$392 Stipend for County Board

Los Angeles is faced with massive educational and health services cutbacks, job layoffs, rampant drug abuse, gang violence, homelessness and the AIDS epidemic, but there is no money to address any of these social issues and provide concrete resolutions.

However, there is money for the county supervisors to allot themselves, 33 county department heads and 238 Superior Court judicial officers a monthly professional stipend of $392, non-auditable, to be used as the recipients see fit (Metro, May 29 and June 5). That’s more than $1 million a year. Plus, the proposed ordinance would provide for an annual cost-of-living increase.

I find it a blatant act of exploitation that while Los Angeles, a city in crisis, eats itself alive, the politicians turn a blind eye to the problems and can only find money when it comes to giving themselves more.

DORIS K. REED

Los Angeles