Meddling; Getting it Right; Snapping Turtle; More Benches and Official Papers

December 2, 2001

Dear Editor,

It's about time. The City Council finally has made it into the lives of private home owners, forcing them to design their homes to accommodate "disabled persons," if they need it or not. That is freedom -- having the government do your thinking for you, deciding what is good for you and then remanding you to comply. What a country.

Let's see... The City is really doing a great job in taking care of all its citizens: control the rent for tenants.. the hell with the owners and the effect of rent control on the immediate and surrounding neighborhood

Force private business to pay a "living wage"... So what if it's not all inclusive of all workers in the city... it feels good and gets the union vote

Design streets & time stoplights to make it all but impossible to drive due to traffic overflow in every direction... narrow streets and create bus lanes in the most impacted areas of the city to further get the "City Council/Green Party" message out -- cars are bad -- don't drive in the downtown area or we will make it so painful you will wish you didn't.

When Mayor (Michael) Feinstein said one evening at a City Council meeting that he would like to see a "car-less" Tuesday, I wonder if he thought it would be here so soon and turn into a car-less Monday-Friday. I bank at 5th Street & Santa Monica and must plan carefully to go to that location early in the morning, or it could take almost 20 minutes to get from 14th street to the
bank.

I wait for further "life improvements" from our wise leaders

Len Labounty
Santa Monica

November 28, 2001

Okay, okay. Let me see if I got it right:

In the name of a living wage -- which is something we who are "wage slaves" can all get behind -- the City Council launched yet another anti-business salvo that seems to have resulted in an exodus of restaurants from the "gold zone." And now they want to form yet another "task force" and city staff have gotten in on the act with a moratorium of sorts that somehow will staunch the
migration of jobs as business flees the pending onslaught of a death of a thousand cuts at the hands of the super majority...

And while all this has been going on, just a few blocks away the hotels saw rooms vacant in near record numbers that required mass layoffs because hey, there were no guests, and, when the hotels took food to the pantry at St. Clements (and I went to school there) the people who speak for the workers refused the food!

I'm sorry, but it seems to me someone has missed the point that we are all in this together, and an opportunity was lost to mend some past wounds and make some gains for the future, and perhaps it's time to use a little less "force" and have a little more "tact" by not biting the hand that feeds you, or perhaps signs your check. But hey, that's just my opinion , and you're entitled to it .

B. Sudovar

November 27, 2001

Dear Editor,

(Re: "Wining and Dining for Tourism," Nov. 27)

Hello! Did I read this right? As a long time resident of Santa Monica, I am curious to know which Westside restaurant served snapping turtle on aspic. I find it deplorable.

Thank you.

Georgette
Santa Monica

December 27, 2001

Dear Editor,

I'd hoped that with the recent upgrade at the Mall (Santa Monica Place), there would have been more consideration for shoppers. There used to be benches every few yards where weary, handicapped, or elderly shoppers could rest a moment. (I went to the Bayside office a year or so ago to request return of the benches. They replaced ONE bench at the far, 2nd street side! Still nothing along the length of the 2nd and 3rd floors.)

"Keep 'em moving," seems to be the motto. Well, I have a bad back and need to rest occasionally. So I take my business to other malls, where they aren't so greedy; have more respect for customers.

S. Meric

November 27, 2001

Dear Editor,

I just read (rather belatedly) Teresa Rochester's story (Behind the Headlines: Local Weeklies Vie for Distinction, Public Ads in the Wake of The Outlook's Demise," Oct. 15) on weeklies vying for the city's legal advertising.

Apparently you forgot that the first newspaper to be given the coveted status of "official newspaper of Santa Monica" following the demise of The Outlook was, in fact, The Argonaut.

We held that status for about a year, until the Our Times section of the LA Times campaigned for it and got it away from us.

Cindy Frazier
The Argonaut