PUBLIC FORUM.

Roll up his sleeves

Re ``Brewer to get $1.2 million, four-year pact'' (Oct. 31):

Why not let someone who has never been a doctor run an ER? I understand that David Brewer III is a three-star admiral and that his wife and mother both have backgrounds in education -- so what? More than $300,000 annual salary, $45,000 expense account, and $3,000 per month for housing? Can you just imagine how many new books and upgraded classrooms that money could buy?

I hope one day the board realizes that it is the teachers who should be making the big money -- and not someone who is trying to make nice with the mayor. I hope Brewer can roll his sleeves up high enough because he does have a big task in front of him.

-- Stacey Tarantino

Chatsworth

Who did it?

Re ``Brewer to get $1.2 million, four-year pact'' (Oct. 31):

In the interest of government accountably and transparency, I want someone in Los Angeles city government or Los Angeles County government to tell me who decided David Brewer III is worth $381,000 (plus a car and a driver) per year to serve as Los Angeles Unified School District superintendent.

I don't believe that is too much to ask of our elected officials ... or is that privileged information that individual taxpayers need not worry about?

-- Nancy Cook 

Northridge

LAPD flex schedule

In the 14 years that I've lived in L.A.'s northeast region, I've had to call the LAPD numerous times- regarding loud parties or other nonemergencies. The response time of the officers was consistently two hours after the call. So I'm amazed to read in the Daily News that the LAPD response time to nonemergencies is, at the most, 11.5 minutes.

Am I the only one who thinks this is a bogus figure? I've known for a long time that the three-day work week for officers results in slow response time. Why not poll readers of the Daily News to get the response time for their nonemergency calls to LAPD? We deserve better and we need correct figures from the residents to get better police service.

-- Sandra Malone

Los Angeles

Is this fair?

``City chiefs to get 5% bump in pay'' appeared on Page 5 in the Daily News. It should have been on Page 1 so that more readers would see the rip-off we are getting from all these so-called leaders of ours.

The numbers are staggering. The mayor will be getting more than $200,000 and the City Council more than $171,000. Are these fair wages for these jobs? It's got to stop somewhere. We have to revert back to when the voters voted for raises. And vote no on Measure R and bring some sanity to Los Angeles.

-- Johnny Rotella

Van Nuys

Homeless scattered

Re ``Skid Row program scatters homeless'' (Oct. 31):

My, my, the officials are acknowledging that they need to reassess their approach to the homeless. Where did they think they were going to go when chased away from downtown? The Ritz Carlton? No, they are headed to the San Fernando Valley. Can't blame them ... They will be moving up.

Estella Lopez, executive director of the Central City East Association, has been trying to get officials to deal with the homeless issue for years, (and) believes the city began the program without adequate preparation. What are the fats cats doing to solve the homeless situation? Nothing! Besides being the highest-paid City Council in the nation, they will be getting a 5 percent cost-of-living increase and then they want another term. Even more reason to vote no on Measure R.

-- Marianne Castro Lawson

Granada Hills

Flourishing economy

According to the Oct. 30 Business Week magazine, the average annual CEO pay for S&P 500 companies is $10.5 million. That is 369 times the average worker pay of $28,310. Is it any wonder most of us are not experiencing too much happiness over the flourishing U.S. economy?

-- Don Evans

Canoga Park

Welfare for the rich

I am disgusted with the Daily News for backing Measure H, a boondoggle bond that would force thousands of homeowners on limited incomes to subsidize workers who make $104,000 a year.

This is really welfare for the rich. If they can't figure out how to buy a house with this huge yearly income, maybe they'll just have to forget instant gratification and learn how to use a bank account to save for their dream.

-- Michael Guetzow

Woodland Hills

All the bond measures

Until proper laws are passed to assure the money goes where intended, no one should vote for any of the bond bills. Remember all the billions of dollars in bonds passed for education, fighting crime, fixing roads, etc.? The real crime is, those in charge have not been held responsible. They, at the very least, should be thrown out of office.

But the people seem too concerned with Tom Cruise, Madonna, Brad (Pitt) and sports to take the time to e-mail, write, call and vote. We pretty well get what we ask for -- or is that, do not bother to ask for?

-- Warren Ettleman

Burbank

Another wondering

Re ``Cell-phone driving'' (Your Opinions, Oct. 31):

I, too, have wondered why it takes until 2008 for the bill regarding cell phone usage while driving a car to become effective. Makes no sense to have to wait this long for a bill to become a law.

I have also been wondering for years why our ballots are also available written in multiple languages. You need to be an American citizen to vote, and doesn't one need to be able to read English to become an American citizen? It seems our ballots are not available in European languages, only in Asian and South American languages. Can anyone answer this?

-- Harriet Jones 

Northridge

Propositioning us

The ``propositions'' on Tuesday's ballot amount to nothing more than another screwing of the California taxpayer ... consider this: 1A keeps the legislators from using gas tax money for other purposes ... huh? So, now we have to legislate honesty? 1B through 1E to ``rebuild'' California? With no new taxes? What, are you math-impaired? Who will repay the almost $90 billion these gems will cost over 30 years and how will they do it without new taxes?

The remainder constitute nothing more than one group of people taking money from a second group and giving it to a third group. If you want to keep some of your own money to live on in the next 30 years you'll join me in voting ``no'' on all of it.

-- William Campbell 

Valencia

CSUN enrollment

The article ``Record enrollment at CSUN'' talks about CSUN's various recruitment methods. What stunned me was the high number of enrolled students at CSUN and how it's expected to go up each year. It's nice to know that our school is becoming popular and a top choice for students, whether our recruitment numbers are going up, because of students right out of high school, or community college transfers, the results are fantastic.

All that matters is how we are getting those numbers up and making CSUN a top school within the Cal State system. A good reputation for our school is good for all.

-- Brenda Valadez

Northridge

Proposition H

I hope people will cast a no vote for this proposition. It is unfair that property taxpayers, who are already seeing their property tax bills climb higher and higher every year, bear the burden of affordable housing. Also, what about senior homeowners on fixed incomes?

-- Patricia Watson

Studio City