The Bell pay scandal; Metro Rail’s 20th anniversary; climate change skeptics

Bell’s nonvoters

Re “336 voters opened Bell’s wallet,” July 23

So 336 yea votes (out of a total of 390) on a measure in a city with a population of 40,000 is at least partly responsible for the Bell debacle.

Now the citizens of this town, among them probably many nonvoters, are loudly complaining. And rightly so.

There are other folks across the country, many of them presumably nonvoters as well, who complain vociferously about “too much government,” etc. Like a present candidate in this state’s gubernatorial race, perhaps they’re all just “too busy” to bother voting.

Read a newspaper. Become an informed citizen. And vote. It’s our privilege and our responsibility.

Moira Niblo Obermeyer

Laguna Niguel

The writer is a precinct inspector, Orange County Registrar of Voters.

What should the punishment be?

Re “Bell defiant in accepting resignations,” July 24

In Colonial New England, the likes of Bell City Manager Robert Rizzo, Assistant City Manager Angela Spaccia and Police Chief Randy Adams would have been tarred, feathered and run out of town.

Perhaps Bell should take that under consideration.

Bruce Savage

Palm Desert

Ask not for whom the Bell tolls; it tolls for three.

Clement Lew

Agoura Hills

I do not agree that it was a public service to expose the salary amounts of the Bell officials, nor do I think the residents of Bell are thinking this through.

All three city officials have resigned, and they might receive pensions almost equal to their salaries. Additionally, Bell now has to hire new officials. The cost of the retirements and new hires could far exceed the cost of retaining the officials.

No one seems to be suggesting that Rizzo wasn’t competent. Bell was in dire straits when he took over — something everyone seems to have forgotten.

Way to go, Bell. It would have been cheaper to keep ‘em.

Margarite Hermosillo

Glendale

Kudos to The Times for exposing the outrageous greed and inexcusable behavior by city officials in Bell. What a wonderful way to demonstrate the role of a free press in holding government officials accountable for their actions.

The next step, of course, is to conduct an audit of city salaries throughout The Times’ circulation area. Now that would make for some interesting reading. Who knows — maybe you’ve found a story that will remind The Times’ corporate parent of what newsrooms can do when they have sufficient reporters to follow tips and conduct top-quality investigative reporting.

I look forward to reading future stories that identify officials who are abusing the public trust so that citizens can replace them with ethical people.

Jeff Crider

Palm Desert

Lost in the fury over city officials who draw unconscionably fat salaries is the fact that such corrupt practices also pervade our corporate business structure and even some well-known and respected “nonprofit” entities in our nation.

Officials and CEOs who game the system, as well as inattentive or participating city councils and corporate boards that actively abet these brash criminals, are everywhere in our midst, and many of us ignore these outrageous pay practices or treat them as though they were God-given rights or sacraments.

When are we going to wake up to what has been going on, not just in the city of Bell but throughout our politics and corporations, and even in some of our most respected tax-exempt organizations? To recognize the pervasiveness of these corrupt practices may be the first and most essential step toward fixing them.

Richard J. Steckel

Santa Barbara

Give rail a chance

Re “Metro Rail to mark its 20th anniversary,” July 23

Here we go again. Another anti-rail article citing the same tired sources.

I can imagine how it goes: “Hey guys, we’re running another article on the failures of Metro Rail. Call up James Moore at USC — we can always count on him to give us the goods. And get that Tom Rubin guy too!”

Would Moore or Rubin care to comment on the amount of money spent on Los Angeles freeway construction over the last 20 years and then demonstrate how that expenditure has lessened freeway commute times?

Based on their “bang for the buck” reasoning, the freeways have been dismal failures. Billions upon billions of dollars wasted since 1985 on freeways — and yet commute times are worse than ever.

Bruce Scottow

Los Angeles

The problem with Rubin’s criticism of Metro’s rail system — that by perhaps reducing investment in bus transit, it has “forced ridership down” — is that it overlooks the advantages of rail transit.

More people on light rail and subways ultimately means fewer people in buses and cars, less traffic and fewer emissions. With more than 1 billion rail boardings since 1990, the traffic and environmental benefits to our county shouldn’t be underestimated.

Additionally, treating rail as a failure because of moderate ridership is not only shortsighted (the system is still under development) but completely misses the mark. The MTA isn’t a private enterprise. Ridership figures shouldn’t be the end measure of its success.

Austin Robinson

Los Angeles

Moore seems to think that buses exist only for the poor. Though giving people with limited means as much mobility as possible is a laudable and important role for transit, another is to protect the environment by luring more affluent citizens to “choose” transit as a viable alternative. That requires an extensive and efficient system of rail and, yes, buses.

Andrew Pannell

Santa Monica

A climate of denial

Re “Denial won’t make it cooler,” Editorial, July 22

It is not difficult to see why the global warming movement is losing ground. The infamous “d-word” is one reason. “Denial” is a condescending term that raises hackles and hardens positions. Its use is a major tactical blunder.

But there is more. Skepticism about climate change is a symptom of the crisis of confidence in institutions of all kinds, brought on by the gross derelictions and deceptions of irresponsible officialdom.

Scientific “experts” are not immune in an era when everything, including integrity, seems to be for sale. This issue is emblematic of the deep social disorder of our time.

Gilbert Dewart

Pasadena

Thank you for calling out climate skeptics such as George F. Will and the Fox “News” gang, though I consider Rush Limbaugh equally complicit.

These self-proclaimed experts abuse the public forum to spout their climate change denial misinformation, pompously scoffing at the overwhelming consensus of actual climate scientists. They proudly celebrate the public confusion and doubt they instill.

Their dangerous and zealous commitment to stymie responsible attempts to reduce carbon emissions will add to the suffering of our planet and its inhabitants.

Why do we continue to give serious, unchallenged attention to these pundits, who appear so blinded by political ambition or greed as to throw Earth under the bus?

Meanwhile the ice caps keep melting and floods, heat waves and weather extremes continue unabated. What an unspeakable tragedy.

Katie Carothers

North Hills