Still upset with person's stance on affordable housing

Jim Lahana, Morrison Ranch Homeowners Association President, clearly perpetuates the stereotype that low-income wage earners "attract crime, degrade the quality of schools and negatively impact home values." He goes on to equate lowincome wage earners with "fast food workers, crime, and gang activity."

First of all, equating those who earn an honest living working in the fastfood industry with criminals and gang members is shameful. As a former credentialed, permanent public school teacher with the Los Angeles Unified School district in the early 1980s, my annual income was approximately 10 percent less than that of one of my former students, who was working his way through college as a part-time manager at Burger King.

I understand implicitly the concept of low-income wages, as did most if not all of my peers in the field of education. Yet I would be hard-pressed to refer to any of them as criminals and/or gang members, and frankly I am deeply offended by Lahana's characterizations.

After all, stereotypes work both ways. Years ago I was represented by a successful but incompetent attorney. Despite my bad personal experience, I would never refer to attorneys, Mr. Lahana included, as rich, greedy, elitist, ambulance chasing bottom feeders. As a matter of fact, I consider the legal professional to be both honorable and necessary.

In regards to low-income housing, I have been directly involved in this. I have participated in the construction of many Habitat for Humanity homes. One of Habitat for Humanity's mottos is that they offer a hand up, not a hand out. I have met many lowincome families through Habitat for Humanity and would be proud to have any one of them as neighbors. I am not as sure about Mr. Lahana. Low income housing is a hand up, not a hand out.

As an attorney, and ostensibly a successful one, Lahana should be acquainted with the term bankruptcy as it applies to finances. I am not so sure if he is as equally well versed in the concept of bankruptcy as it applies to morality. One wonders if somewhere along Mr. Lahana's family tree, one would not perhaps find the name of Ebenezer Scrooge somewhere. In the spirit of this holiday season, I say to you sir, "Bah, humbug!" Robert Sack Agoura Hills