Noe Valley Voice May 2003
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Letters to the Editor

April Fool's Issue Right on Target

Editor:

Thank you for the excellent and right-on April Fool's edition of the Noe Valley Voice. It is definitely the best issue of the year! Usually, you concentrate on pushing the ideal Noe Valley life so that the realtors, who advertise so heavily in your paper, can sell more houses. A good example of this was the March issue, which had articles promoting how to buy, rent, and lease an apartment in Paris. (Could there be a more yuppie stereotype of our neighborhood than that?)

But in the April issue, through humor, you hit the nail right on the head about what is really going on in our world, country, and community.

Thank you! This gives me hope that others will also start to question, speak out, and vote against the insane policies the Bush administration has been trying to force upon us.

Melissa Goan

Sanchez Street

Build Like the Parisians Do

Editor:

I very much enjoyed reading the essay by the local resident who bought an apartment in Paris ("How I Fulfilled My Dream of Owning an Apartment in Paris," March 2003 Noe Valley Voice). As the happy owner/writer states, "Paris! Is it not the greatest city in the world?"

While I don't know her street, Rue des Martyrs, I can surmise from your photograph, and from the 1859 Paris planning codes, that the gracious seven-story buildings are around 85 feet tall and the street and sidewalks less than 50 feet total width. This density is why the Gendreau family was able to purchase a lovely two-bedroom apartment in high-cost Paris for a mere $130,000. And this density is also the reason Suzanne Gendreau can enjoy strolling down her street with "...cheese shops, charcuteries, olive sellers, an international newsstand, a fish shop, three boulangeries, three wine shops, butcher shops," etc.

When San Franciscans fight to stop apartments and condos that are 40 feet tall, and insist that every unit have its own off-street parking space, we should not be surprised at the obscene cost of housing in our city and in our Noe Valley neighborhood. Density is what brings down the cost of housing, what supports the symphony of uses along active and safe sidewalks, and what supports the world's best transit system.

Thanks to the Voice for this valuable article showing our fellow Noe Valley residents the virtues of smart density.

Jim Chappell, President

San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR)

312 Sutter Street, Suite 500

San Francisco, CA 94108-4305

jchappell@spur.org

Bevan, Your Roots Are Showing

Editor:

The voters in Noe Valley elected Bevan Dufty supervisor in the last election. Many of us were fearful that he would politicize his elected office because he had been endorsed by his mentor, Mayor Willie Brown, the most political figure since Abe Ruef in the early 1900s. Anyone who has read the local newspapers knows about the rampant political favoritism, cronyism, and possible racketeering that are alleged to have occurred under Mayor Brown's administration.

And now I read in a story about the costs of antiwar protests in the March 21 Examiner that Dufty "waited10 minutes for sheriff's deputies, concerned that antiwar materials at City Hall would cause unrest, to allow him to bring an antiwar poster into his City Hall office Thursday."

The story also stated that "the freshman supervisor got on the phone Wednesday and became a San Francisco point man for the Howard Dean for President Campaign.... 'I want Bush out,' Dufty [allegedly] said. 'Many of us are frustrated here, so I started working for a new president.'"

If true, the article demonstrates that Dufty thinks nothing of taking taxpayer money to run a political, antiwar campaign out of the very office wherein it is against the law to do such things.

He just doesn't get it, does he?

Whether you are for or against the war, as I am, it just doesn't make sense to tell the world that you are openly political and stupid!

Belinda Lee

District 8 resident

Rose Thief on the Loose

Editor:

There is a plant thief in the neighborhood! We recently planted roses in our front yard, only to have them stolen by a thief. And he had the nerve to do this while we were at home eating dinner. My neighbor has also had her plants stolen.

This thief walks around when it is dark, and cuts rose stems as well as steals whole bushes and plants. He carries a big knife to cut the plants and also carries a bag to put the plants in. He supposedly makes his living by selling roses and other plants.

If you see someone walking around in the dark with a trash bag or plants, be on guard. And if you are brave enough to plant new things in your yard, put bells on your plants and get a bright, motion-sensor light.

Also, please notify the police. Thanks.

A Noe Valley Neighbor

(name withheld by request)

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

THE VOICE welcomes your letters to the editor. Write the Noe Valley Voice, 1021 Sanchez Street, San Francisco, CA 94114. Or e-mail editor@noevalleyvoice.com. Please include your name, address, and phone number. (Anonymous letters will not be considered for publication.) Be aware that letters may be edited for brevity or clarity. We look forward to hearing from you.