PUBLIC FORUM.

More now, less later

Re ``City Council flip-flops on payoff'' (Nov. 30):

The City Council has the same penny-wise and pound-foolish attitude about lawsuits as McDonald's has: Pay every frivolous suit because it costs more to fight it. Sure, it costs more now since the city has the reputation as a patsy. Threaten it with a lawsuit and it folds. Then be stuck forever paying out money on all suits to avoid the expense of court.

The plaintiffs' lawyers take these cases on contingency. If the city had a tough attitude, fought all cases and appealed all the marginal ones, the lawyers would be less likely to invest their own time and money in frivolous suits. It would cost more now, but the eventual result would be less money paid out.

-- Leonard McGinnis

Granada Hills

Couldn't take the heat

Re ``Council flip-flops on payoffs'' (Nov. 30):

On Nov. 8, the council went along with City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo's advice and agreed to the Tennie Pierce settlement on an 11-1 vote with only Dennis Zine opposed. On Wednesday, the council voted 9-6 to back the mayor. There are a total of 15 highly paid City Council fat cats. If I was being paid $177,000 a year, I would be there at all meetings, especially with this case.

They don't care because they get paid whether they are in attendance or not. And Pierce, if he couldn't take the heat any more after 19 years, he should have just retired. No, he is trying to go out with a bang. All firefighters have been pulling pranks on each other for years.

-- Marianne Castro Lawson

Granada Hills

Using the $2.7 million

Re ``Council flip-flops on payoffs'' (Nov. 30):

If the L.A. City Council has the $2.7 million they were giving to the fireman who ate dog food, I have a good place for it. Distribute the money to the people in L.A. who must eat dog food because that's all they can afford. They might even have enough to add some spaghetti.

-- Richard Promen

Chatsworth

Think about it first

Re ``View from the Valley'' (Cartoon, Nov. 30):

Patrick O'Connor's cartoon (comparing) a dog to the firefighter who sued L.A. City Council is in very poor taste. Dogs have eaten human food for years, whereas people have not eaten dog food, unless they had no choice (downtrodden, etc.).

And Mike Peters' cartoon appears to be sacrilegious. Usually, their cartoons are funny; these were not. How about some forethought, guys?

-- Lynette Grismore

Valencia

Desperate measures

Re ``Idealism not always on the left'' (Their Opinion Nov. 30):

I am never surprised by the desperate efforts of conservatives as well as liberals to lionize themselves. Now, (Thomas) Sowell wants to add color to the idea of compassionate conservatism. His foundation references a book by Arthur Brooks, who has gathered some information, (from where, I would like to know) checked it twice, and was astonished to find that conservatives are practicing idealists and liberals only talk about it.

Personally, as private as Americans are, I don't think that you could gather empirical data on this subject that would be accurate. This makes this another specious article by Sowell.

-- Robert D. Walden

Palmdale

School not needed

Re ``Good neighbors'' (Our Opinions, Nov. 30):

Another high school does not need to be built in Granada Hills. It is not a question of taking 50-60 homes through eminent domain versus building at the hospital site. The school is not needed. LAUSD claims their objective is to build neighborhood schools. With four other public high schools within 1.5 miles of the proposed site, where are the students going to come from?

The school board should read and understand its own reports. The latest one now states that by 2014, about three years after the new school is scheduled to open, the district will have excess seats totaling more than the size of this new school.

-- Richard Fisk 

Granada Hills

Paying the cost

Re ``David vs. Goliath'' ((Nov. 28):

There were over 100,000 no votes on Measure R. Would it be out of line to ask each one of those voters to donate $1 each? It did cost more than that just to go vote.

Those who voted yes and regret it should also consider it. David Hernandez should not have to do this alone. Since I cannot afford to dwell on the past, this is not a bad way to move forward.

-- Edwin Ramirez

Pacoima

Tragic punch line 

Re ``New face of homeless'' (Dec. 1):

It is not ``the breakdown of the safety net, ... decrease in affordable housing (and) health care, (and) domestic violence,'' as the Mayor's Office asserts, that led to 36,000 women and children living on L.A. County's streets.

This is instead the tragic punch line of the sexual-revolution joke. I grew up in a world that promoted premarital sexual experimentation as the healthy, emancipated way to live, and I see the harsh results borne by family, friends and acquaintances. While some, generally well-educated women from higher socioeconomic classes, may ``play without paying,'' many less-fortunate women -- and their children -- foot the bill. As a matter of basic public policy, it is self-serving to encourage young women to be ``open-minded'' about premarital sex.

-- Angela Fitzmorris

West Hills

Fed-up renters

Re ``Renters beware'' (Your Opinions, Nov. 30):

Renters share the costs of property owners via rent increases as well as other fees throughout the year. If the owners think they are losing money or being taken advantage of, get out of the business. With the middle class being eliminated, we have very few places we can afford right now.

If the rents continue to go up without rent control, the renters will get fed up and take their money to less-expensive areas, and those empty units will start to cost much more than what rent control takes away.

Be careful what you wish for!

-- Shari Long

Sherman Oaks

It's the system

Re ``Political musical chairs'' (Our Opinions, Nov. 29):

Don't blame the candidates; blame the system. Term limits are flawed because they do not incorporate a time frame. When a term limit kicks in, they should wait several years before running for another office.

In the case of Richard Alarcon, let's bring back an outstanding person to City Council District 7. We had no involvement from the previous councilman; he was so busy being the president of the council. Richard had a record of being dedicated and involved in the community when he was councilman and heavily involved in the community where he was born and raised. I for one will support him to the fullest of my ability.

-- Frank Jacobs

Sylmar

Suddenly, he knew

Re ``Orca that gave trainer scare may just have had bad day'' (Dec. 1):

The orca who gave a scare to its trainer didn't have a bad day. That fish suddenly remembered what its common name is: killer whale.

-- Dante F. Rochetti

West Hills

Richards' religion

Re ``The Kramer diatribe'' (Your Opinions, Nov. 28):

Michael Richards is not Jewish. Neither of his parents was Jewish and he has not converted to Judaism.

-- Marty Klein 

North Hollywood