PUBLIC FORUM.

Look who's talking

Re ``Mayor rates Arnold low'' (Nov. 1):

So the new mayor who so far is acting just like the clown who preceded him rates Arnold low on the reform issues. This coming from someone who so far has done nothing but look the other way on the DWP contract, kill the $10 billion boondoggle LAX fiasco, and push for a $10 billion gopher hole subway.

Villaraigosa says, ``We have a state locked in budget gridlock.'' Well, L.A. is doing its part to put all of us further in the red. If the economists are right about the inflation rate, the DWP cost-of-living allowance will make the pay raises look like chump change. Of course, it was a bunch of chumps allowing it. Did I mention he is all for the school bond. Another four years of the same old giveaway.

- George Timko

West Hill

Second choice

Re ``Conservative nominated by Bush for court'' (Nov. 1):

So if Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. is such a worthy and fantastic choice, as the talking heads of the news media would have us believe, why was he Bush's second choice?

- Jill Hughart

Burbank

Reward incompetence

Re ``Red light cameras may double'' (Nov. 1):

If cameras were an effective deterrent against running red lights, there would be a decrease in the number of citations issued. Yet cities that deploy them report dramatic increases in citation revenue. This is because most cameras are deployed at ``high collision'' intersections. Most of these collisions are not so much the result of a scofflaw mentality as they are inept signalization, road conditions and misappropriation of highway-improvement funds.

This is why it comes as no surprise that the L.A. City Council plans to double the number of cameras. What a great way to reward themselves for incompetence and inefficiency at the expense of the voters.

- John S. Soet

Burbank

Not on a napkin

Re ``Orange Line opens to public'' (Oct. 30):

While it is nice that there seem so many ``stars'' walking the red carpet at the premiere of the Orange Line, it would not hurt to include in the list of credits the entire cast. After all, they are the ones who really carried the film.

The alignment of the line came not from the back of a paper napkin as has been reported. Rather, it was developed over time, beginning with MTA taking ownership of the Southern Pacific alignment. The Southern California Association of Governments developed the alignment with the assistance of MTA, paid consultants, elected officials (including representatives Anthony Bielenson and Howard Berman, County Supervisors Ed Edelman and Gloria Molina, and Mayor Richard Riordan), and grass-roots (homeowners groups) and business-organization (including the Valley Industry and Commerce Association, the United Chambers of Commerce, and the Economic Alliance of the SFV) volunteers.

- Mara Fabian

Sherman Oaks

Good reasons

Re ``2,000'' (Oct. 26):

Sometime early next year the total number of American troops killed or injured so that they can't return to duty is expected to reach 10,000. In anticipation of this infamous milestone, I think that gives us 10,000 good reasons to speak up over the apparently politically correct hush-hush and demand a detailed explanation of why the prewar intelligence between Germany and the U.S. was compromised.

Why did the German Federal Intelligence Service refuse to allow any face-to-face CIA interrogations of their ``Curveball'' - that Iraq defector without whose WMD lies even George W. Bush would not have sensed enough public opinion support to order his Iraq invasion in the first place.

- Harvey Pearson

Los Feliz