Business Letters

Re: “A charitable benefit,” March 14:

“Some Salvation Army officers get use of expensive homes.” So what? For the men and women who devote their lives to providing care for those in need, any organization employing them would be remiss if it did not ensure adequate salaries and benefits. It sounds like smart money management and real estate investing to me when the Salvation Army buys homes in pricier neighborhoods to house its personnel.

James Wight

Altadena

::

The fact that the Salvation Army is a residential powerhouse is in one sense irrelevant. The Salvation Army needs assets to carry out its mission. What that real estate is worth as an investment portfolio is of little consequence to the organization’s day-to-day work.

At the same time, the fact that it has a residential real estate portfolio is highly relevant to the group’s social mission; it makes for ease of transfer of personnel.

Mike Klein

Calgary, Alberta

::

The Salvation Army is an organizational rarity. Over 50 years, it carefully built a primary asset base of real estate holdings in the family neighborhoods.

By prudent management and ongoing maintenance of those assets, the nonprofit organization reduced overall costs, while providing the benefit and security of a home for employees and their families. And it still gives 80% of its donations to those who need it. Should the need arise, its real estate holdings can be sold fairly quickly to bring in additional funds.

How many bailed-out for-profit U.S. corporations fit that model?

L. Page Shaffer

Moorpark

::

The Salvation Army is described as providing its officers with free housing, specifically mentioning a $1.3-million home in Santa Monica. The two officers in that home have three children and earn an annual income of $25,000 a year. I can only think that on that meager salary, they must, by necessity, exclusively patronize the Salvation Army stores for clothing and household goods!

In balance, the myriad valuable social services provided by the Salvation Army are also liberally mentioned in this article. However, the inflammatory theme of the exposé-like discourse is misleading and stirs up ire of would-be donors unsophisticated in wise business practices. If I am going to withhold my support of this group, it will be because of its out-of-sync viewpoint that homosexuality is immoral, rather than because it is real estate rich.

Diane McDowell

Los Angeles

The comment meter is running

Re: “SoCalGas meter fight heating up,” March 10:

What nonsense. Customers don’t need “up-to-the minute” information about their gas consumption. They get the information once a month -- it’s called the gas bill. In the summer it’s low; in the winter it’s high.

Up-to-the-minute information is not going to reduce or change consumption. Is anyone really going to run outside when it’s cold or raining to read the meter and decide to turn off the heater and put on a sweater? Give me a break. The meters are invasive -- Big Brother is watching.

Stephany Yablow

North Hollywood

::

SoCal Edison recently switched my electric meter to a Smart Meter. I look at it and see nothing but meaningless numbers and symbols flashing on and off, and Edison has not made one attempt to inform us how to read or use it.

At least with the old meter I was able to see how fast or slow and what direction (I have a solar system) the meter was moving.

Guy DeMarco

Temple City

Blaming it on the economy

Re: Michael Hiltzik’s column “Furniture maker’s cushion worn thin,” March 10:

Gina Quatrine’s company’s story is nearly identical to ours. We are a small, community-based business with a stellar account history. Yet all of a sudden, our credit lines have been slashed (if not closed entirely) and our bank of 11 years tells us it no longer extends financing to companies such as ours. Blaming everything on “the economy” is the new catch-all excuse for banks to deny or lower credit even to established, profitable companies.

How many more businesses will have to go under, and how many more jobs lost, before the banks start to listen?

Josh Gross

Publisher,

Beverly Hills Weekly

Chef Puck sets a good example

Re: “Strong-willed top chef,” March 7:

Wonderful life lessons dished out in the Wolfgang Puck profile. He took charge of his future and set out on his own to better his life at age 14 by going to work as an apprentice. He showed determination when he returned to work after being fired from the job.

Bill Brock

Agoura Hills

Credit agencies’ assumptions off

Re: David Lazarus’ consumer column “Grateful Citi hits us in the wallet,” March 9:

I’m not into conspiracy theories, but what’s going on between the credit reporting agencies and the credit card companies? If I decide to cancel a credit card that I no longer want, why should the reporting agencies automatically assume the worst? Why should my credit score take a hit because I don’t want to pay ridiculous fees the card companies are imposing?

Richard Rosenthal

Long Beach

::

It seems to me that Betty Atwell, who has four credit cards from the same bank, faces significantly more serious problems than a $60 annual fee. I don’t know much about how credit scores are computed. But I would think carefully before lending my money to someone with four credit cards. Betty needs a wee bit of guidance in money management.

Ray Riordan

Arcadia

Apartment buyers beware

Re: “Hunting for cheap flats,” March 7

Prospective investors in small apartment buildings should be wary of attempts by the present owner to skirt rent-control laws that protect tenants. In my practice as an attorney for tenants, I see this all too often. Unexpected costs, delays and litigation can result.

Sonya Bekoff Molho

Los Angeles

Quake coverage shaky at best

Re: David Lazarus’ consumer column “High cost of quake insurance will rattle your bank account,” March 5:

The latest report on the lack of earthquake insurance carried by most California property owners and the high cost of coverage borne by the minority bears a striking resemblance to the situation with healthcare, and for the same reasons. If the risk of earthquake damage is not shared by the entire community, the insurance industry has no choice but to raise premiums to reflect their actual exposure. Sounds awfully familiar, doesn’t it?

The insurance industry made a choice a few decades ago to make earthquake and flood insurance an optional extra instead of bundling such coverage into everybody’s policies.

Whether this was because the industry no longer wanted the exposure or because it wanted to keep policy prices low by exempting natural disasters is debatable. What is not is a very serious risk of vast damage and nobody to pay for it, leading to the “walk-away” phenomenon we saw in the wake of the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

William Malcomson

Windsor Square

Business welcomes your letters. Write to Letters to the Business Editor, Los Angeles Times, CA 90012, or bizletters@latimes.com. Please keep your letters brief and include your address, telephone number, and the title and date of the article you are referring to.