Dear City Paper,

Bill Clement's article "005 Finds a New Home" adds injury to insult. First City Paper virtually ignored 005, when you could - and should - have been exposing the truth that the Washington Post was so blatantly distorting.

And now you print this article of Clement's that is clearly some sort of overflow from the Post. It bears all the characteristics: partial, selective information, and a total lack of curiosity.

It furthers the myth that Initiative 17 is the cause of an expensive homeless budget - no mention of gross mismanagement or possible theft. It maintains that Carol Fennelly and CCNV are a brute force running roughshod over poor ol' city officials, that they are Goliath when in fact they are David.

It plays down the city government's blatant - and serious - violation of law, which only underscores its constant resistance to Initiative 17 since its beginning.

Clement falls hand and foot for the double-speak of "Citizens Against 005." They assert that CCNV will "continue to collect." This is highly speculative and distortive of the very purpose of CCNV.

Citizens Against 005 also have the nerve to speak of ethics, when it was they who, just days before the election, circulated posters almost identical to those of 005 proponents - obviously to confuse voters - which in my book is a true definition of unethical.

All through the last campaign, I hoped that City Paper would provide a straight alternative to the Post's slant, but there was none. My hope is still alive, though, that City Paper will write some sort of comprehensive article about our current homeless crisis - something that will challenge the incoming government to come up with an efficient, caring solution.

Song