PUBLIC FORUM.

Subway to sea

Re ``Subway to sea viable?'' (Feb. 15):

Although $4.8 billion for the Wilshire subway is expensive, the route's importance justifies the cost. A Wilshire subway would not be a slow Gold Line or a useless Green, but a busy line connecting most of the county's important job centers. It would enhance Metrolink, which could bring suburbanites to more places than just downtown and Hollywood.

Rapid transit along the 405 Freeway would still be necessary for Los Angeles to have truly effective transit. However, at some point, we'll need a Wilshire subway. Shall we build it now, or wait for it to get even more expensive?

- Peter McFerrin

Los Angeles

Don't do it

Re ``Subway to the sea viable?'' (Feb. 15):

Regarding ``Subway to the sea viable?'': The answer to this question is emphatically ``no'', due to its mega cost and limited effect. There are many options of broader application, dramatically lower cost, and vastly reduced times of implementation that should be seriously considered.

The Orange Line bus route, with its parallel bike trail, is a prime example of providing practical transportation, healthful recreation and an improved quality of life at an affordable cost. For many, the Orange Line is the most prominent public improvement of the past half century in the San Fernando Valley. Los Angeles could use much more of the same, employing unused railways and the banks of the Los Angeles River.

- Don Malvin

Canoga Park

Pipe-dream subway

Re ``Subway to sea viable?'' (Feb. 15):

``Subway to the Ocean,'' though a catchy slogan to become mayor and a necessity for people who want to avoid the traffic on Wilshire and the 10 Freeway, will lose steam before it leaves the station. The main issue is not the cost as some are suggesting but the presentation that this subway is a stand-alone gold-plated project and not part of a bigger regional picture.

If a connecting transit line parallel to the parking lot Angelenos called the 405 Freeway is looked at linking the under-served Valley with busy LAX then this Wilshire extension will genuinely build momentum that this is a vital piece of a transit network. Until then, this vision of a subway will just be a pipe dream.

- Jerard Wright

Los Angeles

DWP a business

Re ``Big spenders'' (Editorial, Feb. 15):

The editorial labeling the DWP general manager's discretionary spending account as a slush fund is outrageous drivel. That fund allows the DWP, which is a business, to operate like a business without having to say ``Mother, may I?'' every time there is something that is required in a timely manner to maintain the water or power systems.

We all know the City Council, so busy sticking its nose into federal and world politics that it doesn't govern the city very well, can't be depended on for much, let alone permission to purchase the materials and services the DWP needs on a daily basis. The discretionary fund is a necessary tool the general manager requires to run the DWP in the businesslike manner the ratepayers deserve. I say, ``hands off.''

- Rod Luedke

West Hills

Not Chekhov

Re ``This 'Cherry Orchard' more than ripe for the picking'' (U Section, Feb. 15):

I take issue with reviewer Evan Henerson, this production of ``The Cherry Orchard'' is horrendous. The production is set in something ridiculously similar to a wooden barrel, with a cast that matches the set.

The sole exception, acting-wise, is Alan Mandell, as the ancient servant, Firs. Otherwise, the acting is dull and passionless. Moreover, how can the director possibly justify allowing Alfred Molina to play his part as Lopakhin, the Russian serf, with a flamboyant Cockney accent? It comes across as blatantly amateurish, not modern. It is not enough to have moments of slapstick humor as a substitution for real depth, conflict and behavior, places where real humor comes from. The entire production is chilly and benumbed. It is not Chekhov.

- Jeremy Bright

Sherman Oaks

It does happen

The Dick Cheney shooting isn't the first time the top echelons of government were involved in firearm mayhem. There was the Aaron Burr-Alexander Hamilton duel some 200 years ago.

More recently, however, circa 1959, the then-president of General Motors, Harlow Curtice, made the cover of Time magazine, for killing his best friend in a hunting accident in the Michigan woods, north of Detroit.

- Rick Rofman

Ven Nuys

Cheney incident

Re ``Cheney: I'm the guy who pulled the trigger and shot my friend'' (Feb. 16):

Not only did the administration ``stonewall'' the Cheney incident for almost 24 hours, but when it did release the story it did not first give a phone call to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa who had to hear the news while attending a photo op at the opening of a cell-phone kiosk at the mall.

- Marshall Barth

Encino

His humanity

I am certain that the shooting of a loyal contributor by the vice president was only a tragic accident. I am equally certain that the vice president's reaction gives a deep insight into his humanity, compassion and sense of friendship. A normal person might have said, ``Omigawd. How terrible. I'm so sorry that I hurt my dear friend.'' Cheney said he had called Harry Whittington to wish him well. ``The vice president said that he stood ready to assist.''

- Don Culp

Burbank

Kwan example

Re ``Michelle Kwan'' (Your Opinions, Feb. 15):

The criticism of Michelle Kwan by Claire Tucci is not only unfair, it shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the Olympic movement. There are no official Olympic medal counts and no Olympic awards for national medal counts. Medal counts are generally the result of early Nazi propaganda, Cold War competition, and modern journalistic hype.

Except for those athletes from some totalitarian countries, Olympians do not perform for their country. While there is a healthy and natural team spirit, the Olympics are about individual effort, dedication and excellence. You will find no greater example of the ``Olympic Spirit'' than the efforts and attitude of Michelle Kwan.

- Bob Gates

Granada Hills

Palestinian quandary

There are those who say we should continue to fund the Palestinian government that is now controlled by Hamas because if we cut off the money, it would hurt the Palestinian people. Then again, it was the Palestinian people who voted Hamas into power in the first place. Now, that's a quandary.

- R.J. Johnson

North Hollywood

Economic gap

I only wish that President Bush, his cronies, every congressperson, and even the justices could live with the salaries and needs of the more than one-third of the population that lives at or below the poverty line for three to six months.

I only wish that since a large part of the future of this country depends upon the education of the children that all of the above have their children entered in the public school system. I only wish that all of the above live on the income of the many elderly people who have struggled and worked all their lives only to see future benefits lessen and their costs increase. The gap between the ``wealthy'' and shrinking middle class and poor continues to increase.

- Lee Wasserwald

Santa Monica