Letters to the editor

Talk is cheap

Re “Cellphone ban might not be making roads safer,” Jan. 30

I read with interest your article about accident-rate research and the success of the new cellphone law in California. It is fairly obvious to me why the accident rate has not fallen since the law went into effect: Few people obey the law.

As I drive about town, I still see many, many drivers ignoring the law by continuing to hold up their phones to their heads while juggling the steering wheel.

Drivers ignore the law because the police do not enforce it.

I would suggest a new study take place after one year of solid enforcement. I’ll bet we’d see a difference in accident rates.

Dan D. Gutierrez

Los Angeles

If anything, the finding that the accident rate has not gone down with the new hands-free law confirms what I have observed in my daily 88-mile round-trip commute:

The law (or maybe the lax enforcement of it) is totally ineffective in getting drivers to use hands-free devices.

Bill Seibel

Glendora

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Regarding the Highway Loss Data Institute’s study: There is one obvious reason that the law hasn’t reduced the rate of crashes -- the law is essentially toothless.

A $20 fine for a first offense for using a cellphone while driving is absurdly low, followed by a measly $50 fine for a second offense.

If the fines were increased to several hundred dollars, it might command greater respect from self-involved, distracted drivers.

Todd Hallowell

Pacific Palisades

Why go after free parking?

Re “Lawmakers target a popular item: free parking,” Jan. 29

Have things gotten so desperate that the government thinks it must resort to doing away with free parking -- especially when our transportation system is still so sadly lacking?

California already has the strictest environmental laws in the nation, leading businesses to flee the state, taking jobs with them.

I don’t foresee fewer cars and less pollution with this so-called solution. Instead, I hear money ringing into the state coffers.

What a joke -- except the joke is once again on the hardworking, taxpaying residents of California, the long-tarnished “Golden State.”

Linda Navroth

Culver City

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Congratulations, state Sen. Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach), you are the new poster child for our remarkably dysfunctional Legislature.

Why are you wasting your time and the taxpayers’ money worrying about local parking lots instead of fixing the problems of the state government and the Legislature, which is your job?

It must be easier

and more fun to impose mandates on local government.

If you want to deal with where people park and how much they pay when they shop or go to work, run for the City Council.

Craig Fajnor

Los Angeles

Trust-buster is needed

Re “Checking the banks,” Opinion, Jan. 29

Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E.

Stiglitz is correct: Financial institutions such as AIG are “too big to be.” What’s needed is a trust-buster to break up the big banks. If President Obama believes in historic change, this is an ideal moment to act.

As Stiglitz observes, poorly written or inadequately enforced regulations are insufficient to deal with the complexities and manipulations of Wall Street.

Rather than fiddle with the big banks, the administration should pare them down to size, limiting them to their original functions of savings, loans and checking. Prohibit banks from overreaching into investments, insurance, hedge funds, credit cards and other schemes. And enforce this division of labor with massive fines and jail time for offending executives -- instead of million-dollar bonuses.

Howard Hurlbut

Redlands

Re “Checking the banks,” Opinion, Jan. 29Re “Checking the banks,” Opinion, Jan. 29

Burdening doctors

Re “A doctor will see you now,” Editorial, Jan. 27

Timely access to care is important to doctors, but new regulations issued by the Department of Managed Health Care will be burdensome.

I am a pediatrician in a small practice. We strive to see patients in a timely matter. We work long hours to accommodate our patients and respect the doctor-patient relationship. Recommendations to send a person to another doctor interfere with this. Another doctor may not be fully aware of the medical history of the patient.

Moreover, there simply aren’t enough doctors in primary care to see the number of patients seeking care. And returning a call for triage or screening within 30 minutes is simply not possible for many doctors in solo or small group practices.

These regulations are yet another example of overburdening physicians -- who may just choose to stop accepting HMO patients.

Dawn L. Bruner, MD

Tustin

The writer is past president of the Orange County Medical Assn.

ACORN did its part

Re “Louisiana ‘phone trouble,’ ” Editorial, Jan. 28

The Times editorial criticizing James O’Keefe’s latest caper -- resulting in his arrest for breaking into Sen. Mary Landrieu’s (D-La.) New Orleans office -- recounted that O’Keefe achieved notoriety last year by secretly videotaping ACORN staffers providing him and a colleague outrageous advice.

The Times claimed that ACORN tried to deflect blame and avoid taking responsibility for its internal problems. In fact, soon after the incident, ACORN’s chief executive, Bertha Lewis, apologized to the public for its employees’ poor judgment and bad behavior. In addition, the employees were fired, and Lewis promised to hire an independent investigator to find out what happened and to make the findings public.

ACORN upheld all of these commitments. Its actions contrast with the stonewalling we usually see from politicians and corporations. In an editorial lecturing the public on responsible journalism, one would think the editorial board would have mentioned this.

John Atlas

Montclair, N.J.

The writer is the author of “Seeds of Change,” a forthcoming history of ACORN.

The Times’ new look

Re “New section debuts today,” Feb. 2

Gimme a break.

You say the new

LATExtra section is “to feature late-breaking stories” as well as the latest national and world stories.

If that’s so, why does the inaugural issue contain such “scoops” as a Westchester church that welcomes dogs and a study on teen abstinence?

The only timely issue here is: What are you guys up to?

Michael B. Abelson

Pasadena

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Are you trying to lose readers? Watching my beloved Times die bit by bit is heartbreaking.

Now the crossword puzzle is too compressed and hard to read -- but at the same time, too long to be copied on a letter-size page so my husband and I can each have a copy.

And do I need a banner across the middle of the comics page to know what I’m reading? Such bad use of limited and shrinking real estate.

Sad, sad, sad.

Chele Graham Welsh

Los Angeles

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Honey, I shrunk the paper . . .

I assume your next edition headline will read:

“Honey, we shrunk your bill.”

Joan Martin

Woodland Hills