The Best of Times
Re: “Where Music Lives,” Cover Story, Sept. 19
Thanks for the vivid and nostalgic (in the best way) mini-oral history on McCabe’s Guitar Shop, Steve Appleford. We who remember the “old, weird Los Angeles” had to pretend a little indie pixie dust got in our aging eyes at the memories it evokes as we lament for a time before auto-tuned, Instagrammed artists, the salad days of book and record stores (huh?), which we’ll soon enough be trying to explain through the dementia at the old folks detainment center, waxing geriatric about Kinko-Xeroxed ‘zines, Doc Marten boots and the underground so full of talent and resonant quirk, it couldn’t help but take over
the world and lose its soul in
the process.
Will K. Schilling
Los Angeles
Parents Are Entitled to Public School Rankings
Re: “Q&A: LAUSD Board’s Nick Melvoin Says School Rankings Will Drive Improvement,” Education Spotlight, Aug. 29
I was one of many parents who advocated for this framework because we needed to create our own report card for improvement. If LAUSD and its teachers want to receive more money from our community for education, they need to be transparent about student growth and success. For some reason LAUSD thinks they can get money from voters to solve their problems without being open with parents and the community. If we put the new performance framework on the ballot, I’m sure the community would vote for it!
Fabiola Martin
Los Angeles
ON FACEBOOK:
Re: “Bonin and the Homeless Crisis,” Cover Story, Oct. 3
Paul Garcia: If I had a do-nothing policy at work, I’d be fired.
Mario Velasco: No surprises here. Mike Bonin will never take responsibility for his failures. It’s always easier for him to just point the finger.
Ro Rosenkranz: I love how he uses the rhetorical device of dismissing the criticism by putting it all in the same category of those that would use homophobic, hateful, or even death threats. Fact of the matter is that the vast amount of people who find him feckless —even making the situation worse — are the same ones who voted for him in the first place. To be clear, I don’t think he uses this device to lie to us; I think he uses it to lie to himself.
Justin Levine: Bonin’s policies are what helped cause homelessness on the Westside to begin with. Now he wants to portray himself as a fearless leader who can help “solve” the problem. Nobody who has lived in his district for more than a decade can honestly say that the quality of life has been anything but much worse compared to when he first took office. He is
a disgrace.
Re: “Drug Sting Preceded Closure and Sale of Surfside Venice,” News, Oct. 3
James J. Gutierrez: They closed down a bar for dealing coke but they do nothing about the heroin-filled encampments.
Bruce Choate: Drug deals are going down everywhere in Venice. When did it become a law that employees of an establishment are required to report such actions, let alone get involved? Doing so puts them at risk of retaliation.
I am personally thankful to The Argonaut for its courage to call out the worthless politics of politicians who’s politics is not always in the
best interest of “We the People.” Bureaucrats need to put their enormous egos on the back burner and do the job they have been elected to do or resign and give the opportunity to Serve the People to worthy individuals who appreciates the opportunity. There are NO simple solutions to the complex problem of homelessness, but the “Lack” of Empathy, Leadership and Creativity/Vision (for without vision the people perish) are the roots of the crisis of “HOMELESSNESS” in wealthy America. America has given AID to entire the world, but lacks love and respect for its own society.
How are we ever going to solve the problem of homelessness when the people who are affected the most (homeless) are not allowed a “VOICE/and or to PARTICIPATE” IN THE PROCESS OF RESOLUTION.
Here again, “We the People” are victimized with taxation without representation. RUTH CRAFT