Tract

Measure F--Citizens' initiative that would restrict building permits to 250 a year through 1995, with some exemptions. Measure G--Another initiative, asks voters to approve or rescind the City Council's development agreement with Urban West Communities for the partly built 2,500-unit Mountain Meadows tract. Measure H--City Council's referendum that would limit new building permits to an average of 411 a year up to a population of about 34,000 by the year 2000.

Re "Shadow Puts Home in Doubt" (Nov. 9): In my mind that's absurd. In my tract and all the tracts in the area, there are very few houses that some time in the day that do not have a shadow of the house next door fall on them. I'll bet the hill on which the proposed house would sit throws a shadow on the house of the people who are making all the fuss. Maybe they should ask Laguna to move the hill. DAVID MESSENGER, Placentia

A model whose feet and hands were amputated to try to save her from a drug-resistant infection has died. Mariana Bridi, 20, died of complications related to a generalized infection caused by the bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the Espirito Santo State Health Secretariat said. The bacteria, which spread into her bloodstream, is known to be resistant to several kinds of antibiotics. The course of her illness was swift. In late December, she contracted a seemingly ordinary urinary tract infection.

Back when the kids were still little, and the first front lawns were sprouting in the College Park housing tract, folks remember Lee Hafer ambling up their brand new driveways with the day's mail. Original owners joke that their beefy, ruddy mailman came with the mortgage. Precise as always, Hafer, 55, sets the record straight. He took over the 10-mile route full time in 1965, six years after the tract was built.

As a licensed architect with a master's degree in real estate development, I feel that Colin Westerbeck's comments regarding David Maisel's photograph ("Oblivion 1382-52p," Photo Synthesis, Jan. 28) seem more like his opinion of suburban living than an interpretation of the photograph. Many literary elites continue to display a not-so-subtle prejudice against those in suburban environments. Although the photo depicts a curvilinear arrangement of densely packed tract homes, there is an effort to create shared open space in the form of schools, parks and landscaping.

Judith Freed didn't spend much time thinking about the Pacific Palisades Civic League during the first 10 years she lived in her hillside house above Sunset Boulevard. Neither did Gary Nash, who lived down the street. Nor did Lenard Pick, who said that for months after he moved next door to Nash during the summer of 1985, "I didn't even know what the Civic League was."

The California Air Resources Board on Thursday banned popular in-home ozone air purifiers, saying studies have found that they can worsen conditions such as asthma that marketers claim they help to prevent. The regulation, which the board said is the first of its kind in the nation, will require testing and certification of all types of air purifiers. Any that emit more than a tiny amount of ozone will have to be pulled from the California market.

There's a star on the stage of the Great Western Forum. Immaculately dressed as always, 6-foot-1, tanned, not a hair out of place, he is a veteran of such very public appearances. In seminar after seminar, convention after convention, he has captivated thousands of people around the world with his charisma, sincerity and enthusiasm. But this appearance, on Feb. 19, 2000, is something special for Mark Reynolds Hughes.

Justin and Brandy Besemer were newly married and trying to pay off their wedding debt when they decided their family needed a dog -- an American Bulldog named Kaila. Thus started one of their first arguments. Brandy, who had never had a dog before, wanted to spend a little over $300 a year to buy pet insurance. Justin, who had always had dogs, thought it was a waste of money. "His parents told me this horror story that made me insist we get it," explained Brandy, 28.

There are more than 25 diseases that are transmitted sexually. Many have serious and costly consequences. Some of the most common and serious STDs include: Chlamydia * Used to Be Called: Non-gonoccocal urethritis. * Cause: Bacteria. * Number Affected: About 4 million new cases each year in the United States. * Infection Rate: Highest among 15- to 19-year-olds, followed by 20- to 24-year-olds. * At Risk: Everyone, but female teens are more likely to be infected because of immature cervix.