Letters

Another Wyman Fan
Congrats Bill Wyman on an uninspiring, unoriginal hack job on the Rolling Stones ("Through the Past [Lightly]," Music, Oct. 1). Just what this city needs, another PC-butt-kissing journalist. Dig it, Billy, nothing in your boring article told us anything we haven't known about the Geritol boys for the past 15 years. Sure, the figures have upped as far as Stones profits go, but in a perfect world yuppies like yourself wouldn't be crowding into Stones concerts, they'd be hanging with new breeds like Veruca Salt and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, true cutting-edge song craftsmen. Anyway, this constant regurgitation of tired old Stones tour news (new album sucks, Mick's a dick, blah, blah, blah) is nothing more than a hack writer leafing through past Stones tour articles and adding a '90s spin to it. Charlie Watts has been reading set lists from plexiglass boards since 1977. Mick's been using teleprompters for the past three tours. Who gives a rat's ass?

Sure, Jagger's rubbing elbows with the Sprint bigwigs before every show. How the fuck do you know? The closest you got to the Stones was your 103rd-row seat.

Maybe little Billy would feel better if Jagger gave half of his tour take to UNICEF or Greenpeace. And how do you know he doesn't? In truth, Bill Wyman, you don't know much about the machine known as the Rolling Stones. And until you open your eyes or until another kinder, gentler rock phenom comes along to show us the PC way, stick to what you do best: switching the dial from KOME to Live 105.

Chris Amsler
San Bruno

By All Means, Go Giants
Your Oct. 1 article "Foul Ball," about the toxic issues surrounding the China Basin ballpark, leaves out some very important issues.

1) During the negotiation with the surrounding property owners, the owners of the Giants agreed to mitigate pile-driving noise concerns by pre-drilling as many holes as possible, thereby bringing up hundreds of tons of toxic soil to the surface.

Question: What will they do with the soil brought to the surface?
2) The site is 100 percent bay fill and is subject to liquefaction. So this structure will require hundreds of piles for seismic support, some less than 50 feet apart, thereby turning this Toxic Field of Dreams into Swiss cheese.

Question: Do you think this will have any effect on the toxic ground-water plumes and maybe cause them to migrate?

3) The construction will no doubt require dewatering of the site. The site has a high water table as identified in the Morrison-Knudson study of the site for Caltrans.

Question: When drilling and pile-driving operations disturb the toxic soil, causing it to mix with the water, who will treat the water to remove the toxic contaminants before it is returned to the bay?

4) The 5,000-car parking lot, or approximately 10 acres of asphalt, will create thousands of gallons of runoff to be treated by the S.F. Water Department. You and I pay a hefty sewer service charge for all the water that we send down the drain for treatment before discharge into the bay.

Question: Will the taxpayers pick up the tab for the treatment of the water?
I doubt that your article or my letter will stir any interest on the subject outside of the small group of people you named in your piece. The public has been largely apathetic. ... They just want their fun, at any cost to the environment. GO GIANTS!

Jeffrey Leibovitz