To the editor: It is shocking that sports and entertainment firm AEG, in its lust for an NFL team, would hire Tom Ridge, a former Homeland Security secretary, to play the terrorism card. ("AEG report warns rival Inglewood NFL stadium presents terrorist threat," Feb. 27)

Perhaps the group behind the football stadium development in Inglewood should in turn hire the firm Chicken Little and Associates to report that a "dirty bomb" would more likely be detonated in a dense population zone like the downtown AEG site. Then they might start rumors that attempts to purchase yellow cake were made at various downtown bakeries.

Actually, I cannot imagine the NFL finds this at all amusing. With this absurd terrorism alert released through a third party, AEG was clearly trying to ring the bell that can't be unrung. I believe the NFL should investigate AEG with the possibility of disqualifying it from consideration of ever hosting an NFL team.

Robert Fox, Los Angeles

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To the editor: This is a case...

To the editor: Congratulations to the Log Cabin Republicans' California chapter for finally being recognized by the state GOP. Still, I wouldn't get too comfortable under that big tent — Republicans being only 28% of the electorate might have a lot to do with the "why?" after all these years of nonacceptance. ("Gay group wins formal recognition from state Republican Party," March 1)

When I was a member of the Stonewall Democrats, we got our party to adopt a gay rights plank in 1980. That was 35 years ago, and now that most of the major battles on gay rights are being won, it's nice of the state Republicans to start catching up.

I guess the mai tais and colored leis at the Log Cabin Luaus are finally paying off — but then again, we've always been known for throwing a good party.

Don Foley, Hollywood

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To the editor: The California GOP is simply eyeing the pot of gold at the end of the Log Cabin Republicans' rainbow. How the Log Cabin group can accept the state GOP's imprimatur without...

To the editor: I thank The Times for opposing this ill-considered measure by the city of Los Angeles to allow homeless people's belongings to be seized after 24 hours. ("Council proposal to declutter L.A. should be rejected," editorial, Feb. 26)

It's important to remember that despite the highly visible homeless encampments downtown and elsewhere, L.A.'s street-trash problem is by no means localized. A great deal of it is due to residents dumping furniture and large appliances without arranging for pickup.

It's a fundamental matter of fairness that the city use its limited trash collection resources in such a way that all residents are equally impacted. The police and other city agents evidently don't have the resources to enforce existing laws against dumpers, and by passing this law, the City Council would be giving private security forces paid by business improvement districts yet another weapon in their campaign of social cleansing against the homeless without doing anything to...

To the editor: The Times criticizes Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti for his reluctance to take public stances on certain key issues. I believe a bit more balance is in order. ("Mayor Eric Garcetti's silence on L.A. issues helps no one," editorial, Feb. 26)

On issues of increasing the minimum wage, support for unaccompanied immigrant minor children, implementation of Obamacare for uninsured Angelenos, second chances for recovering felons, and leadership attention for young men of color, Garcetti has stood tall and assertively.

He is not at all shy on matters of social justice and equal opportunity for the marginalized and ignored in our society, and this deserved to be mentioned in your editorial. Some balance, please.

Robert K. Ross, Los Angeles

The writer is president and chief executive of the California Endowment.

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To the editor: The United Teachers Los Angeles rally in downtown L.A.'s Grand Park crystallizes for this L.A. Unified School District teacher the idea that both the district and union are too big to serve the interests of students and their families, just as class sizes of 45 or more per teacher are too big. ("Teachers union rally in downtown L.A. draws thousands in call for contract demands," Feb. 26)

The super-sizing of our local education bureaucracies does serve the interests of district and union leadership in terms of power and pay. But this size also incites polarity, as the humongous scale of these entities magnifies conflict while overshadowing common interests and collaboration.

A potential solution involves students and their families organizing to advocate on behalf of legitimate expectations and rights as the customers of L.A. educators, with one possible objective being to reshape both union and district to less monolithic and more humane scales.

Mark Gozonsky, Los...

To the editor: I found it highly astonishing that, given the tone in which Brian O'Leary Bennett wrote his op-ed article on modernizing the state GOP, he has been a conservative Republican Party activist for nearly 40 years. ("California Republicans -- evolve or die," op-ed, Feb. 25)

Bennett spoke of the need for Republicans in California to "lead their own evolution." Given the political flavor of his piece, I feel that Bennett could easily achieve his own "evolution" by merely replacing his worn out, thread-bare red suit with a brand new, shiny blue one.

Richard Smith, Huntington Beach

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To the editor: Bennett makes a strong argument for bringing the GOP out of its irrelevant status. He forgets one thing in his push to re-Reaganize the state: Reagan wrecked California's leading system of education.

Schools became perennially underfunded, and the University of California and California State University systems began their decline from institutions that once provided a world-class...