Letters

HOW GROOVY THE GROVE?

Re: “Meet Me at Third and Fairfax” [cover package, March 22–28]. Excellent coverage on the opening of The Grove and how it threatens the Farmers Market and the surrounding neighborhood. I love the historical details you included. I love looking at pictures of old-time L.A. I hope that you can rally the citizens who think this monster will destroy something unique and great like the Farmers Market to fight against the blanding of life. Quixotic? Maybe. Inevitable? I don’t think so. Is it important enough to raise a voice? I think so. Again, great story, great work.

—David Gregg Los Angeles

Why all the negativity regarding The Grove? What is wrong with progress? And why is there no mention of gratitude for the Farmers Market having been spared? Few Angelenos grew up in L.A., so the Farmers Market means nothing to most of us. Especially since it’s an architectural eyesore. I don’t mean to be insulting, just wanted to point out that your views are surely those of the minority.

—Robin Mizrahi Los Angeles

Where was the L.A. Weekly four or five years ago, when construction of The Grove was still subject to various city approvals? Surely your staff was aware of it. Opposing this iniquity after the fact just shows how shallow you are.

—Morty Sullivan Los Angeles

MORE FAMILY DYSFUNCTION

The KPFK that Ella Taylor describes in “Family Feud” [March 22–28] looks nothing like the radio station where I’ve been working for the last month. Far from being 1960s-era Marxist-Leninist ultraleftists — and, even worse, ineffective — we are smart people of all ages and backgrounds who realize the value of the Pacifica Radio Network, the only progressive radio network in the United States. We are creative, energetic and politically savvy, and we’re trying to figure out how to develop political radio programming that challenges listeners rather than putting them to sleep.

While Ella Taylor wants to pretend that alternative radio can only choose from two models — the one in which white progressives interpret reality for the listeners, or the one in which programming is “Balkanized” or “ghettoized” by people of color — we know that our options are far broader than that. We’re setting out to create dynamic, diverse political and cultural programming, and a democratic organization to boot.

Readers of the L.A. Weekly should tune in to 90.7 FM — the island of free speech in a sea of commercial radio — and check it out for themselves. Or, better yet, come volunteer at the station and become part of an exciting experiment in community radio.

—Andrea Buffa KPFK interim staff member Los Angeles

I suspect that Ella Taylor, as a movie reviewer, normally sits in a dark, climate-controlled room losing herself in manufactured drivel. No wonder she’s “bored to death” with KPFK, the only voice of relevance, reason, and political and social analysis on the airwaves, and no wonder she can neither grasp nor elucidate the political situation at the station.

—Whitney Maxson Los Angeles

I wonder how Ella Taylor can say with a straight face that Amy Goodman “whines” like a “career victim” when the Weekly has had poor, put-upon Marc Cooper whining like a career victim since he resigned, thankfully, from KPFK.

—Deborah Speer Fresno

In one cautioning gasp, Ms. Taylor warns of a looming cloud of irrelevant, chaotic programming; in the next breath she scoffs that there has been little change at all. What is really her fear? Might it be that she fears success at a rejuvenated KPFK supported by those same “radicals” some of her friends have so bitterly and unadvisedly fought? Is she simply being a partisan soldier taking potshots at the enemy? Either way, I reject the notion that trusting community radio to the community is anachronistic and naive.

Ms. Taylor still pleads for centrally managed and unilaterally controlled programming, like that cherished by her friends at KPFK whose own personal privilege was thereby protected, so long as they helped to keep the lid on the troubles brewing beneath the surface. Silence may be golden for those who fear the noise, but it’s not for radio, especially Pacifica Radio.

—Dave Fertig Member, Interim Pacifica National Board of Directors and KPFK Local Advisory Board Los Angeles

Thank you for Ella Taylor’s insightful article on the coup at KPFK. As a used-to-be faithful listener of KPFK, I became confused, distressed and finally disbelieving â as the victors chanted their slogans and pleaded for money after firing and expelling people I have come to trust after hearing their honest and open confrontation of the issues of our times. Their absence leaves a vacuum. Marc Cooper made me angry at times. At times I strongly disagreed with his point of view, but I have never found any reason to question his integrity. He did his homework and brought to the airwaves an intelligent (tilted to the left, but balanced), stimulating daily program. If the current leaders of KPFK are really concerned about their audience, they will respond to our pleas and invite Marc Cooper to return to his regular daily program. Thank you, Ella Taylor and your editors, for your excellent article!