PUBLIC FORUM.

It doesn't work

Re ``Transit `villages' for L.A.?'' (Sept. 4):

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's plan to cluster high-density housing along transit corridors is the same utopian pipe dream that has been around L.A. for at least 40 years and which was implemented in Century City in the early 1970s.

Premised on the idea that residents of such housing would use public transit rather than their cars, every independent study I have seen shows that it doesn't work, particularly in L.A., where the population is so mobile. People live where housing is available and they take the best jobs they can get regardless of whether public transit is available. We just end up with more traffic congestion and a poorer quality of life. And the transit corridor property owners and developers make fortunes off the upzoning even though the public transit never gets built, as happened in Century City.

-- Jack Allen 

Pacific Palisades 

Grieving mom

Re ``Grieving mom has cause to rail at airline'' (Dennis McCarthy column, Sept. 3):

Too often, corporations across the spectrum of the business world ignore customer service almost entirely. The bottom line is profit, geared to plumping up the top corporate perks.

If only a relatively small portion of those profits were invested in better public relations and customer service, exacerbation of feelings of grief in situations such as this one could be avoided.

-- Ellie Doud

Van Nuys

Four more years?

Do you support the City Council's desire to extend term limits to three terms, instead of the current two? Tough decision? Ask yourself the following: Are you safer? Has traffic improved? Does your council office respond to requests? Are schools better? Do we have more cops? Did your street get repaved? Did your city tree get trimmed? Did your utility bills increase?

If you feel you're safer and your life is easier, then vote for four more years. If, like the majority, the answer is that things are actually worse and it's costing more to get less, then two terms is sufficient. To all council members: What piece of significant legislation did you author during your term? How did it benefit the voters (campaign contributors excluded)?

-- Ellen Bagelman

Lake Balboa

Beauty of the man

Re ``Labor of Love'' (Sept. 4):

As a lifelong tennis player and fan, I wept with Andre Agassi at his final bow to the crowd and the game. The beauty of tennis is its singular mind, heart and skill. Agassi's career revealed a beauty beyond that: the beauty of the man.

-- Jeanine D'Elia

Granada Hills

Not all love

Re ``Labor of love'' (Sept. 4):

Andre Agassi's tennis career has not been without blemish. He frequently maligned gays in his developing years. In the 1994 French Open, he was slapped with a penalty point for using a pejorative for homosexuals in chastising himself for an error. ``I didn't say anything worthy of a penalty point,'' Agassi said. ``It's something I've said frequently and said earlier in the match. I was under the impression it was OK.''

There was no public outcry over his behavior. I guess it's acceptable to be a bigot if you're a tennis star but not a movie star.

-- John Shaboo

Los Angeles 

`Huggy Boy's' spot

Re ```That's all' for former DJ `Huggy Boy''' (Sept. 1):

Can't believe that the greatest rock 'n' roll/rhythm and blues disc jockey ever in the city of Los Angeles only rated a single column on Page 20 of Friday's paper.

Every baby boomer that grew up in L.A. during the 1950s and '60s had their ``Huggy Boy'' button set on the radio of their car. I still remember going down to the Dolphins of Hollywood record shop to dedicate records when he used to do his show inside the front window. Old ``Huggy'' gets Page 20, but every time old Mayor Antonio burps, his picture is on Page 1.

-- Doug Hamilton 

Santa Clarita

Labeling sides

Re ``Leftists bar Fox from address'' (Sept. 2):

Why is Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador a ``leftist'' while Felipe Calderon is called a ``conservative?''

-- Jerry F. Piro

Sun Valley

Osama's pick?

Re Tom Toles' political cartoon, Sept 4:

Toles' political speech (excuse me, cartoon) gave a good reason for voting against every Republican, but I have a better one for voting against every Democrat but those who, like Sen. Joe Lieberman, will break party discipline.

For five years, al-Qaida has not succeeded in hitting us again. It is not for lack of trying, but this administration has so weakened, hounded and disrupted them that their efforts have drawn no more blood. How fortunate that no Kerrys were running the show. Which party do you think Osama hopes to see win in November?

-- Louis Richter

Encino

Prejudiced, as usual

Re Mallard Fillmore cartoon, Sept. 4:

I look forward to Katie Couric's first newscast. Bruce Tinsley assumes that this broadcast will be lighthearted and without substance, even before it airs.

I have seen Katie conduct serious interviews on the Today show. In my opinion, she is on a par with Barbara Walters and Diane Sawyer. Tinsley (and his duck), as usual, lets his prejudice get the best of him.

-- Cornelis (Neil) Jongepier

Palmdale

Minimum wage

California is about to raise the minimum wage for all workers. I don't know whether this is a good idea or not, but I do believe it will be wrongly applied. The minimum wage should be applied to the Los Angeles City Council and California Assembly and Senate. Perhaps then only the homeless would strive for these offices.

And do you really think we would be served any worse by these newly emplaced citizens? Perhaps they would not be as subject to the bribes (read: campaign contributions) taken by our current elected officials.

-- Max Yost

Northridge

Commemoration

Why commemorate 9-11? That was the day we were sucker-punched, flat-footed, after our president spent a month vacationing in Texas instead of heeding intelligence warnings about Osama bin Ladin.

Instead, let us remember that glorious day in May when our president's jet landed on an aircraft carrier and out he popped, bedecked in his flight suit, to announce ``Mission accomplished!'' Mission Accomplished Day! On that day, more than 90 percent of our solders who have since died in Iraq were still alive. On that day, we were proud to be American.

-- Bruce Joffe

Piedmont

Good news

Upon reading the news, my blood pressure rises in proportion to the amount of mayhem, injustice and greed reported daily. Last week, I was pleasantly surprised that I could pick out three pieces of news that gladdened my heart: (1) gene therapy is making a headway in curing diseases; (2) a judge ruled Proposition R must be reworded on the November ballot so it does not mislead voters regarding term limits of City Council members; (3) after eating a meal of artery-clogging food, one can reduce the effect on our cholesterol by taking a long walk.

This week, I hope we readers will find more good news over which to rejoice. It would be nice to see a balance.

-- Yolanda Fintor

Northridge

Heck of a job

A sure way to find out if there is patriotic support for the Iraqi war would be to reinstate a Selective Service draft in the United States. Are you up to that, President Bush?

-- Bob Ginn

Arcadia