Streets

About two dozen Santa Monica residents, merchants and property owners agreed at Tuesday's City Council meeting to support a $4.8-million plan to upgrade Main Street. The plan, which calls for more trees, old-fashioned street lights and a village-like atmosphere, will attract more shoppers and will improve the environment, proponents said. The council is expected to rule on the plan next week.

Lynwood Mayor Pro Tem Paul Richards endeavored Thursday to deflect charges of racism leveled at black City Council members who approved the renaming of a major boulevard after Martin Luther King Jr. Richards insisted that the decision to rename Century Boulevard after the slain civil rights leader was made according to proper governmental procedure. He said the five-member City Council, made up of three blacks and two whites, was unanimous in its decision to honor King by renaming a street.

Weller Street in Little Tokyo has officially been renamed Astronaut Ellison S. Onizuka Street in honor of the astronaut who died last year aboard the space shuttle Challenger. During a Friday ceremony, Mayor Tom Bradley presented the astronaut's widow, Lorna, with a replica of the Onizuka street sign and praised him as a role model for all Americans "who want to reach for the stars."

President Clinton is only going to last five more months in the White House. And Bill Clinton Street is only going to last five more weeks in West Hollywood. City Council members have voted to temporarily rename a short stretch of Clinton Street that passes through their tiny city "Bill Clinton Street" as a salute to the president. Councilman Steve Martin said Clinton deserves to be honored because "his efforts on behalf of the lesbian and gay community were unprecedented."

I read without sympathy "Upscale Town Confronts Cracking Streets" (March 16), about South Pasadena's financial woes, especially the condition of its streets. If the residents and officials hadn't spent so much time and money in attempting to defeat the extension of the 710 Freeway, they might not have such terrible streets, traffic congestion, etc. There is no way to get anywhere south of their city without driving through town. Diana de Noyelles Pasadena

As a boy, I paged through the old Renie Atlas of Los Angeles streets and later the Thomas Guide. The fact that there was a map linking my Lakewood neighborhood to the vast grid of Los Angeles made my suburban location more real to me. I naively assumed that the maps didn't lie. I expected to see avenues pointing due north and south and major streets going east and west. That's how nearly all cities were laid out in the West, unless an accident of coastline or unsuitable ground prevented it. But not Los Angeles, whose heart was made crooked.

Athletes vs. cars Re "Triathlon takes 2,800 runners across the city," Oct. 4 I'm a former triathlete and marathon runner, and have experienced the fun of having the city shut down major arteries so that I could run through my favorite neighborhoods. More recently, I've seen these races from the other side ? that of the frustrated motorist. I've completely revised my view of the competitions. Sunday is simply no longer the sleepy do-nothing day. It's asking too much of thousands of drivers to know about a triathlon in advance, check the Internet and change their routes and schedules to accommodate 2,800 athletes.

Hundreds of dancers will take over the main intersection of downtown Ventura on Saturday night during the Ventura Arts Council's annual fund-raising event, "Dancin' in the Streets." A stage will be erected at California and Main streets, and the Pontiax will belt out rhythm and blues. The Debbie Davies Band, a blues group, will also perform. Food and beverages will be available, and there will be jitterbug and swing dance competitions with prizes that include accommodations at area hotels.

City Council members will board a bus today to tour 4.3 miles of local streets that may be widened as part of a massive public works program. The council will meet with city planning and traffic staff members at 3:30 p.m. to tour portions of Glassell and Main streets and La Veta and Chapman avenues that are included in the $28-million street-widening plan.

After we, the public, have been fighting for 10 months to regain safety and sanity in our streets and yards from coyotes, the city's Animal Regulation Commission has once again given us the bum's rush by implementing a policy even dumber than the one that preceded it and again refused to consider public comment before reaching their decision. Those of us in the Valley had hoped that the mayor and City Council members, particularly Laura Chick and Marvin Braude, would not allow the city to play Russian roulette with the lives of our pets and our kids, but apparently that was too much to ask. They should have been smart enough to realize that since our pleas for help in a life or death matter have been ignored, they shouldn't expect us to reward them with our votes.