Better Make That Second Most Hated
Silly me ... it took me nearly nine paragraphs into the Kevin Keating update ("Vive La Révolution," Dog Bites, June 21) before I realized you'd written "postering," not "posturing"!
Paul Miller
Most Hated Man in S.F.
Well, John, We'd Love to Ask Him, But He's Moved to Greece
In response to the latest set of posters plastered in my neighborhood, I would assert that if the folks moving into the Mission District lofts were mainly wealthy blacks or well-to-do Latinos there would be no Mission Yuppie Eradication Project ("Return of the Mission Yuppie Eradication Project," Dog Bites, June 14).
So why isn't this racism? How is it that Mr. Keating can tell the difference between someone with lots of money from back east and a San Francisco resident who has saved all his or her money and found that the cheapest piece of property out there is a Mission District loft? Does he have backgrounds on all these people? Does he give his fellow MYEP comrades pictures of all the locals attempting to become property owners and instruct them to hold their fire on these people, or do they just end up as collateral damage?
I wonder if Mr. Keating, who calls for the poor and working-class residents to visit the lofts and confront prospective buyers, would allow himself be confronted at his home to expound on why it rests upon his shoulders to decide who should or shouldn't be welcomed into the neighborhood. If someone has their tires slashed will Mr. Keating be willing to invite that person to his flat and discuss the reasons why?
John Keynes
Via Internet
Off the Air
Finally, a column about Bay Area radio ("Left Of(f) the Dial," Riff Raff, June 21). Thanks. Tangents is so unique. Producer Dore Stein brings the entire Bay Area together with music. His selections are so diverse -- he plays stuff from around the world but with a focus on Bay Area musicians. He is also so open to listener input. Public station KALW, which used to air his show two nights a week, has lost a large, loyal audience and a lot of contribution dollars, I'm sure. Any station should be pleased to pay a small fee for this program. The return in listeners and monetary support would surpass the investment quickly. I hope we can keep this innovative type of music in the Bay Area and not give up free radio to the Internet.
Marilyn Flores
Mission
Truth and Consequences
Where and when did Leland and Maxine Yee's money originate ("Thrift and Consequences," Bay View, June 7)? Can writer Peter Byrne not imagine that this couple -- he with a professional career, she working when she could, living most of their married life in his father's building with extended family -- have done exactly what they say they've done? Their lifestyle may be unimaginable to Mr. Byrne, but I know many families like them who have acquired property -- and the debt to go with it -- on equally limited means. There is no indictment of Leland Yee here. Byrne finds one rather technical reporting violation -- when the Yees switched residences, they should have reported the loan on the building they no longer lived in -- but himself makes plain that they acknowledge the loan, and the error. Byrne's accusatory tone is not justified by the facts he reports, and does a great disservice to the Yees, who went well beyond the legal minimum to provide him with private financial information for his research.
Steve Mann
Lower Haight
O Yee of Little Faith
I would have had more respect for Supervisor Yee's reply to your June 7 Bay View "Thrift and Consequences" ("A Family Affair," Letters, June 14) if the supervisor simply defended himself as being a magician and, as such, not at liberty to reveal his secrets.
Instead, the supervisor argues from a morally superior point of view. He belittles Mr. Byrne for never having saved a penny. Supervisor Yee would have the reader believe the following, false syllogism: 1) Many Chinese save; 2) I am Chinese; 3) Ergo, I have saved.
Yee attempts to prove his own specific case by directing us to the stereotype of Chinese-Americans: Every Chinese bus boy in Chinatown owns six units in the Richmond. This proves precious little about the manner in which Leland Yee services his million-dollar real estate debt. It is no less valid to prove a specific from a general than to generalize from a few specific cases.
Actually, I trust Supervisor Yee's explanation, flawed though it may be. The reason I would recommend not voting for him is that his money-saving talents have never extended to saving the city's money. As chair of the Finance Committee these past three years, he never met a supplemental budget or pay raise that didn't pass committee. The Fire Department came before the Finance Committee four times in the past three years for supplemental handouts. Supervisor Yee's objections to these obvious abuses were as thin as the print-type quoting him in the Chronicle and the Examiner. "If we don't hold the line, we'll be breaking the bank. The bank may be breaking already."
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