is and always has been a myth'' needs a little more research. A ``vapor injection system'' was developed by a young man in the mid-1940s from, of all places, Texas. (Maybe that's why we didn't hear much about it.)

Once the engine was started and run to a warm temperature, the exhaust heat was routed to heat a very thick, heavy, steel gasoline tank, where the gasoline vapors were injected into the engine, instead of the raw gasoline liquid - claiming over 100 mpg at the time. With modern technology, I should think some form of this ``gasoline vapor injection'' could be explored and developed to lessen our dependency on the foreign and OPEC nations.

- Ken Walkey

Thousand Oaks