Patt Morrison’s interview with developer Rick Caruso; Beverly Hills kicking out nonresident students; Mandeville Canyon motorists and cyclists

Different views of Caruso

Re “Work in progress,” Opinion, Jan. 9

I just finished reading Patt Morrison’s terrific interview with Rick J. Caruso. I wish it had also pointed out how the Grove has breathed new life into the Farmers Market.

I love my city, and whenever I visit the Grove, I’m always impressed with how the energy spills over into the Farmers Market and has rejuvenated our historical treasure. I credit Caruso for that vision.

And Mr. Caruso, don’t change the music.

Leslie Emer

Los Angeles

Caruso’s power and influence in Los Angeles cannot be denied. However, I find his hubris and idea of “community” appalling.

This apostle of a better life through shopping was saddened on a recent drive through Westwood Village. Try driving closer to the “street” you created at the Grove, Mr. Caruso -- say, Melrose Avenue. On this once-vibrant thoroughfare, many longtime businesses are being shuttered these days. Any chance the Grove has torn this “fabric” of the community apart?

Second, Morrison’s interview does not mention that a majority of the patrons at the Grove drive into the area from elsewhere. This has created tremendous congestion in the neighborhoods abutting it and has had a negative impact on the Fairfax District.

I fail to see how corporate shopping options offered with music by the Rat Pack adds up to improving any community.

Julius Reuter

Guadalupe, Calif.

Charter schools -- yes and maybe

Re “An unplanned revolution in L.A.’s public schools,” Jan. 10

What a fascinating time to be in education, and what a wonderful job The Times has done keeping readers informed about the charter school movement, especially here in Los Angeles.

I’m a 6th- and 7th-grade humanities teacher at the “small, scrappy” New Los Angeles Charter School. Though we are indeed small, and our school is carved out of a church space, we are also mighty.

In our first year, we received an API of 830. Our parental involvement is impressive. Our board of directors is diverse, talented and committed. My students amaze me every day.

Our location and our open lottery have allowed for an incredibly diverse student body. Our mission is aligned with a new vision for our city and our world.

In a time of great uncertainty, I know one thing: I believe in this school.

Thank you for keeping the public informed about the direction education is taking.

Stephanie Luty Widmer

Los Angeles

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Kudos to The Times’ education writers for their engaging review of charter schools, the rising appeal of these human-scale places and their potential for boosting kids’ achievement. But it is misleading to claim in a subheadline -- based on a single year of data -- that “overall they outscore traditional campuses.”

The Times compared 2008-09 test scores between students attending charters and their counterparts attending regular public schools. But the advantage for charter kids is likely due to the fact that charters enroll fewer students with learning disabilities and fewer kids from non-English speaking homes, as your article notes.

It’s not valid to infer that charter organizations are lifting learning curves without taking into account those schools’ demographics, or without tracking student growth over time.

LAUSD chief Ray Cortines is devising a sound evaluation plan for the district’s new charters-and-choice program. Hopefully, it will be designed more carefully than the crude analysis attempted by The Times.

Bruce Fuller

Berkeley

The writer is a professor of education and public policy at UC Berkeley.

Booted out by Beverly Hills

Re “Board hears clashing views,” Jan. 13

Beverly Hills’ excuse for kicking nonresident students out of its schools -- that soon the city will no longer receive state aid based on attendance -- is the reddest of herrings ever presented by this island of wealth and privilege.

Having lived in L.A. nearly all of my 66 years, I can say with some authority that most of the money collected in Beverly Hills property taxes comes from property owners who make their money either directly or indirectly off of a multitude of nonresident shoppers and service-seekers.

It is divine to profit mightily off nonresidents, but an intolerable burden to share its renowned classrooms with students not lucky enough to have been born to those living within the city’s confines.

As a country, we’ve just been subjected to an overdose of Wall Street greed. Now we get to witness an overdose of Beverly Hills-style greed.

Steven M. Goodman

Encino

Can’t we all share the road?

Re “Driver who hurt cyclists sentenced,” Jan. 9

Now that the Mad Doctor of Mandeville, Christopher Thompson, got his five-year comeuppance, a lot of bicyclists are feeling smug. But before these Lance-oh-lots charge forth in Lycra-clad splendor, they need to remember that the two riders injured by Thompson’s road raging weren’t entirely innocent. Hundreds of thousands of cyclists have and will ride Mandeville Canyon. Most do not provoke resident motorists. Most are smart enough and courteous enough to single up when cars approach. Only a minority try flipping the bird at rude or raging drivers.

The judge’s comments about “bike lanes” are irrelevant and dumb. There is no room for bike lanes on Mandeville Canyon Road, or on most streets in Los Angeles.

L.A. streets are made for people. What we choose to use on the street -- car or bike -- is irrelevant. By law we are equal.

Everybody: Chill. Share the roads.

Pete van Nuys

San Clemente

Palin comes to Fox News

Re “Palin signs on with Fox News,” Jan. 12

We can be thankful to Fox News for paving the way for liars like Sarah Palin to be presented to the world as political commentators.

Despite her telling us about the federal government’s schemes to create “death panels” to determine who does and does not receive medical care -- which, as you write, “was voted the biggest political lie of the year by readers of Politifact.com” -- in hiring her, Fox executive Bill Shine says that “we’ll talk to her . . . and everything will be fine.”

One more example of what Fox News means when it touts its product as “fair and balanced.”

Mickey Oskey

Marina del Rey

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She cannot tell us what newspapers and magazines she reads, but at least we now know what TV station she watches.

Bruce R. Feldman

Santa Monica

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Palin’s remark that “it’s wonderful to be part of a place that so values fair and balanced news” was not only inaccurate (as expected) but also funny (as usual).

Doesn’t she realize that “fair and balanced” news died when Walter Cronkite retired?

Gregg Scott

Los Angeles

She helped keep Anne alive

Re “Miep Gies, 1909 - 2010,” Obituary, Jan. 12

About 15 years ago, Miep Gies spoke before a standing-room-only audience in Anaheim. The setting was a large circular auditorium, and she was just one woman surrounded by thousands of us. Still, when she spoke, you could have heard the proverbial pin drop. It was obvious everyone was hanging on her every word.

This was how Gies, who helped Anne Frank and her family hide in Amsterdam and saved the girl’s diary after the family’s capture by the Nazis, responded when asked what she would say to anyone questioning the existence of the Holocaust: “I would say to them, ‘Then where is my Anne? Where is she? Can you tell me what happened to her?’ ”

Godspeed, Miep Gies. And countless thanks for being the indispensable link that has helped Anne’s light to shine for more than half a century.

Janet Whitcomb

Rancho Santa Margarita

Too old for rock ‘n’ roll?

Re “And you thought Hendrix was dead,” Jan. 11

Recently, Mick Jagger

and Bruce Springsteen were on the cover of a special

issue of Rolling Stone celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Both artists are in their 60s. Less then 20 years ago, MTV practically wouldn’t play the music videos of any artist who looked older then 30. In a very short time, rock has gone from a place where a 40-year-old rocker was a joke to a place where the grave dirt of a dead legend is more worthy of a commercial push then the career of whoever the next legend might be.

That Hall of Fame will become a mausoleum if the people at the top don’t eventually decide to stop strip-mining their own past and instead risk something to ensure that they have a future.

Morgan Funder

Riverside