Letters to the editor

Our "green governor" thinks that building a destructive toll road through a popular state park is progress. Perhaps Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger should have been listening when California Coastal Commission member Sara Wan reminded us that this kind of thinking is straight out of the 1950s. The Foothill South toll road would not solve any traffic problems; it would make traffic even worse. The toll road would give access to developers to build thousands of housing units and commercial projects on open land, resulting in thousands more cars on the roads and the destruction of beautiful wilderness.

The toll road is no solution; it just would create a much bigger congestion problem than before. We need truly daring and progressive leadership that will lead to innovative 21st century solutions to our transportation quandary.

Marinka Horack

Huntington Beach



So Schwarzenegger drops Clint Eastwood and Bobby Shriver from the State Park and Recreation Commission because he wants only commissioners who will help him destroy state parks. That's not without precedent; just consider President Bush's Environmental Protection Agency appointees. At least the governor defends his action with insight and wisdom when he says that the toll road "has to go through somewhere" and that "we can't stop progress." Brilliant stuff. Anyone who has criticized Schwarzenegger in the past for being too much of an environmentalist can now rest easy.

Kurt Page

Laguna Niguel



The governor has definitely had too much Sacramento Kool-Aid if he thinks building a toll road through a state park is acceptable. The reason why Californians willingly spend our tax dollars on parks is to protect some swaths of nature against relentless development. We don't want our wonderful park system ruined by a politician who apparently doesn't appreciate Americans' love of the outdoors.

Brenda Walker

Berkeley



Schwarzenegger's recent "sacking" of Shriver and Eastwood is an excellent illustration of the governor's misunderstanding of how government is supposed to work. Democracy does not work when appointees merely rubber-stamp the decisions of the official who appointed them. The genius of democracy is expressed when really able people are enlisted in the cause of good government, then allowed to exercise their best judgment on behalf of the public.

In a time of severe budget restraints, California needs the service and insights of its most experienced advocates. Failure to reappoint the chair and vice chair of the parks commission is a precedent-setting assault on enlightened, experienced public leadership. Now is the time for the governor to demonstrate his solid grasp of effective democratic leadership principles.

Robert Haage

Montclair

Criminal minds

Re "The economics of crime," Opinion, March 20

Thanks for the Op-Ed article about how consumer confidence is an indicator of crime rates -- about criminals committing or increasing their crimes because they're depressed about the latest recession. Richard Rosenfeld's analysis is merely an extension of the myth that employment downturns are an indicator of crime upturns. Crime is caused by greed, not need. As an adult probation and parole officer for more than 14 years, I dealt with more criminals than I care to remember, and not one I ever met was moved to commit his crimes after reading the Economist.

Mike McLane