Coverage of 7th District Race

* Re “7th District Candidates Take Sides on School Site,” March 10.

The coverage of the 7th District [City Council] race has been extremely unbalanced for some time now. As we get closer to the race, it would be only fair to expect that all the candidates would at least get their position on an issue as critical as the building of a high school on the Gemco site covered.

I clearly articulated my position against the high school on that site, as did the other candidates that were reported in today’s [March 10] paper. Patrick McGreevy not only did not report my position, which was applauded along with other responses I gave at the meeting, he somehow omitted my attendance. Consistently telling the readers of The Times that a particular candidate is a front-runner is disturbing enough when no one seems to understand what criteria he uses, but to simply neglect to cover with some sense of balance what is taking place in the race is somewhat not responsible reporting.

Without a doubt, my presence and responses were in line with what the people in the room cared about, and they were very responsive to me. If someone from The Times spoke with the residents, you would get a very different sense of the meeting than what was reported in the paper. It is truly very disturbing that a professional reporter would be so open with his personal views. The interviews with only two candidates before the meeting were another very obvious bias.

There are 30 days before the election. It is my belief that your readers deserve to get a true sense of who all the candidates are by balanced and fair coverage. I certainly would welcome and appreciate that.

BARBARA PERKINS

Candidate, 7th District

City Council Race

Sylmar