Post-Quake Commuting

* Thank you for “Shaking Up the Way We Work” (Jan. 22). Prior to the devastating quake on Jan. 17, only 10% of full-time employees said their employer offered an opportunity to telecommute--to work at home or at a nearby facility--on a part-time basis.

We join Mayor Richard Riordan’s plea to large employers to institute the creative measures that made traffic nonexistent during the 1984 Olympics. Old commuting habits must change.

Contrary to a popular misconception, telecommuting does not necessarily require sophisticated computer and communications technology to be quickly implemented. Aspects of almost all jobs are “telecommutable.” Examples of tasks include writing, designing, drafting, editing, data processing, planning, reading and telephoning.

Commuter Transportation Services and the South Coast Air Quality Management District have created technical assistance teams to help employers set up telecommuting and variable work-hour programs. These services are offered free of charge. These strategies can deliver immediate benefits to employers for disaster recovery, to employees living in earthquake impacted areas, and to the community through less severe traffic congestion in areas of freeway collapse.

JIM SIMS, President

Commuter Transportation Services Inc.

JAMES M. LENTS, Executive Officer

South Coast Air Quality Management

District, Los Angeles

* Conrad’s cartoon (Jan. 26) depicting a demolished freeway with a graffiti message from the Pacific Red Car (“We told you so!”) surfaced in me, and I’m sure in Angelenos who have been around for more than 40 years, the frustration we experienced when GM and Standard Oil made a “deal” with Los Angeles to get rid of the most efficient mass transit system in the world for its time and replace it with buses. As a result, Los Angeles is practically the only major metropolitan area without a minimal rapid transit system in place. Even the poorest of Third World countries are more advanced than we are in this regard!

Thank God we are finally getting the light! The Red, Green, and Blue lines are all a step in the right direction! Mayor Riordan’s insistence that the Alameda freight corridor be built finally has the “green light” after ridiculous and prolonged politicking. The Metro Rail . . . well, it ain’t so bad after all, plus two hours closer to work (and cheaper to operate than a car!).

The worst disaster in the U.S. may just prompt us to “get L.A. moving again”--this time efficiently! I congratulate those leaders whose vision is translated into action, and who are intelligent enough to turn our mistakes of the past into opportunities for the future.

JAMES OVEREND

Rancho Dominguez

* Your editorial of Jan. 25 recognizes the important role the federal government is playing in assisting the Los Angeles area’s recovery from the Northridge earthquake. However, it gives scant attention to the even more important role the state is playing in these recovery efforts.

In the area of transportation, the one in which I am most familiar, Caltrans and its contractors were working to clear earthquake damage within hours of the quake. Within 24 hours crews were at work at every road closure.

Since I arrived in Los Angeles four hours after the initial temblor, I’ve observed the extraordinary efforts of the state’s Office of Emergency Services, I’ve seen the governor make more than 200 portable classrooms available to quake-damaged schools, and I’ve seen hundreds of state workers volunteer to help their fellow citizens cut through the red tape and receive the assistance they require.

I sincerely appreciate the interest taken by the federal government. But while its contribution is primarily financial, it’s California citizens and state departments like Caltrans and the Highway Patrol that are doing the “heavy lifting.”

DEAN R. DUNPHY, Secretary

Business, Transportation and Housing

Agency, Sacramento

* Gov. Pete Wilson and Mayor Riordan should view the cataclysmic earthquake of Jan. 17 like President Roosevelt viewed the Depression: an opportunity to employ thousands of unemployed and homeless citizens in public works projects.

Our elected leaders should create a WPA-like agency to assign work projects and administer federal relief dollars for projects, helping Los Angeles replace, not just repair, its already crumbling infrastructure, as well as its economy.

KEITH H. KARPE

San Clemente

* If you’re homeless due to the earthquake, you’ll receive help and sympathy; any other reason for being homeless, i.e., mental illness, no home, no job, etc., forget it. That’s the American way.

NANCY V. HOSKINS

Pasadena