Beyond 2000 Series

* As a self-professed futurist, I read your Beyond 2000 series for Orange County with great interest.

I’m concerned, however, that you may have missed the critical issues that will determine whether this is a place where we will want to live 10, 20 or 30 years from now.

The keys to Orange County’s future are not so much in its wonderful technology and development but depend on how well we deal with social issues such as poverty and diversity.

Yesterday’s Orange County and its ultraconservative disdain for social issues--the “Let ‘Em Eat Cake” head-in-the-sand approach--will ensure that we emulate our neighbor to the north in creating an impoverished inner city.

The outgrowth of such a cancer in the heart of Orange County will breed the same crime statistics and potential for periodic eruptions of rioting and crime forays into affluent neighborhoods that Los Angeles suffers.

Transportation--for those who can’t afford a car, much less two cars--affordable housing, sufficient jobs with benefits, affordable health care, youth programs, good neighborhood planning and maintenance to prevent the “broken window” syndrome, all are crucial.

As a senior citizen who retired to live in Orange County after 38 years in government service in Los Angeles County, I pray that Orange County pays attention. I don’t want to be a prisoner in a crime-infested neighborhood when I’m in my 70s or 80s. We need to think ahead now.

JUDITH A. LEWIS

Huntington Beach