Rail Proposal Is Reasonable

* Re “As O.C. Balks, Riverside Rail Proposal in Peril,” Jan. 13:

What will Orange County get in return for its $1.8 million to $2.4 million yearly share of expenses? For starters, less pollution, traffic congestion and likely a better and larger labor pool. Since this sum is not even enough to build an extra half mile of highway, we should welcome it as the bargain of the century. With our county government’s annual budget hovering around $4 billion, this relatively minuscule budget item should be accommodated easily.

Since our Board of Supervisors has been increasingly hostile to the will of the majority of voters in recent years, perhaps it is time to call for a new form of county government wherein the supervisors will be replaced by a single elected official to run the ever-contracting county territory. This step alone likely will spare enough funds for us to amply pay for this project and more.

JOHN T. CHIU

Newport Beach

* How could one reasonably expect Orange County to contribute to this project? Surely such funds would be better utilized lobbying for unnecessary airports, investing in ill-conceived toll roads and creating a profitable tax base through the senseless and obscene development of the remaining open land in Orange County, as has been the case all along.

JASON WINEINGER

Laguna Beach