Dear Editor:During Tuesday's City Council meeting, I was very surprised when the mayor and each council member picked a friend or relative to be a member of the volunteer Green Task Force. I am questioning the legality of such poor immoral procedure. The city HR should have at least screened the 12 applicants and recommended some of them to the Council for final choice. Otherwise, why bother and have an open application with an equal opportunity to all applicants? Why waste our time?‚Äà If it is legal (after all, there is no compensation, it's a volunteer basis) for the mayor and council members to just pick their friends without highlighting their qualifications, it is, in my opinion, unethical. One council member chose a school district board member, another chose a good-looking friend, and the mayor was very impressed with recycling at Downey plants. They may be impressive, but I bet if I‚Äàwalk into the city maintenance yard, schools or even the soda plant they will have some serious air quality issues. So what is green with air pollutions or air toxins? Finally, at the end of this friendly procedure, no one had the decency to thank those applicants who were not lucky enough to volunteer their time and experience to the so-called Green Task Force. Now I‚Äàknow I‚Äàwas lucky not to join the Green Fiasco. - Moustafa Elsherif, Downey (Moustafa Elsherif spent 35 years with the Air Quality Management District, but was not chosen to be a part of the city's Green Task Force.)

********** Published: May 1, 2009 - Volume 8 - Issue 2