In today's pages: Transition and advice

Bill Boyarsky sings a song in praise of using public works as a way to help California, and in particular Los Angeles, through the economic crisis. Boyarsky notes that voters recently agreed to bill themselves for a high-speed north-south passenger train and a Wilshire subway. The task now is to keep neighborhod activist groups from stalling the projects.

"A current example of neighborhood activism is opposition to the Expo Line. Opponents in South Los Angeles are concerned about student safety at two schools near the line, Dorsey High School and Foshay Learning Center. Residents of Cheviot Hills and other Westside neighborhoods fear train noise and traffic disruption during construction and potential danger to students at nearby schools, such as Overland Elementary."

Elsewhere on today's Op-Ed page, Gregory Rodriguez offers his take on Ayman Zawahiri's "house Negro" comment (see the Editorial Page's version from last week) and author and former Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky calls on President-elect Obama to reject the precedents of Presidents Ford and Clinton, and instead follow the example of President George W. Bush, by meeting with foreign dissidents.

The Editorial Page bids farewell, and none too soon, to Rep. John D. Dingell as he leaves his post as chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee; presses the state Legislature to press lenders to slow foreclosures and streamline loan modifications; and rejects calls for an Obama blacklist of policymakers who supported going to war in Iraq.

In Letters, our editorial on Proposition 8 going back to court and our reference to the "tyranny of the majority" moved readers to school us on the role of the legal system. But really folks, we didn't make up the stuff about "tyranny of the majority."