The Mayor Has Grabbed the Bull by the Horns

I am writing in response to Richard Close’s article “A Honeymoon’s Over Letter to the Mayor” (Valley Commentary, Oct. 10.)

I have been following the mayor’s progress in the press and I know there is much work being done from his offices. His only accomplishment has not been settling the Department of Water and Power strike, which, by the way, was entirely negotiated by the City Council.

What about the budget? What about his search for funds to add additional police? His efforts to find funds to pay the police for overtime service during the riots? I would like to know how Mr. Close feels about these efforts by the mayor’s office during the first 100 days.

During the mayoral campaign I heard numerous speeches by then-candidate Riordan. I can assure Mr. Close that the mayor is well aware of the six listed issues, as well as probably an additional half a dozen others of equal import.

Riordan is a mayor for all of Los Angeles. As the cartoon on the same page says, the mayor has grabbed the bull by the horns.

GREG KRISILAS

Encino

More Taxes Needed on Alcoholic Drinks

* John M. Glionna’s tongue-in-cheek article “Public Thirst Keeps Brewery Chugging” provided my co-workers and me with quite a few laughs. I also loved the quote from bottler Judy Noonan, “If just for a while, you want to get away from the world of beer.”

Unfortunately, that seems unlikely when the media and the liquor outlet stores on block after block in our communities are awash in beer and other alcoholic beverage ads. The alcohol industry might counter our complaint by saying that their ads are attractive. It’s true. With few exceptions, all of America’s drinkers are portrayed as young, healthy, prosperous, beautiful and, of course, sexy. So what’s the gripe?

Too bad brewmaster Bob Mueller is offended by alcohol being likened to drugs. Sometimes the truth hurts. The legal drug alcohol’s cost to society far outweighs the costs of all illegal drugs combined. Just ask law enforcement officers, emergency room personnel and social workers who deal with crime, victims of DUIs, abused children, battered women and rape victims.

A modest tax on the beer produced in Van Nuys each day by Anheuser Busch “to feed America’s insatiable appetite for its favorite alcoholic beverage” would go a long way to help pay for these costs. Added taxes on all alcoholic beverages are needed to make those who choose to drink at least a little more responsible for “paying the consequences.”

JOANNE WRIGHT

Burbank

Wright is on the staff of Bridge Focus, a private agency whose programs include alcohol awareness and counseling.

Northridge School Was Grossly Maligned

* I have been an instructor at Northridge Junior/Middle School for 30-plus years.

Your recent stories (Sept. 19) and editorial (Sept. 26) have grossly maligned our fine school and many of our hard-working staff.

I would consider myself grossly unprofessional and very low on the “human being scale” if I felt that I had wasted almost half of my life as an instructor in an “out-of-control” and “badly-gone-awry” school! (The last two quotations are yours.)

WALT UCHIEK

Chatsworth

Some Fleeing Firms Find Paradise Not So Far Away

* I read with interest Jill Bettner’s article on the flight of jobs from the San Fernando Valley and Ventura County (“Other States Keep Luring Valley Employers,” Sept. 28).

While it may be true that companies are leaving the San Fernando Valley, not all former Valley companies are leaving for destinations outside of California. Over the past five years, seven major employers formerly located in the San Fernando Valley and the surrounding area have relocated to Simi Valley.

These employers (Countrywide Funding Corp., Guardian Products, Bugle Boy, Cardkey Systems, Warner/Elektra/Atlantic, Upjohn Pharmaceuticals and Baker & Taylor) have all left the Los Angeles area in search of a better place to do business. At a combined total of more than 2,500 jobs (with a growth potential of more than 3,500 jobs), these companies relocated to Simi Valley and found the same things Ms. Bettner indicates companies are seeking in Utah, Nevada, Mexico, Idaho, Oklahoma and Kentucky: a better quality of life and an environment void of continuing traffic and crime problems.

As the media continue to highlight the flight of business out of California, they should not ignore those businesses that have chosen to stay as well as those that have relocated within California. There are still places in California that offer a business environment and a quality of life equal to or better than one might find in other states.

GREGORY STRATTON

Simi Valley

Stratton is the mayor of Simi Valley.

Homework Won’t Keep Youths Out of Trouble

* I am a high school student and have read about the four-year math requirement at Birmingham High School. I see nothing wrong with two additional years of math, and I agree that the doubled requirement will boost standardized test scores and assist students in entering college. But does anyone seriously think that more homework will keep kids off the streets?

Extra work would be as nonexistent to troublemakers as the work they are given now. As a testament to that, when I was a peer tutor in a New Jersey middle school, I observed that at least half of the students in the program had a “who cares?” attitude and sometimes refused to cooperate.

Unless something happens to persuade them that studying is important and essential to their future, two more years of math will just mean more things to ignore.

Furthermore, what about the more industrious students who will be chewing their nails and pulling their hair, worrying about two extra mandatory years of math? If they do their work in the first place, they should be free to control the number of math courses they take.

ALETHEA ALLAREY

Glendale

Alethea is a ninth-grade student at Herbert Hoover High School .

Dump Site Plan Needs Environmental Review

* Deep appreciation to the Los Angeles Times for providing a public forum for the discussion of a topic (“Septic Tank Dump Site Not Such a Bad Idea,” Oct. 10) that still merits the documented analysis of a full environmental impact report.

Obviously the very fact that there is public discourse provides the very basis for an EIR.

No one has questioned that we need better monitoring of sites. No one has questioned some consolidation. But one site was chosen, and the whole project circumvented the normal review process of a full EIR.

Organizations asking for a full EIR, including the Sierra Club, the San Fernando Audubon Society, the Los Angeles Audubon Society, Homeowners of Encino, the Coalition to Save the Sepulveda Basin and the West Van Nuys Homeowners Assn., are simply asking that we be given the opportunity to review alternatives, the same opportunity the decision-makers should have.

This Friday the board of Public Works will review the request for a full EIR. That request has the support of City Councilwoman Laura Chick and Councilman Marvin Braude.

Under the California Environmental Quality Act, no project can receive a categorical exemption, as this one has, unless it will have no significant impact on the environment.

No significant impact? The Ventura Freeway is probably among the state’s busiest, and it would be a significant impact to introduce cesspool-laden tankers from all over Los Angeles County at hours, days and routes that have not been resolved.

JILL SWIFT

Tarzana

LAPD Unit Has Realistic Approach to Crime

* One cannot pick up a newspaper or turn on the news without being reminded of the devastating effects of alcohol abuse upon our society. Three hundred people die each day from alcohol-related causes, and alcohol-related problems cost the nation an estimated $85.8 billion annually.

Your story “In a New Crime Zone” (Sept. 26) and editorial “Community Policing’s Non-Lethal Weapon” (Oct. 3) on the Los Angeles Police Department’s use of the zoning laws to selectively protest problematic liquor outlets represents an enlightened and realistic approach to an age-old problem.

What a brilliant concept. As the LAPD helps reduce alcohol availability, alcohol-related problems will decrease.

Congratulations to the LAPD vice unit for its interest in saving lives, families, neighborhoods and money.

AL JEFFRIES

Van Nuys

Computer System Will Help Thwart Criminals

* The tragic situation discussed in “Accused Killer Slipped Through Crack in System” (Sept. 28) is a recurrence of events in the Night Stalker case, as well as many others, in which wanted individuals are able to move through the law enforcement and court systems without being caught.

Richard Ramirez, the infamous Night Stalker, using a phony name had pleaded guilty to driving under the influence. He was sentenced to the standard fine and walked out of court. One week later he was finally arrested for multiple murders.

Neither law enforcement nor the court personnel knew who he was when he appeared in court, because the criminal history systems could not identify him unless accurate information was fed into the systems. This is exactly what happened with Douglas Oliver Kelly, the subject of your story.

After the Ramirez case, Los Angeles County Municipal Court judges originated the idea for a computer system that would positively identify a person by using sophisticated laser-reading fingerprint technology. The project evolved into a joint effort with law enforcement, the district attorney and probation officials.

Known as the Consolidated Criminal History Reporting System, it will positively identify an individual at the time of arrest, when a case is filed and when the person appears in court.

Now, with the system only 18 months from completion, the Night Stalker scenario has been repeated once again. Hopefully there will be nothing to interfere with the speedy completion of this first-of-its-kind criminal history system. It will seek to prevent a similar recurrence of these tragic events.

KENNETH LEE CHOTINER

Los Angeles

Chotiner is a Los Angeles Municipal Court judge and project director of the Consolidated Criminal History Reporting System.

Airport Noise Degrades the Quality of Life

* Your latest editorial mocking the people of the San Fernando Valley because they resist the Burbank Airport’s widespread noise is an example of a civic pillar (The Times) so out of touch with the needs of its populace that it misses an opportunity to save the city they both depend on.

The ever-increasing noise coming from the Burbank and Van Nuys airports plagues a third of Los Angeles’ populace throughout our waking hours. Even those of us who live many miles from Burbank are subjected to the roar of what you call the freeway above us.

The depth of the anger which you ridiculed in your editorial is reflective of the misery the people feel. The noise pollution degrades the quality of all of our lives.

If the airport did not exist, you certainly wouldn’t be supporting its construction in its present location. Or Van Nuys. Your smug dismissal of all the people in your community is unconscionable.

JACQUES FREYDONT

Van Nuys