Statue of Responsibility

Mayor [Richard] Riordan may have reasons for not responding to Michael Levine’s Statue of Responsibility business proposal (Taking Up the Torch, Oct. 8), but he will be remiss if he passes up this opportunity to comment favorably upon and support the concept that “liberty comes with responsibility.” For too long, people have confused the concepts of liberty and rights. That our Constitution provides us incredible liberties does not mean we are automatically due everything by rights. Everyone must give back something in return, not merely grab with open hands.

MARIE MARTIN

Sherman Oaks

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Gathering money for a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast might be hard to do. What’s not hard is for every eligible voter to actually vote in November. Voting is the clearest expression of a citizen’s acceptance of responsibility for the liberty we have. Liberty can’t be taken for granted. To take it for granted is to lose it. Michael Levine is right: with liberty comes responsibility.

DAMIANA CHAVEZ

Los Angeles

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I think that a good demonstration of responsibility by Michael Levine would have been to acknowledge that it was not he who originated the idea of building a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast to complement the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast. That distinction belongs to Dr. Viktor Frankl, author of “Man’s Search for Meaning,” “The Will to Meaning” and other influential books.

THOMAS RIEDLINGER

Malibu

Transit in Los Angeles This is concerning the debate between buses and trains. We need them both. Both sides should stop arguing and work together to get Los Angeles into the 21st century. Public transportation is worse than most major cities in the United States and the rest of the world. We need more buses and we need to build more light and heavy rail lines in the Los Angeles Metropolitan area.

ELY KREISEL

Culver City

‘Aspirations for a Green River’ The wrong credit was supplied for drawings that ran with a story on the Los Angeles River (Next L.A., Sept. 17). The illustrations were by William Johnson and Ken Nakaba.