Letters

Surf City, Here We Come
Pretty good story ("The Selling of a Wave," Oct. 14). But Jeff Clark could not have seen the outcome of revealing the spot. Commercialization was inevitable, especially with our "extreme" culture.

What I'm curious to know is, why wasn't the fire at Jeff's shop talked about? I heard it pretty much gutted the place.

Aloha,
Neal Miyake
HI Surf Advisory
Via Internet

A Man of Very, Very, Few Words
I didn't realize you don't have clue ("The Selling of a Wave").
Jeff Clark
Maverick's Roadhouse Cafe
Via Internet

Try Skeet Surfing, Dude
I can't believe it. I thought you people were different from the Guardian -- but another article on a big bad corporation "making" people take unnecessary risks ("The Selling of a Wave")?

Dude, surfing is always a risky activity, as is bungee jumping, motorcycling, and driving the 880. People do extreme sports for the risk and excitement.

I noticed nothing in the article saying that these corporations are forcing surfers to enter their contest at gunpoint.

I have no love for corporate politics, but there are plenty more real injustices out there to expose. Get real please -- lose the Guardian clone routine.

Steve Wong
Via Internet

Harold and Maude and Now, Bob
No one seems to have responded to the errors in the Night Crawler column two weeks ago ("Eternal Zest," Oct. 7). The celebrities and stars that were listed as being in Colma's Holy Cross Cemetery (Bela Lugosi, Sharon Tate, Rita Hayworth, etc.) are not here but in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Los Angeles. Many of the most sought-after dead celebrities are in Glendale's Forest Lawn, but most are in sections that are off-limits to the public.

The monument for the Show Folks of America in Olivet Cemetery is not for the 56 victims of the Indiana train wreck of 1918. The Colma monument is only connected to the same organization that sponsored the monument stemming from that tragedy.

Colma is a fascinating place where history, architecture, sculpture, and gardening meet. To me it's odd that it's usually left out of almost all the San Francisco area guidebooks. Cypress Lawn Cemetery is indeed a beautiful place. It's one of the most interesting cemeteries in the tradition of garden cemeteries of America -- Mount Auburn in Boston, Green-Wood in Brooklyn, Woodlawn in the Bronx, Laurel Hill in Philadelphia, and Mount View in Oakland, to name a few. The inspiration for all these was Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.

Some of these cemeteries are well-cared-for, but much of the sculpture is starting to disappear due to age and vandalism. I and several others have been documenting this art form with cameras for many years.

Bob Giles
Oakland

What Do We Want? Condos! When Do We Want 'Em? Now!
The article "Blight Friction" by Helen Gao (Bay View, Oct. 14) really opened my eyes to just how blind people can be. The idea that after all these years of the property sitting vacant, a group of "activists" want to turn the theater/church at 560 Haight St. into a community center is ridiculous and unrealistic.

I was thinking about what 19 condos would bring to that area. First, it would surely make the street and sidewalk safer and cleaner to walk down. Second, the idea that anyone "yuppie" (whatever that really means) is evil and should be avoided at all costs is very closed-minded and misguided. Lastly, the property taxes generated by the 19 condos would easily be in excess of $65,000 per year ($280,000 X 19 units X 1.118 percent tax rate). Add to that the sales tax and other miscellaneous taxes that the condo residents would pump into the city of San Francisco's pockets. It doesn't take long to figure out that the extra money going to the city will help fund "real" community centers, along with the public schools, Muni, shelters, health care, parks, and everything else in S.F. that needs fixing.

Robin Schick
Via Internet

Greed With a Capital "G," Right Here in River City
Oh, those poor landlords! ("Hostile Takeover," Cothran, Sept. 30.) I can feel no sympathy for Max and David Myers. And a cover story? Have you gone out of your minds? How's about a cover story on the number of renters, elderly and disabled, who have been royally screwed by greedy landlords in this town?

Why didn't you include a brief list of all the other properties Max and David own South of Market? I see greed with a capital "G" the size of the Transamerica Pyramid. I'm afraid my days of reading the Weekly are coming to an end.

Ilhan Sadri
Via Internet

And We Like You, Jim
An enchanting sense of non-bias has come over your writers, it would seem -- a desire to present a story for the sake of itself, to paint a picture, to entertain, educate, and simply inform.

It's great. I'll take the Weekly over any other paper I've ever come across.
Jim Greer
Via Internet

Car-Keying vs. Real Activism
The current debate in the Letters section of the Weekly over bashing in the windows of yuppie vehicles as a form of social protest is a classic example of shooting the messenger because you don't like the news he's bringing.