Councilwoman Laura Chick

Re "City Delays Action on Golf Course Lease," Nov. 24. Councilwoman Laura Chick seems to feel that only government can do a good job. She wants to turn the Van Nuys Golf Course over to the city's Recreation and Parks Department. I don't know who's running the course, but I've been using it for many years and I'm very happy with the price, the service and the maintenance. They must have learned something in the 34 years they've had it. Even the Parks Department brings in private companies to operate its courses.

The Los Angeles City Council asked the Airport Commission on Friday to delay a lease at Van Nuys Airport, with Councilwoman Laura Chick saying the eleventh-hour proposal "smacks of back-room, closed-room dirty deals." The commission is scheduled to vote June 26--four days before Mayor Richard Riordan leaves office--to approve a lease of 5.8 acres of undeveloped land to be used for a new aviation business.

As a resident of the San Fernando Valley for 18 years, I am enthusiastic about Councilwoman Laura Chick's efforts to revitalize the central valley. My concern is the Topanga Plaza Shopping Center's efforts to associate itself with the Warner Center. I feel Topanga Plaza's efforts to desert the community of Canoga Park are shameful and counterproductive to the revitalization process. Topanga Plaza is not now nor has it ever been a part of the Warner Center. It is a vital part of Canoga Park.

The City Council has adopted a set of rules to ensure that city vendors are paid in a timely manner. Councilwoman Laura Chick--who pushed for the measure--said she had heard stories from vendors who waited months to receive payment for goods and services. "I don't see how the city of Los Angeles can tout that it is business-friendly unless it pays its vendors and its contractors in an expedient way," Chick said. "We encourage businesses to apply for city contracts and then we turn around and push them to the brink of bankruptcy by not paying them in a timely manner.

Upon reading that attorneys for the Writers Guild of America delivered a strongly worded legal brief to Councilwoman Laura Chick opposing the home business tax as unconstitutional ("Writers Guild Protests Home Business Tax," May 30), I was astonished by the comments of Ken Bernstein, an aide to Chick, who not only defended the ill-conceived home business tax, but said, "City Council could repeal the home occupation ordinance tomorrow and writers would actually have fewer constitutional protections than they did before."

The article about the Los Angeles City Council's plan for an "I love L.A." drive is a perfect example of the problems in the government. It is inane to collect $30 million a year for a glitzy ad campaign to persuade people that Los Angeles is a great place to live, when it isn't. Councilwoman Laura Chick, along with the rest of the City Council, must look to the nature of the problem rather than looking for methods of repairing the shattered image of Los Angeles. We do not need to look for ways to sugarcoat the problems of our city.

The City Council has adopted a set of rules to ensure that city vendors are paid in a timely manner. Councilwoman Laura Chick--who pushed for the measure--said she had heard stories from vendors who waited months to receive payment for goods and services. "I don't see how the city of Los Angeles can tout that it is business-friendly unless it pays its vendors and its contractors in an expedient way," Chick said. "We encourage businesses to apply for city contracts and then we turn around and push them to the brink of bankruptcy by not paying them in a timely manner.

I am extremely disappointed that Councilwoman Laura Chick removed George Jerome from the Van Nuys Airport Citizens Advisory Committee ("Panel Head Says He Was Thrown Out of Post by Councilwoman," Aug. 7). Jerome is a Valley resident and a pilot who understands both sides. He has run the committee meetings very fairly and concisely, always making sure all sides had even time to represent themselves. It is my understanding that Chick says she removed Jerome because she is rotating membership on her advisory panels, and that Jerome was near the end of his yearlong term.

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Laura Chick joined 250 west San Fernando Valley residents Monday night to protest a water rate system that they claim unfairly imposes larger utility bills on Valley residents. "The new rates are causing an incredible hardship in the Valley," Chick warned Mayor Richard Riordan's Task Force on Water Rate Restructuring at a lengthy public hearing at El Camino High School.

The Los Angeles City Council asked the Airport Commission on Friday to delay a lease at Van Nuys Airport, with Councilwoman Laura Chick saying the eleventh-hour proposal "smacks of back-room, closed-room dirty deals." The commission is scheduled to vote June 26--four days before Mayor Richard Riordan leaves office--to approve a lease of 5.8 acres of undeveloped land to be used for a new aviation business.

Re "City Delays Action on Golf Course Lease," Nov. 24. Councilwoman Laura Chick seems to feel that only government can do a good job. She wants to turn the Van Nuys Golf Course over to the city's Recreation and Parks Department. I don't know who's running the course, but I've been using it for many years and I'm very happy with the price, the service and the maintenance. They must have learned something in the 34 years they've had it. Even the Parks Department brings in private companies to operate its courses.

I am extremely disappointed that Councilwoman Laura Chick removed George Jerome from the Van Nuys Airport Citizens Advisory Committee ("Panel Head Says He Was Thrown Out of Post by Councilwoman," Aug. 7). Jerome is a Valley resident and a pilot who understands both sides. He has run the committee meetings very fairly and concisely, always making sure all sides had even time to represent themselves. It is my understanding that Chick says she removed Jerome because she is rotating membership on her advisory panels, and that Jerome was near the end of his yearlong term.

Upon reading that attorneys for the Writers Guild of America delivered a strongly worded legal brief to Councilwoman Laura Chick opposing the home business tax as unconstitutional ("Writers Guild Protests Home Business Tax," May 30), I was astonished by the comments of Ken Bernstein, an aide to Chick, who not only defended the ill-conceived home business tax, but said, "City Council could repeal the home occupation ordinance tomorrow and writers would actually have fewer constitutional protections than they did before."

This ordinance simply deals with what's already in place. We have home-based occupations. What we need to do is regulate and control them. In the long run, there are many benefits. First, it legalizes what is already being done. It generates money for the city that will help with the tax base. It provides for better licensing control and regulation because we will now have a clear definition of who can and who cannot operate in residences. And, of course, it allows people to operate legally the kind of businesses that should be conducted from home, which by the way are often constitutionally protected--a writer for example.

Responding to complaints that coyotes have been sighted near a West Hills elementary school, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Laura Chick has asked animal regulation officials to depart from standard policy and begin trapping in the neighborhood. Chick was instrumental in formulating the city's policy adopted last year that allows for trapping only as a last resort, after residents have tried all other deterrents, such as installing fences and keeping pets and pet food indoors.

As a resident of the San Fernando Valley for 18 years, I am enthusiastic about Councilwoman Laura Chick's efforts to revitalize the central valley. My concern is the Topanga Plaza Shopping Center's efforts to associate itself with the Warner Center. I feel Topanga Plaza's efforts to desert the community of Canoga Park are shameful and counterproductive to the revitalization process. Topanga Plaza is not now nor has it ever been a part of the Warner Center. It is a vital part of Canoga Park.

Responding to complaints that coyotes have been sighted near a West Hills elementary school, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Laura Chick has asked animal regulation officials to depart from standard policy and begin trapping in the neighborhood. Chick was instrumental in formulating the city's policy adopted last year that allows for trapping only as a last resort, after residents have tried all other deterrents, such as installing fences and keeping pets and pet food indoors.

In my short time on the City Council, I have found that nothing creates controversy like land-use planning issues. As Times articles have reported, some constituents have been protesting my support for a child-care center, a Jack In The Box restaurant and a supermarket in my district. It has become increasingly clear to me that the contentiousness surrounding these issues stems from the way we conduct the business of planning in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Laura Chick joined 250 west San Fernando Valley residents Monday night to protest a water rate system that they claim unfairly imposes larger utility bills on Valley residents. "The new rates are causing an incredible hardship in the Valley," Chick warned Mayor Richard Riordan's Task Force on Water Rate Restructuring at a lengthy public hearing at El Camino High School.