Riding the bus in L.A.; water conservation in Orange; Reagan on the $50 bill

Wheels go ‘round

Re “Riding the bus changes her view,” Column One, Feb. 27

This article gave me a chuckle. The young woman profiled, “Snob on a Bus” blogger Jacquelyn Carr, regards bus riding as an adventure. Not so for the riders I see every day who use Bus Line l08 from East Slauson to the last stop in Marina del Rey. They have no option but to spend two hours each way from their homes to their jobs cleaning houses. I doubt that they view bus riding as an adventure.

I myself use three bus lines to get to the library, shops, classes and errands. It’s true one can have interesting encounters, but usually I have to walk a mile, wait for a bus and hope I’ll make it in time to see a movie. If I don’t, like Carr, I’ve found it really puts a “kink in my schedule” too.

Trudy Goldman
Marina del Rey

The Times writes that “transportation officials consider [discretionary riders] like Carr central to the agency’s future as it builds more rail lines with hopes of easing congestion and getting people out of their cars.” This is a slap in the face to the regular Metro ridership.

Why is Brentwood, where Carr lives, more important than any other area? How is it that Santa Monica, Culver City and other smaller agencies can deliver service to their riders where it is needed, while Los Angeles’ system can’t? Metro should be embarrassed by the comments this article inspired on The Times website (dare I dream). More important, it should get to work providing a viable system for its customers.

How about having the citizen riders enter the tower and run the agency for a week? That is one ride downtown I will gladly take.

Karen Caffee
Los Angeles

The bus, along with meat and produce sections in supermarkets and lines in banks, is one of the very few socially approved places where strangers -- who can look and sound very different -- feel free to talk to each other.

Random acts of kindness (ironically, a popular bumper sticker) are common on buses: teamwork securing a disabled passenger’s wheelchair; people giving up their choice seats for a senior or encumbered parent.

True, there are sometimes rude passengers, and occasionally smelly ones too. Sometimes schedules are disrupted. The worst I can say about the ride is Transit TV on Metro buses, which is inescapable noisy advertising. But the experience is a valuable reminder that life is a journey with people we can’t always choose and is not always predictable, that we have to trust the driver and that we are all in the same boat -- er, bus -- together.

Ellen Strenski
Los Angeles

We moved to L.A. about four years ago from New York City. We did not own a car in New York; we took subways, buses, taxis and occasionally rented a car. It was wonderful.

We now live where it is convenient to take a bus downtown, so I do. Here, (perhaps an exaggeration, but not much of one) only poor people take public transportation. As a result, I’ve had some humorous meetings: One man came up to me to ask legal questions because who else wears a tie in California but a lawyer? (I’m not one.) Another woman remarked: “My, you always look so nice.” (It was the first time we had seen each other.) A suit and tie seem to awe L.A. bus riders.

When you take public transportation, you interact with people. In New York, all classes of people take public transportation. Here, unfortunately, most of us are separated by two tons of steel. What a shame.

Karl F. Schmid
Los Angeles

In Orange, only green is good

Re “City, seeking lawn & order, sues pair,” March 2

As an Orange resident, I found this action against the Has offensive in many ways. Homeowners should be trying to conserve water; we live in an arid climate. Lawns suck up water and generate polluted runoff. It would have been a better use of the city’s time to update the city code and encourage more homeowners to remove their lawns and put in drought-tolerant landscaping.

I was especially upset that the city government planned to waste taxpayer money going to court with such a frivolous case. I find it puzzling that the conservative public officials of Orange supported such heavy-handed governmental intervention.

Carole Mintzer
Orange

A faux front page

Re “Alice in Wonderland,” advertisement, March 5

With this mock front page, you’ve not just damaged your claim to journalistic integrity, you’ve destroyed it.

I just don’t understand your death wish. As Lewis Carroll would say, your approach to journalism continues to be “curiouser and curiouser!”

Cancel my subscription.

Michael Bruce Abelson
Pasadena

I’ve gradually gotten used to the brutal cuts at the sadly declining Times, but this front-page movie ad says it all: You’ve fallen down the rabbit hole.

Kate Nelson
Manhattan Beach

I hope your insurer can cover the liability for all the heart attacks and apoplectic fits your fake-out “Alice in Wonderland” ad caused as it seemingly took over the front page of your paper. Had me going for a minute myself, then had me laughing. Psych! as the kids say.

Good one. I hope you still have a few octogenarian subscribers left alive.

George Waters
Pasadena

He’s a real showstopper

Re “Play it again,” Opinion, Feb. 27

When someone’s at the helm of a ship that runs aground, it’s weak to suggest it’s because the shoreline snuck up on the boat.

Nowhere in Patt Morrison’s puff-piece interview with Sheldon Epps does he take responsibility for Pasadena Playhouse’s financial state and recent closure. He implies that this venerable institution’s sustainability is the product of loyalty from a select minority. Has this been the case the past 93 years?

As one of the passionate theatergoers whom Epps is trying to persuade to keep him afloat, this statement reinforces the skewed belief that it’s all right to take credit for success but that failures are always someone else’s fault.

Given that the theater’s money crisis has been in the making for some time, maybe a new captain is needed to orchestrate smoother sailing.

Christina Hamlett
Pasadena

Watching out for animals

Re “The shows will go on,” Feb. 27

It was with great sadness that we learned of the death of Dawn Brancheau, the loving caretaker of Tilikum, the killer whale at SeaWorld Orlando.

We feel anger, as well, toward those who exhibit wild creatures in habitats that can drive them to violence. Dependent on sound to navigate, dolphins and whales are in constant distress when living in cramped pools and bombarded by noise.

Make no mistake -- this wasn’t just a terrible accident; it was a calculated risk on the part of a billion-dollar captive dolphin and whale industry. SeaWorld allowed contact with an orca that was a known risk.

This is the second death of a trainer by a SeaWorld whale in two months, and the third death in connection with this whale. We believe this situation warrants the initiation of a federal investigation into SeaWorld’s possible negligence and violations of the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

David Phillips
Berkeley

Ric O’Barry
Miami

The writers are directors of the Earth Island Institute. O’Barry is the activist featured in the Oscar-nominated movie “The Cove.”

The staff is working on it

Re “And the city’s plan is?,” Editorial, March 1

The Times is correct that city leaders owe the people of Los Angeles a “rational statement” on how budget cuts will impact the future of the city.

Budget cuts and job eliminations will have a profound impact on the services our city can provide to constituents, but we do not yet have a clear picture of exactly what the long-term effect will be.

That is why I introduced a motion that instructs our general managers to report to the council on specific impacts reduction in staff and services will have on Los Angeles residents, so that both the council and the general public will know exactly how budget changes will impact the services on which they rely.

Richard Alarcon
Los Angeles
The writer represents District 7 on the Los Angeles City Council.