Riordan Appointees

* Does The Times prefer government by quotas or having a good government? Instead of focusing your article on whether Mayor Richard Riordan is doing a good job, your major concern was on statistics and graphs on the racial makeup of his administration (Nov. 29). When Tom Bradley was mayor, the concerned citizenry wanted him to make this a great city. We did not care if his entire administration was all of one so-called racial group. Now that our city is in decline, we want Mayor Riordan to “save our city” with any group of people, not some quota of the “politically correct.”

Must we stand and bow to the will of every supersensitive group and watch the decline of our city continue?

LAURENCE F. ALMOND

Los Angeles

* In your article there was a great deal of emphasis placed once again on the color of people rather than their qualifications. The most interesting statements on race statistics were by Michael Preston of the USC political science department: “When people feel they are not adequately represented in the administration then they take their anger out in different ways.” Maybe the people he’s talking about should direct their anger by voting. Nearly three-fourths of the voters in the June election were white but they only account for 37% of the city’s population. It was the white vote that got him elected. And as far as City Hall tilting toward Riordan’s prime constituencies in middle- and upper-class enclaves of the Westside and San Fernando, it’s about time. It’s these people who pay the most taxes, create the jobs, care the most--and receive the least. Their voice was heard at the polls and should be heard again at City Hall.

KEVIN KONCZAL

Redondo Beach