In “Bad Old Days,” (Editorial, Aug. 31) The Post refers erroneously to the Billie Boggs case and my administration’s efforts to hospitalize her against her will. As you stated, Boggs “used to sit in her own excrement and scream at passersby.”

When I inquired of Corporation Counsel why the city didn’t pick her up for her own safety and that of others, I was told the law required she be an immediate threat to herself and others. Ultimately, the Corporation Counsel came up with a new definition: to wit that we could pick up someone who would be a danger to herself or to others in the foreseeable future. That definition, and the Billie Boggs case, where it applied, was successfully argued in the Court of Appeals.

Edward I. Koch

Manhattann