Returning a Slap at Homeowners’ Groups

Marc Litchman, the self-proclaimed world-weary ex-staffer to elected officials and political consultant, who will be leaving the “world’s oldest democracy to help start the world’s youngest--in Haiti” (Valley Commentary, Jan. 8), sarcastically includes a “nasty little list of things that a young country needs if it wants a real American-style democracy.”

I take exception with his statement that one of the bogus “needs” is “homeowners associations consisting mainly of attorneys, screenwriters and others with influence, so everybody can be against lots of different things at the same time.”

This is an attack on community activists who take a real interest and concern for their neighborhoods by actively involving themselves, on a voluntary basis, without pay , in an attempt to do the job that many of our elected officials fail to do.

Frankly, I wish this individual nothing but success in his State Department appointment in Haiti. I only hope when he returns to the United States, he will bring back a better understanding of why the majority of homeowner association representatives feel an urgency to stay involved in their communities.

DON SHULTZ

Van Nuys

Shultz is president of the Van Nuys Homeowners Assn.