Recession Report Was ‘Anemic and Dispirited’

Thanks, but no thanks for your anemic and dispirited coverage of the San Gabriel Valley. The story, “Recession in San Gabriel Valley: A Special Report” (Times, May 19) is another example of your flabby reporting as you rely on your cliched notion of a San Gabriel Valley populated by poor unsophisticates.

“Joblessness, Credit Crunch, Lower Sales, More on Welfare,” exclaims the headline. The half-page chart paints a gloomy portrait in spending, employment, public assistance and home sales.

Only deep in the body of the article do we find out the San Gabriel Valley has a lower percentage of recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children compared to Los Angeles County; that 23 of 28 San Gabriel Valley communities have unemployment rates lower than Los Angeles County’s; that more than half of the cities’ tax receipts were the same as or up over last year, and that real estate has turned around with March and April as record-breaking months.

The slant of the article versus the facts presented in it are at odds. Your reporter was so determined to get the “poor, dowdy San Gabriel Valley” angle, he didn’t let the facts get in the way of his bias.

TAMARA SILVER

South Pasadena