Opinion: So what if the primary backer of Measure S is the AIDS Healthcare Foundation?

To the editor: Apparently The Times has decided to shoot the messenger, AIDS Healthcare Foundation President Michael Weinstein, who by the way has been politically active since before he could drive. He’s not some out-of-touch power broker complaining about his view; he’s a visionary shining a spotlight on the way our city’s future is being determined. (“An AIDS advocacy foundation is bankrolling L.A.’s draconian anti-development measure. How is this social justice?” editorial, Feb. 25)

Measure S sends a message that as citizens we should be wary of how our city is being developed. We should also be concerned about people making exorbitant profits while jeopardizing our neighborhoods and promising to supposedly provide affordable housing and shelter for the homeless.

Los Angeles should be well-planned by the most brilliant and creative among us, not patchworked together for expedient means. Even if parts of Weinstein’s Measure S are flawed, they can be addressed.

Jean Anker, Woodland Hills

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To the editor: For many years AIDS Healthcare Foundation was one of the premier clinics providing excellent healthcare. As a patient for 30 years, I’ve used the services at most of AHF’s clinics and seen the quality of healthcare in the last few years worsen.

The people working in my current clinic are dedicated and hardworking, but the place has become so overworked and understaffed it is hardly functional. Phones often go unanswered, and calls are typically not returned. Doctors are so overbooked that any issue or medical need is often given the same direction: “Go to urgent care.”

I no longer feel safe at AHF. For the sake of the patients at these clinics, it would be wise for Weinstein to stick to services for HIV and AIDS patients and stay out of politics.

Casey Cannon, Los Angeles

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