Editor:

We have watched with fear and trembling the current effect of greed (collective and individual) on real estate, stocks, and the value of the U.S. dollar. It is easy to cast blame. But it is not easy to find ways to help. The government, however, has quickly assisted the lending institutions.

My question is: What are we doing at the local and county level to help the homeowners, the individual families, in danger of losing their homes? Also, are the lenders, whose necks have been saved by the federal government, doing anything to save the necks of the over-mortgaged homeowners? Or to help those whose adjustable rate mortgages are going up, up, up?

The city of Brentwood held a free Homeowner Foreclosure Prevention Workshop on Saturday, March 22. Congratulations! They gave out information to a hundred or so needing help with their housing commitments.

Now, let our mayors and other local and county officials tell the banks and lending institutions in no uncertain terms what we expect of them. Let's urge them to put pressure on mortgage holders to help. How can they help?

Stop all foreclosures for six months.

Freeze interest rates on mortgages for two years.

Charge no penalties on late payments.

In turn, city and county officials can help greatly. Let's urge them to do their parts as follows:

Reduce the city part of the property tax on affected people for a year.

Lighten the county property tax load in some way on these threatened homeowners.

In these ways, we can help those who are stretched to the breaking point. And we can keep neighborhoods from becoming endangered with empty homes.

Charles H. Reed

Brentwood