Cheap

Isn't it funny how the people in favor of Proposition A remember their defeat back in 1984? They're always whining about how Orange County residents want road improvement but are too cheap to pay for it. Proposition A offered us a chance to build freeways to nowhere for the benefit of large landowners, developers, auto insurers and newspaper circulation departments. Also thrown in the deal was a mass transit system shaped like a bus. Tax or no tax, Proposition A was a turkey, and the voters recognized it as such.

Ginsu knives have been slicing for 30 years. Now Rhode Island drivers can use the Ginsu to cut their commute. A stretch of road in Warwick is called Ginsu Way to honor the cheap knife that's now a pop icon.

If Sununu thinks he's so damned necessary to the efficient running of the White House, why doesn't he stay there? I think he has an overblown sense of his own importance as well as being too cheap to pay for his own air flights. SHIRLEY PORTER Sunland

The article "With Technology, Services Find Much Gained in Translations" [Sept. 10] provides a glimpse into the complex world of foreign-language communications. Is technology really bringing us cheap, near-instantaneous translation "at the touch of a button"--or is translation inherently arcane and baffling to outsiders? The truth lies in between. While the $50 translation to Japanese (with a turnaround of four hours, no less!) strains belief, it would have been interesting to hear from the Japanese counterparts who received the translation about what, if anything, they were able to make of the text.

It was no accident that Bush pardoned Weinberger and others during the holiday weekend. His lawyers have served him well. However, the one incredible thing I have always heard about the Iran-Contra investigation is that it has cost the taxpayers almost $40 million. If the immense power of both the Reagan and Bush administrations had not been used to cover up the truth and if everyone had come forward with the truth, then the investigation would have been real cheap. Instead, both Reagan and Bush have left us with the legacy of their cheap and corrupt values.

I have done two things quite recently which are completely out of character. One is writing this letter and the other is going out to the Los Angeles Open golf tournament and rooting against someone. After reading the quote attributed to Mac O'Grady that Riviera was like a "cheap public course" I cannot keep silent. As a weekend duffer who has to play those "cheap public courses," I think Mr. O'Grady owes the 200,000 persons who hit the links every weekend in Southern California an apology.

Oh, yuck--another article extolling the virtues of bad architecture ("One for the Books," by Aaron Betsky, Nov. 8). "Towell," the temporary Powell Library at UCLA, is just plain ugly--an awkward conglomeration of harsh and uncomfortable materials. Calling it "fun" and "serious exuberance" won't change that. Just because its budget was cheap (at under $3 million?) doesn't mean it has to look cheap. A wood structure would have been nice, but Quonset huts would have been even better.