Financial disclosure rules for L.A. gang cops; solar farms in the Mojave Desert; the fight against billboards
Something to hide?
Re “Policy thins the ranks in L.A. gang units,” Dec. 28
What are these officers afraid of?
In most government service, strict rules govern income from other jobs and basic financial disclosure.
Avoiding duty just to get around such disclosure seems akin to refusing drug and alcohol tests. It should be setting off alarms all over the Los Angeles Police Department.
Have we learned nothing since Rampart?
Ron Hardcastle
Los Angeles
The right way to site solar
Re “A Mojave power failure,” Editorial, Dec. 26
I was disappointed to read your editorial lauding Big Solar as the solution to the planet’s problems and conservation as the enemy. Where was mention of the smart, proven, win/win proposition of siting solar panels within the existing built environment?
The Times embarrasses itself and does a grave disservice to its readers and our public wilderness by cheerleading wholesale ecosystem slaughter over democratic, sustainable, clean-energy solutions such as rooftop solar and efficiency upgrades.
Point-of-use solutions within the built environment are the answer.
Please start reporting on how these work and stop being the mouthpiece for Big Energy and big banks, which are the entire reason we are in these twin economic and ecological crises to begin with.
Sheila Bowers
Santa Monica
The writer is an attorney and environmental activist.
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The reason many environmentalists object to some of the plans for solar power development is that facilities are planned for undisturbed land administered by the Bureau of Land Management.
We don’t need to impact undisturbed public land in order to develop solar power generating facilities. There is plenty of private desert land near existing transmission lines. This is particularly true in the vicinity of existing cities along transportation routes such as Interstate 15, Interstate 10, U.S. 395 and California 14.
Apparently, the reason green energy developers prefer public land is that they don’t want to purchase the property first. Why suffer that expense if they can build on public land practically for free?
Allan Schoenherr
Laguna Beach
The writer is an ecology professor emeritus at Fullerton College.
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Your editorial missed the mark in claiming that the California Desert Protection Act of 2010 is short on support for the development of renewable energy in California’s deserts.
I tailored this bill so that the proposed monument impacts as few solar projects as possible while protecting the ecology of the desert. It is my understanding that the Bureau of Land Management is setting aside 330,000 acres for solar energy study areas where large energy projects could be built. This is more than twice the land needed to meet the state’s goal of getting 33% of its energy from renewable resources by 2020. This bill is not a roadblock to solar and wind development.
Your editorial went on to suggest that the bill would be better if it established special renewable energy zones. The original version of the bill sought to establish such zones, but that provision was deemed unnecessary by solar industry representatives and environmentalists. Instead, I worked with all parties to include other provisions to promote renewable energy: to establish BLM offices for permitting renewable energy projects; to reduce the delay time for permits to develop on private and public lands; and to allow for new power transmission lines to be built along existing corridors.
I have also introduced a bill with Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) to expand a Treasury Department grant program that provides affordable financing for capital-intensive renewable energy projects.
It is my hope that some of these projects will be built in suitable areas of the California desert.
I believe that conservation and renewable energy development are complementary goals, and the Desert Protection Act of 2010 strikes a sensible balance between both.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein
(D-Calif.)
‘Blade Runner,’ then and now
Re “Homeowners fight the glare of digital billboards,” Dec. 27
Marin County, where I live, had the courage and foresight to ban all billboards. It has enhanced the quality of our lives and secured our property values.
Like Los Angeles, Marin County is a scenic wonder that should not be lost to commercial interests. As an ex-Angeleno, I am aware of the kind of pressure those interests have over the area.
Those digital billboards remind me of the film “Blade Runner,” in which advertising blared from almost everything.
Can we afford that kind of future in one of the most beautiful places on Earth?
John Thomas Ellis
Kentfield, Calif.
Trouble with detainees
Re “Guantanamo at crossroads,” Editorial, Dec. 27
The Times asks “if six [detainees from Yemen] can go home, why not the rest?”
Why not? Perhaps because many of the other 200-plus detainees await their “meaningful day in court.” Surely The Times must realize that some of these Yemeni detainees pose a more significant threat than others.
And why is The Times questioning trying the suspects in the bombing of the Navy destroyer Cole in military rather than civilian court? A military target was bombed, and military personnel were killed.
If I had just landed on planet Earth, I might assume from the tone of this editorial that The Times was against holding any detainees at all.
Charles Cozic
San Diego
‘Tea party’ hostess
Re “She’s at the tea party table,” Dec. 27
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) says, “I think this coalition will fit under a tent that’s literally fashioned out of the parchment of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.”
So she would use our two most precious national documents for roofing materials, providing cover for perhaps a party of 12, if they stand really close. If so, the Republican Party needn’t fear secession. Or perhaps Bachmann literally misunderstands the word “literally.”
Gary Turner
Anaheim Hills
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Bachmann once said she was “hot for Jesus.” Given her outrageous attempts to deny healthcare for all Americans, I doubt Jesus would be “hot” for her.
James R. Gallagher
Huntington Beach
Old-fashioned reception
Re “In the digital TV era, rabbit ears multiply,” Dec. 25
The Times fails to mention one fact that has made it harder for us out here in the boonies to receive some digital signals from the Los Angeles TV stations.
When the digital cutover occurred, several stations moved their broadcast from the UHF frequency to their “old” VHF frequency. The result was that while we had been getting a great digital signal before the switch, when the UHF-to-VHF move was made, we could no longer
use our UHF-only antenna and had to revert to true rabbit ears, with a resultant loss in signal strength and reliability.
VHF signals are much more sensitive to atmospheric conditions, so we typically lose these channels soon after sunset.
Bill Ellis
Ladera Ranch
A conversation with Pete
The Times has always fawned over the USC football program, but Patt Morrison’s “interview” with Pete Carroll was just embarrassing.
In her preface she referenced the most recent problems they’ve had off the field, but then she peppered him with withering questions about his favorite practical joke. It’s hard-hitting journalism like that that keeps athletic programs honest.
Someday, and hopefully someday soon, the NCAA will find the backbone to stop the cesspool that is Southern Cal football.
Until then we’ll watch their stars’ families live in free houses and roll around in fancy SUVs, and read the fluff in The Times.
David Hirsch
Ventura
Missing Brittany
Re “They left an imprint,” Dec. 27
Billy Mays and DJ AM left an imprint, but not Brittany Murphy? She was an actual movie star -- not a “pitchman” or a record spinner.
Do you even read your own paper? She was big news, and most of us are still upset over her death.
Marty Foster
Ventura
