LETTERS

LIFE AT THE CIVIC CENTER

I read your article about the Civic Center Hotel ["Plumbers Gone Wild," 2/1/06]. I live in the hotel and was really impressed with your article. You really got it right. Everything you said about the place is true. This isn't the fanciest place in the world but a place people like me can afford. People need to know how important this place is to a guy like me. If it weren't for places like the Civic Center Hotel, where could my fiancé and I go, how would we stay off the streets?

Name withheld

INDIAN BUSINESS

This is in response to Peter Scheer's "Tribal Secrets" lackluster opinion [2/1/06]. It's unfortunate how a handful of American Indian tribes were duped by some fast-talking Washington, DC, lobbyist, but what else is new? We've been dealing with these kinds of characters since the inception of this country. Question: How come American Indian business practices are so quick to come under public scrutiny when bigger and worse billion-dollar corporations like Enron and Halliburton are screwing this country in the worst way possible? We're not the ones sending American troops to their deaths over oil; we're not the ones sending millions of gallons of toxic nuclear waste to the Nevada desert. The Wall Street Journal labeled us the "least transparent large industry in the United States." They should've labeled us the least-large industry to not destroy the Earth and its inhabitants.

Charlie Ballard

Oakland

THE RUXTON HORROR

[Re: "Merger Mania," 2/8/06] Our Constitution acknowledges a constant struggle for power among the federal and state governments and people's private enterprises. And media outlets have undeniably substantial effects upon the comprehension and distribution of those powers. Therefore, anyone concerned about protecting a viable fourth estate must understand the scope of influence of reformulated Village Voice Media and its advertising subsidiary, the Ruxton Media Group.

The new VVM conglomerate publishes newsweeklies in 16 cities, and its Ruxton group controls national advertising in another 21 cities.

Perusal of circulation figures further shows that most of the largest "alternative" newsweeklies across the nation's major media markets are controlled or substantially influenced by VVM or Ruxton — and the conglomerate continues to expand its media cartel. Ruxton also represents over 1,500 American college newspapers. This little-known horror allows Ruxton to disproportionately influence students' minds and spending habits at our universities and determine who becomes a writer or advertising executive at our country's newspapers.

The Guardian now directly competes for local advertisers against VVM-Ruxton's SF Weekly, East Bay Express, its Santa Rosa–based North Bay Bohemian, the Metro Silicon Valley, the Metro Santa Cruz, and Bay Area college papers. But as should be apparent now, it's even worse than that for the Guardian and every non-VVM-Ruxton newsweekly in California — and the rest of the nation — given VVM-Ruxton's overreaching influence in essentially every major media and education market in America. For this reason, it's un-American and outrageous that the Bush administration neglected its constitutional duty to protect our necessary free press.

Ivan Smason

Santa Monica

FOR THE RECORD

In the last edition of Neighborhood Business, "Come One and All," 2/15/06, we misspelled the name of yoga instructor Jamie Lindsay and his Web site, which is www.jamielindsay.com.

The Guardian welcomes letters commenting on our coverage or other topics of local interest. Letters should be brief (we reserve the right to edit them for length) and signed. Please include a daytime telephone number for verification.

Corrections and clarifications: The Guardian tries to report news fairly and accurately. You are invited to complain to us when you think we have fallen short of that objective. Complaints should be directed to Pamela Pritchard, the assistant to the publisher. We'd prefer them in writing, but Pritchard can also be reached by phone at (415) 255-3100. If we have published a misstatement, we will endeavor to correct it quickly and in an appropriate place in the newspaper. If you remain dissatisfied, we invite you to contact the Minnesota News Council, an impartial organization that hears and considers complaints against news media. It can be reached at 12 South Sixth St., Suite 1122, Minneapolis, MN 55402; (612) 341-9357; fax (612) 341-9358.