MTA Strike Expenditures

* Your Oct. 17 story relating to the settlement of the MTA strike indicated that the MTA spent over $2 million on items such as $450,000 to consultant Tom Webb, $250,000 for a second consultant, $130,000 to chief labor relations officer Brenda Diederichs, $232,000 to the Pasadena Hilton, $482,000 on print and radio ads, and $570,000 to an outside public relations firm.

Doesn’t the MTA receive at least some of its budget from the taxpayers? By what stretch of the imagination does the MTA justify spending such outrageous amounts? On the other hand, where do I sign up to become an MTA consultant?

DAN PRESTBY

Pomona

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* After driving to work during the MTA strike, I am now so relieved to get back on the underground Red Line train, away from the overcrowded freeway, staggering gasoline prices, circling parking lots, almost getting hit daily, timing the meter and having to leave earlier in the morning to sit parked in traffic. It is so relaxing to sit underground, safe from the morning chaos.

Your articles on bus riders continuously failed to mention people who ride public transportation by choice. Particularly during the strike, it became apparent to me how media can create images of people and place them in categories; not everyone riding a bus is a housekeeper or living in poverty “with no other means of transportation,” as we heard over and over. The strike proved Los Angeles bus riders have family and friends like everyone else, who were more than happy to give them a ride to work.

AUDREY HUGGINS

Hollywood