Letters to the editor

Thank you for your editorial on the "Save Our Taco Trucks" campaign. These trucks are inspected by the Los Angeles County Health Department, pay taxes and employ hardworking entrepreneurs. Their hours and pricing fill a social and commercial void left by traditional restaurants.

Improving neighborhoods in East Los Angeles is a noble goal, but referring to the punitive county ordinance as a successful step toward cleaning up the neighborhood smacks of classism. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors would be wise to recall that Raul O. Martinez founded King Taco from a converted ice-cream truck. We implore the supervisors to focus their legislative power on the root causes of blight and away from criminalizing small-business owners. The supervisors are welcome to come to Highland Park to share a few tacos and discuss a fair compromise over the hood of a car.

Chris Rutherford

Aaron Sonderleiter

Highland Park

The writers are founders of saveourtacotrucks.org.



On behalf of the East Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, thank you, supervisors, for taking action to protect the heath and safety of our residents and promote the economic development of our community.

We are the voice of businesses that pay taxes and obey the laws; we want the same protections other communities provide. Why should it be all right to park in front of my business or house so vending truck customers can drop trash, raise the noise level and take up my parking? Should a taco truck have the right to sit in one spot on a street all night?

We invite these vendors to come into our community, pay the licensing fees and, most important, pay rent to set up shop and do business. If they choose to keep violating the law, we will urge the district attorney to bring on even steeper penalties.

Eddie Torres

President

East Los Angeles Chamber

of Commerce

Los Angeles





I agree that taco trucks provide an affordable meal. However, as mobile units, they best provide affordable meals at a specific time and place -- construction sites, industrial parking lots or special events.

Instead, they are all-day fixtures in the neighborhood. I now have to deal with grease stains on the street, trash on the sidewalks, generators running late into the night and extra traffic.

As a homeowner in East Los Angeles, I support the new ordinance. I spend a lot of time and effort trying to keep my home and neighborhood clean. Why can't I expect the same clean and safe streets as residents of other cities?

Omar Loya

East Los Angeles

Democrats in limbo

Re "Californians' wavering bodes ill for Clinton," May 5

A passage in your article encapsulates a root cause of the Democrats' unsettled electoral situation: "Steven Ybarra, a Sacramento lawyer, and Robert Rankin, a retired Carson steelworker."

Who are these people, and why do they have any say in such an important issue as selecting a nominee?

One presumes these are local party apparatchiks. Good for them. But to give these local precinct workers a vote equal to that of such party movers as Howard Dean, Al Gore and Ted Kennedy is both a travesty and a living tribute to every late-night comical jab at a party infatuated with the idea of giving everyone an equal voice.

The first order of business for the party after November is to severely trim the roster of superdelegates.

Shel Khipple

Wilmette, Ill.



Re "It's a race stuck in gridlock," May 4

The choice of the word "gridlock" for this headline was apropos, yet it smacks of the vanity of the campaign itself. Will Rogers quipped, "I'm not a member of any organized political party. I'm a Democrat." Lives are in the balance, and the stakes of this campaign are very high.

In 1972, I registered as a Democrat and also with the Selective Service System, becoming one of the many 18-year-olds afforded the vote. Then and, it seems, now, politics trumps statesmanship. If the "dirty pool" of a superdelegate selection counter to the popular vote occurs, politics will have held the winning hand yet again.

Richard Newton

Meyer

Los Angeles



The superdelegates should make their decision as follows: At the beginning of the convention, there should be a nationally televised coin toss. If it lands on heads, the superdelegates should agree to support Hillary Clinton and the party elders should agree to make Barack Obama the new Senate majority leader. If it lands on tails, the superdelegates should support Obama while Clinton becomes the new Senate majority leader.

Phil Gussin

Chatsworth

Who's fighting Mideast peace?

Re "Brothers in arms, but not to the end," May 6

This article illustrates the complex relationship between the Israeli army, the Palestinian Authority security forces and Palestinian militants.

Even though the Palestinian Authority has reduced killings, kidnappings and robberies in Nablus, the Israeli army still comes into the city every night to arrest and execute suspected terrorists. That is breeding a new set of militants.

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad is absolutely correct that as long as Israel regularly raids Nablus and other Palestinian cities, the Palestinian security forces will never achieve full capability. The United States recognizes that the continuing Israeli raids are holding back progress in peace negotiations.

President Bush should make this one of the issues he discusses with Israel when he visits the region next week.

Jeff Warner

La Habra Heights



Your article about two Palestinian terrorists clearly illustrates why peace has not been achieved in the Middle East.

A younger brother looks up to his older brother in planning suicide bombings and killing Israelis, but when the older one gives up arms as part of a "truce," he is no longer a role model. The young brother continues his terror activities until he is killed by Israelis. Moreover, their mother blames the Israelis for teaching her youngest son to hate.

As long as Palestinians prefer the excitement of killing to the boredom of building bridges, and blame Israelis for their culture of hatred, we will never achieve peace in the Middle East, no matter how much land Israel gives back.

Fariba Fischel

Ghodsian

Los Angeles

Judging the district attorney

Re "Yes to the incumbents," editorial, April 28

In your endorsement for district attorney, you identify Republican incumbent Steve Cooley's shortcomings, including his broken promises and the preposterous notion that he wants to "groom and select his own successor," as if the voters did not matter.

There are many more reasons why I am running for district attorney. Cooley stands to receive an extravagant raise this year and to become the highest-paid elected official in the state just as Los Angeles County cuts and/or eliminates various community programs because of the worst fiscal crisis in a generation.

Cooley overtly politicizes the administration of justice. Cooley failed to get convictions in, among others, the Blake and Spector murder trials. Cooley's Republican ideals are contrary to those of the majority of Los Angeles County voters. Cooley finances his reelection campaign with money from criminal-defense attorneys whose clients have prosecutions pending.

I applaud The Times for pointing out some of Cooley's failings, but I am disappointed that you did not present the qualifications of his challengers. I am the only Democrat in the race, the only candidate with both public- and private-sector experience and the only candidate with a master's degree in public administration. I will not sell justice to the highest bidder.

Albert Robles

Carson

Don't prosecute prostitutes

Re " 'D.C. Madam' found hanged," May 2

As a lawyer who defends women arrested for prostitution, I see how devastating it is for a woman to be convicted for crimes that should not be regarded as violations of the law. I am not surprised that a conviction with a six-year prison sentence, for activities that hurt no one, could drive someone like the "D.C. Madam" to take her own life. Deborah Jeane Palfrey has now become a martyr in the cause of expanding personal freedom.

Laws criminalizing prostitution among consenting adults are among the most hypocritical and oppressive in the criminal justice system. Just look at the high-ranking political figures who were among Palfrey's clients. How much time should they do behind bars? Does society want to drive these men to commit suicide too?

The best lesson to take away is that prostitution among consenting adults should no longer be a punishable crime. No more women or men should ever again hear the jail doors slam shut because of buying or selling adult sexual pleasures.

Edward Tabash

Beverly Hills