Letters to the Editor: Should L.A. residents worry about crime? Readers weigh in

To the editor: I don’t understand why The Times has gone so far afield to try to convince Los Angeles residents that the situation in our city is not as dire as it would appear to be.

One day we see the article, “Is it fair to blame Gascón alone for L.A.’s violent crime surge? Here’s what the data show.” The next day we see the story, “Rick Caruso said no one feels safe in Los Angeles. Here’s what residents say.” Both attempt to paint a far rosier picture of L.A. than is justified.

Many residents of Los Angeles are scared as never before by increasing homelessness and higher crime rates. No amount of Times newsprint is going to convince readers that things are OK in our city.

Kelly Dowdy, Pacific Palisades

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To the editor: As recently as the 1980s, annual tuition and fees at UC Berkeley were around $1,000. Before turning to today’s cost, consider that it costs about $100,000 per year to incarcerate an inmate in state prison.

For some offenders, there is no better public money spent. For others, that lockup cost is nettlesome. My child has to work a part-time job and take on debt to attend a University of California or Cal State campus.

And L.A. County Dist. Atty. George Gascón is getting blamed for not locking up more adults for $100,000 annually? The circumstances of such incarceration are necessarily severe. However, there are simply not very many people who require this kind of expense. Gascón, I think, gets that.

And I do not blame him for the spectacular cost (around $14,000 per year at Berkeley, not including housing) of sending a child to a public university.

Konrad Moore, San Diego