Testing of New, Lightweight Bus
I read your article regarding Northrop Grumman’s new bus design (“Lean, Clean Bus Rolls Out for Testing,” Oct. 9). I highly approve of defense contractors retooling for civilian production. I applaud the work they have done and sincerely hope that they quickly develop a marketing plan and go into production. I would hate to see $50 million of our tax dollars spent without creating new manufacturing jobs.
Many of the Southland’s economic ills could be cured if defense contractors learned to use their engineering talent in productive ways.
On a recent trip to Mexico City, I was discussing subway systems with a local. He told me that their subway system was manufactured in France. I said ours was made in Italy. “Don’t you have any good engineers in Los Angeles?” was his surprised reply.
The talent is here. There is no reason why we Americans need to buy our subway cars from Italy, our high-definition TVs from Japan or our clothing from China.
It is perhaps unfortunate that our present-day capitalist system rewards so well. I fear that those rewards have enticed the upper management of our corporations to pay more attention to their country clubs than to developing products and markets.
RUSSELL K. JOHNSON
Santa Monica
Re your editorial, “Where the Stealth Meets the Road,” Oct. 10: I had the bad luck to be involved in a minor accident that deprived me of my car for about a month. The area I live in is served both by MTA and the Santa Monica Blue Bus. The MTA bus runs once an hour--7:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. The Blue Bus runs every 30 minutes, but is timed to meet other buses so ineptly that I normally had to wait 20 to 30 minutes to meet connecting buses. My daily commute to Century City, a seven-minute trip by car, took on average 45 minutes each way, whether I took the Blue Bus or MTA. If I had to go anywhere after 7 p.m., I had to take taxis.
Having had to sit or stand in uncontrolled diesel exhaust from the buses in this town, I, for one, would be satisfied to get a lean, clean machine. I would be even more impressed to have reliable, efficient and accommodating bus schedules, and for MTA to acknowledge that there is life in this city after sundown.
CLIFFORD D. MARTIN
Los Angeles
