PUBLIC FORUM.

Extending the subway

Re "Subway to Nowhere II" (Our Opinions, Feb. 9):

The subway should be extended to West L.A., but before it gets all the way to Santa Monica, the Valley should get a 2.4-mile northeast extension of the Red Line to the Metrolink station at Burbank Airport.

Metro studies rank this high in boardings per mile and cost-effectiveness. It will provide a new option for Metrolink commuters not going downtown and spur more economic development in the Northeast Valley. After we get our Orange Line extensions and connections, the Valley should be in the mix when subway construction restarts.

-- Roger Christensen

Sherman Oaks

Prudent investment

Re "Subway to Nowhere II" (Our Opinions, Feb. 9):

Your latest editorial against the extension of the subway under Wilshire is breathtaking in its shortsighted and ill-informed arguments. The mention of earthquakes and explosive natural gas is a regrettable scare tactic. Also, if one includes land-acquisition costs, the Orange Line easily cost more than $400 million. Plus, given various limitations, I doubt we'll be having further such busways crisscross our region.

Yes, addressing our short-term gridlock and bus-service needs is prudent. But we also need to look at the long term. The subway extension is a prudent investment that will help fuel the region's economic engine for decades to come.

-- Dana Gabbard

Executive secretary

Southern California Transit Advocates

Gang balderdash 

Re "L.A. exports gang terror" (Feb. 6):

So much balderdash in the news about rounding up gangs and bringing law and order to the San Fernando Valley!

Can we depend on Chief William Bratton and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to sweep the Valley and stop these criminals this year? Let's see.

-- Ray Holm

Woodland Hills

Dixie Chicks

Re "Whistlin' Dixie" (Feb. 12):

All the Dixie Chicks have proved by getting five Grammys is that the judges appreciated their political antics far more than their country-western audience.

I should know. I'm one of those country-western fans, and I switch stations whenever I hear their music. It's a shame they didn't know how to keep their mouths shut. Their music was good, and country fans wouldn't have cared what their personal opinions were if they hadn't waved our dirty laundry in other countries.

-- Scott Yollis

Granada Hills

Carnival out there

Re "NoHo no show" (Our Opinions, Feb. 7):

The Daily News editorial expresses proper concern over the future of the annual NoHo Theatre Arts Festival. The Universal City North Hollywood Chamber of Commerce has also been concerned about its continuance, but is particularly concerned about the direction it is headed.

Rather than emphasizing the community's theater-arts tradition, it had started to become a carnival, serving outside vendors rather than the community. Taking some extra time to plan events that highlight the community's great culture will be of the greatest benefit to the whole NoHo community, which the Universal City North Hollywood Chamber of Commerce is here to serve.

-- Tony Safoian

President

Universal City North Hollywood Chamber of Commerce

L.A. Mission responds

Re "This mayor's too big for L.A." (Viewpoint, Feb. 4):

I must protest Mariel Garza's insinuation that the Los Angeles Mission serves "gruel" to the homeless. We serve nutritious and good-tasting food in our dining area. We use high-quality ingredients. We maintain a commercial kitchen qualifying for a Health Department A rating. Since we do not charge for meals we serve, it is not posted as restaurants' ratings are.

The mayor's picture is shown on our Web site serving at one of our holiday meal events. He joins hundreds of volunteers, some well-known and others unknown, serving meals to the homeless. Those meals are eaten by our homeless guests and volunteers alike, just as are our meals the other 364 days per year. I would invite you to tour our kitchen and see that we are serious about what we do.

-- Herb Smith

President

Los Angeles Mission

What's in it for us?

Re "Marriage attacked by the left" (Their Opinions, Feb. 8):

I would like to add Thomas Sowell's name to the "doesn't have a clue" list of men regarding the new trend in women's lessened desire to be married. The "a woman has to be married" rule was made up by men. From marriage, the husband almost always gets free sex, meals, laundry service, personal counseling and cleaning.

The big question is: What does the wife get in return? The trend has nothing to do with politics or the media. Sowell should give some deep thought to the issue of what would make the institution of marriage more desirable for women and then write a column about that.

-- Ruth Thompson

Lake Balboa

Could be worse

Gosh, I'll bet the people back East are glad there's global warming. It could've been even colder.

-- Michael Lieberman

Woodland Hills

Better than tear-down

Re: "Condo complex" (Your Opinions, Feb. 11):

At least they are converting the units in your area. Over here in North Hollywood, they are just tearing them down and putting up oversized complexes that dwarf the rest of the neighborhood, while our "Nero," Tom LaBonge, plays the fiddle called politics and competes with the mayor on how many times he can get his picture taken. I still want to know where all of the money is going to come from for the critical services -- i.e., fire, police, water, power, etc. Oh, by the way, I live in NoHo, and my street has not been paved for 15 years.

When asked about this, he answers, "It's the zoning, and what can I do?" Is he still on the City Council?

-- Marty Klein

North Hollywood

Rite of passage 

Re Charles Robinson's letter critical of a proposal to require students to register to vote, "Do us all a favor" (Your Opinions, Feb. 9):

Any time I hear someone label an idea as "loony liberal," I know it's probably one that's intended to improve life for the middle class.

My kids were required to complete a certain number of hours of community service in order to graduate. I thought this was a great way to introduce them to the grown-up concept of a world outside themselves and teach them that even small contributions can have a positive effect over the long term. Requiring kids to register would add weight to the idea of voting as a rite of passage to adulthood and as a citizen's duty, rather than merely an option to be exercised at one's own discretion.

-- Jennifer Rabuchin

Burbank

Double standards

The euphemistic, double-standard language we use to describe our discriminatory treatment of children doesn't really matter.

What really matters is the fact that the majority of reported child-abuse cases involving physical injury are associated with acts of "spanking." Typically, offenders report that their crime was "a spanking gone wrong" or an "accident." Of parents charged with abuse, very few physically abuse their children on a premeditated basis.

-- James C. Talbot

Granada Hills

Living legal

Perhaps the mayor's proposal for paying "living wages" at the Los Angeles International Airport-area hotels could contain a clause that would require all recipients of this new law be legal United States citizens.

-- Ray Kirschbaum

Westlake Village