Our Readers Write: Bicyclists also want Crest open

Re: Piece of Mind column, Dec. 16, “Crest will open Monday. Or won’t,” by Carol Cormaci. Thank you for keeping up on this local mountain highway. I can tell you as an avid road cyclist and club racer that I too miss very much the ability to use Hwy. 2 to train for the racing season, which can run from January to September.

I now ride or drive out to Glendora for mountain/climbing training. In addition to the much-debated use of the Rose Bowl area for cycling during the warmer months, many other cyclists use Hwy. 2 up to Mt. Wilson and beyond year-round for fitness.

Please do include us as those who want to have our Hwy 2. back and open soon.

Dave Andrews

Pasadena

Personal experience might change opinion

So, Pastor Barta feels that if an emergency procedure is required to save the life of a pregnant mother but lose that of her unborn child, it’s better for both to perish? (In Theory, Dec. 30).

How bold a position to take when it is someone else’s wife whose death is required. I pray that Pastor Barta will not be forced to accept such moral dictates from afar if he or his family faces a similar brutal choice.

James Clark

La Cañada Flintridge

Guest writer draws wrong conclusion

Andrew Blumenfeld wrote a guest column about the problems our school district faces (“More money isn’t the answer,” Dec. 30).

I think he nailed some of the problems, but arrived at an erroneous conclusion.

Blumenfeld is correct when he points out that our school district is being squeezed not only by devastating cuts from Sacramento, but also by California politicians’ love-affair with the money the California Teachers Association funnels into their campaign coffers.

However, in his understandable anger at a system that truly hurts our kids, he’s missing the bigger picture.

Our school system is not only the second-best in the state of California, but one of the best in the nation. There doesn’t appear to be any evidence to support his assertion that “all across the country” we are being “outperformed” by districts unfettered by unions. Our district isn’t perfect, but it continues to excel in every measurable way.

However, that excellence is now in jeopardy. Our current lack of funds is not the result of excessive spending. Currently, LCUSD spends about $7,750 per student. That number is far less than what’s spent by many of the kinds of non-union districts Blumenfeld lauds. One such district spends more than $18,000 per student — nearly 250% more.

Do we struggle with the grip the unions have over Sacramento? Absolutely. Is it fair? No.

But we can’t change that today or tomorrow. Politicians have already robbed us of $2,500,000 this school year alone, and we’re told by experts they’re going to do it again before June. If we don’t act now, in five years our schools will be unrecognizable. Class sizes will skyrocket. Programs will be cut.

At that point, the union issues will be moot. So as a libertarian and a budget hawk, I’m here to say that for once, money is the answer.

Sacramento has cut off our left arm and in a few months they’ll be cutting off the right.

This isn’t the time to be haggling over the price of tourniquets.

Craig Mazin

La Cañada Flintridge