PUBLIC FORUM.

Council limitations

Re ``Panel urges `living wage' at hotels'' (Oct. 12):

Once again our illustrious City Council members have displayed their lack of recognizing their limitations and lack of fiscal responsibility. For years this fact has been clearly indicated by their actions, and now they presume to think they know how to run the hotel business.

I suspect that a few sizable donations made to the respective office accounts might dispense with this problem both quickly and quietly.

-- Nellson H. Vels

Tarzana

Happiest place

Re ``Disney signs deal to set up stores in India'' (Business, Oct. 12):

The company that dares to refer to itself as ``The happiest place on Earth'' is now taking its fake facade to India. Please! How insensitive, since poverty is so prevalent in that country. Having spent time in India recently, I found:

Rishikesh has no movie houses, no libraries; Anandpur has no skateboards, no colorful clothing; Dharmasala has no showers, people cooked on gas burners on the floor; Amritsar has no hunger due to The Golden Temple, but poverty was everywhere, and so on. Consequently, what effect is the glitz and expanse of all things Disney going to have on the people who truly know the happiest place on Earth is in the heart?

-- Grant Lashley

North Hollywood

ATM voting

Since there seem to be so many problems with voting machines, why hasn't someone suggested that we hire the company that makes bank ATMs?

They are reliable, accurate and readily available in every neighborhood. They can easily be retrofitted to give a paper confirmation of one's vote. Perhaps even give a tally of totals to date. Everybody knows how to use them and minimal instructions are needed for those who don't. Think about it.

-- Mili Lang

Woodland Hills

The rest of us?

Re ``Man wants Oasis in the Valley'' (Oct. 11):

Oasis in the Valley? Great idea. As everyone knows, we don't have enough traffic, crime and congestion here in the West Valley.

The piece should have been titled: One man wants an Oasis in the Valley. The rest of us don't.

-- Dave Griggs

Woodland Hills

Distorted viewpoint

Re ``Good for the gander'' (Your Opinions, Oct. 11):

Richard McCurdy, blasting Rich Lowry's column ``Foley flap consensus needed,'' suggests that there is no difference between the Foley e-mail scandal and President Clinton's Lewinsky scandal. There is a vast difference.

Clinton was not impeached for carrying on with Lewinsky, but for lying under oath about the Lewinsky scandal. Foley has committed no crime. While it is improper and immoral to do what he is accused of, he did not lie about it nor did he try to cover it. Foley had no physical contact with the boys, according to what I have read. Furthermore, even had there been contact, I read that all parties were of legal consent age in the state where the behavior took place.

-- Charles L. Murray

Santa Clarita 

Life, no parole

Re ``More calls for death penalty in child rapes'' (Oct. 10):

The penalty for raping a child isn't nearly as severe as it should be. It is a fact that people come to America from other countries to sodomize, rape and kill children because of the leniency of our laws against it. It should be clearly obvious that we are not doing enough about the offenses to prevent such crimes.

Releasing child rapists from prison sends the wrong message about the crimes committed, but life in prison sends the message we mean business. Child rapists who kill children have no regard for life, making the death penalty useless.

-- Joe Hale

Sylmar