Letters

Monday, October 12, 1998

Letters

Keep light flashing on Strathmore

In ‘Traffic signal still not operational’ (News, Oct. 7), I read
that Stephen Rand, UCLA’s traffic manager, wants to convert the
flashing-red light at Westwood and Strathmore ‘as quick as possible
… to regular functioning.’

Why?

Except at peak traffic times, there is no long line of cars
waiting to get through the light. Therefore, everyone gets through
faster by proceeding after a stop and not having to wait for the
green.

This poses a particular toll on pedestrians, who will have lost
their last way to cross Westwood without waiting for a signal;
those traveling north on Westwood Boulevard have already had to
wait through the unreasonably long green arrow at Westwood and
Circle Drive (turning from southbound Westwood to eastbound
Circle).

My proposal: Except at peak times, Westwood and Strathmore
should remain flashing red. The green arrow at Westwood and Circle
should come on only when someone is waiting to turn left (the
magnetic pickups to accomplish this are already there) and should
not remain on as long, again excepting peak times such as
immediately after a basketball game at Pauley Pavilion.

Mike Oliver

Graduate student

Mathematics

Your Å’fire’ smokes out

your neighbors

As a fellow non-smoker, Matthew Gever appalls me for his article
‘We didn’t start fire (government did)’ (Viewpoint, Oct. 8) in
which he supports the rights of smokers. It is a mistake, and it is
too easy, to blame our government for imposing new regulations
regarding where and when people may smoke.

It is unfortunate that there are so many actual parallels
between the Prohibition Act and new governmental regulations on
smoking and smokers rights, but they are most definitely not the
same issues! I do agree that the government has no right to govern
our bodies in any manner, however. Unlike drinking alcohol, smoking
immediately affects everyone in the vicinity of a smoker, thus
removing choice.

So, in this aspect, I applaud the government and their
regulations. Why do smokers deserve the right to rob me of choice
and shorten my life span as well as their own?

If you know any statistics about Californians, only about 20
percent of them smoke. So why should these people be accommodated
when I go out to a club or restaurant? If smoking was not a habit
that affected other people so drastically, then I could see how
this point would be valid. But, it is not … oh yeah, regarding
the cynicism about the Reagan tactic to ‘stamp’ out drugs, try
thinking about the word, ‘awareness.’ You cannot solve a problem if
you don’t realize you have one. Progress is the key, not perfection
… just ask any senior at UCLA.

Patti Waggoner

Fourth-year

Sociology

New Rose Bowl seating unfit

The new seating in the Rose Bowl is appalling! While the seats
themselves are comfortable enough, there is remarkably insufficient
leg space! I have season seats for UCLA football and have had a
long history of attendance at the Rose Bowl for various events. I
find that this supposedly ‘new and improved’ seating to be
completely unacceptable. The past game with Washington State was
the first home game my boyfriend and I were able to attend. We were
so uncomfortable during the game that we left at halftime so our
legs and feet could recover from being cramped. It was physically
impossible for either one of us to even sit with our knees and/or
feet in front of us.

We both had to sit with our knees splayed and feet tucked under
the seat, and since we sat next to each other there was not even
sufficient space for that. Neither one of us is extremely tall; he
is 6 feet tall and I am 5-foot-7, so it is incomprehensible to me
why the seats were ‘improved’ so that we cannot sit in a common, if
not normal, position in them.

I urge you to reconsider this new seating arrangement and take
action to truly improve the seating. I cannot imagine that the
general public would want to waste money paying for Rose Bowl
events when they discover the seating to be so terribly
uncomfortable.

At this time, I am reconsidering my option of renewing my season
seats in the future. After 15 years of faithfully supporting the
UCLA football team, this saddens me greatly, especially since it
was spawned only from a lack of good judgement on what is
considered an ‘improvement’ in the Rose Bowl.

Kathy Cheever

Staff

Department of Epidemiology

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