Letters

Monday, March 1, 1999

Letters

Gever humorous, full of wacky ideas

This letter is in response to Matthew Gever’s article
"Sweatshops offer good jobs, chance to achieve better life"
(Viewpoint, Feb. 25).

It is interesting how Gever attacked Praxis and the "many on the
left" in his Viewpoint column. I assume that this means Gever
himself is of the "right" persuasion.

As a person on the right, it is even more interesting that Gever
supports the kind of sweatshop labor outlined in his article. More
often than not, it is those on the right who complain about jobs
moving overseas, taking away opportunities for hard working
Americans.

But I do have to applaud Gever for his wide definition of
"sweatshops," which he attributes to those on the left. That way,
he can safely defend the abuse of human rights in other countries
by Americans without actually saying so. Do these "sweatshops"
offer more than what a developing nation can offer to its own
citizens? Sure. But do they offer all that Americans can, and
should, offer as Americans? Probably not.

I enjoy Gever’s right-wing articles. Some ideas are so far out
you can’t help but laugh. I eagerly anticipate his next piece of
work.

Wayne Lu

1998 Alumni

Aerospace engineering

Bruin MTA article uninformative

The recent story about a Sunset bus line published in the Daily
Bruin ("New Sunset bus line draws criticism," News, Feb. 19) was
too vague to be informative. The article may refer to a proposal
for a line 303.

Line 303 would take the place of current MTA lines 302 and 429,
both of which operate on Sunset Boulevard and service UCLA.

The 302 and 429 are being restructured as part of a plan to
modify several MTA bus lines in the Hollywood area to directly
serve the new stations along the Hollywood extension of the Metro
Red Line subway. The change is supposed to happen around the time
when the Red Line reaches Hollywood in mid-May of 1999.

Line 303 will also be routed off Sunset to Santa Monica
Boulevard. This is a bad idea. First of all, Santa Monica has
limited stop service provided by line 304. Another problem is Santa
Monica is very slow. The worst congestion is in Century City,
Beverly Hills and West Hollywood. This would kill any time
advantage this new line would bring. Line 303 should stay on
Sunset.

On another note, contrary to what the article and the Bus
Riders’ Union say, Van Nuys has an adequate amount of
transportation. There are several bus lines that operate there:
Metro Bus Lines 167, 169, 233, 236, 420, 426, 561 (most of these
run about every 8-20 minutes), two DASH community circulators (Van
Nuys/Studio City and Van Nuys/Panorama City), and a commuter bus to
Santa Clarita. And that’s just along Van Nuys Boulevard.

There is also a Metrolink/ Amtrak station located on Van Nuys
north of Sherman Way, plus several other MTA lines that cross Van
Nuys Boulevard. At major intersections like Burbank Boulevard,
Victory Boulevard, Vanowen Street, Sherman Way, Saticoy Street and
Roscoe Boulevard.

The MTA will hold a public hearing about the bus and rail
restructuring on March 6 at 10 a.m., located at the headquarters
building at Union Station. More information is available at the MTA
web site at http://www.mta.net. This should clear up any
confusion.

Armando Avalos

Third-year

Undeclared

Director at large

Southern California Transit Advocates

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