Opening of the Red Line Subway

* Everyone likes a bargain. Last Saturday I attended a parade, accompanying members of Congress and others to a review at Port Hueneme. I listened to a young gunner aboard the U.S.S Comstock as he told us that each 25-mm round fired from a deck gun cost the taxpayers $1,000. These expenses were dwarfed in comparison to taxpayer money spent to bring this 10-year-old ship from San Diego to Port Hueneme for public view and tours.

On Sunday, we visited a money pit. Seventeen miles of public transportation from North Hollywood to Los Angeles, built at a cost of $275 million a mile.

We saved the best part for last. The cost to ride? Free! The usual fare is $1.35 one way. This doesn’t include maintenance, repairs and breakdowns.

I sleep well knowing the Seabees are on the job. I have nightmares of the government planning another 17 miles of “bargain” transportation from North Hollywood to Woodland Hills or Valencia. Do the math.

AL DAVIS

Winnetka

* In all of the recent press hoopla about the opening of the San Fernando Valley subway, I have yet to see any acknowledgment of the work of the Citizens Committee of 45 that led to the decision to build a subway instead of an elevated line. We were a community-wide, diverse group of residents, businesses and community groups, picked after an overflow public meeting protesting the manner in which a mass transit plan for the Valley was proceeding.

We dedicated ourselves to making sure the environmental assessment for a proposed rail project, either elevated or subway, was fair, comprehensive and honest. In spite of sometimes-raucous meetings, the citizen panel stuck it out. When we concluded our study, some wanted to throw bouquets, others, bricks. Nevertheless, people power prevailed and delivered an environmentally sound, cost-justified subway decision. At the end of our lengthy study of the project, we promised to be the first to put coins in the turnstiles.

A new era in mass transit has finally arrived, lacking a committee invitation to the VIP event, those coin turnstiles and toilets (in a $5-billion project). Upon my inquiry, the MTA advised that failure to invite the committee to the VIP event was an “oversight,” and offered me a few tickets, which I declined. Frankly it was more fun to mingle [last] weekend with my fellow Angelenos, take a free ride and enjoy the fruits of the committee labor. I’m looking forward to riding mass transit from the Valley to Long Beach. Never mind the bus extension, first let’s get subway creature comforts, like toilets.

TOM PATERSON

Valley Village