SF Weekly Letters

Immigration Justice
Presumed guilty: I fail to see the tragedy in cooperating with the federal government in reporting the presence of an undocumented accused felon in the city's criminal justice system ["Alien Forces," Lauren Smiley, Feature, 11/18].

Presumably the taxpayers will be paying for legal representation on the felony charges. If the parents wish to be close to their child, they can reunite with him elsewhere in their country of origin, should he be deported. No one forced them to come to San Francisco as opposed to anywhere else.

As a resident, I do not believe that [undocumented immigrants'] presence alone makes me indebted to them. Supervisor David Campos' legislation is an affront to those of us in San Francisco who respect the law.

Hoss55

Web comment

Presumed innocent: This is a fascinating, detailed, and insightful article. The mayor [Gavin Newsom] seems to be imploding, and City Attorney Dennis Herrera is getting himself on the wrong side of the history. San Franciscans should continue to seek peace and justice and preserve that which is most valuable to our legal system: due process and the presumption of innocence. When you chip away at that, you cut away at the core of a just democracy.

BL

Web comment

Laptop Cops
Fight club: [Overzealous S.F. cops are] biting the hand that feeds them, aren't they ["Laptops Behind Bars," Jennifer Maerz, Let's Get Killed, 11/18]? San Francisco is famous for its nightlife culture. Other cities have great views, nice bridges, and cold summers, but San Francisco's worldwide mystique, like New York's or New Orleans', originates from a celebratory state of mind. Things are just different here, and that's why people — both workers and tourists — flock to our city. It's a shame some public officials and related thugs don't seem to be able to understand this.

Dana Eckhoff

San Francisco

Snitch Blog Comment of the Week
In response to a blog post about the New York Times story on the new "trend" of cyclist backlash in S.F.: Very well said, Matt [Smith]. This purported "backlash" against cyclists is totally absurd, and I was really disappointed to see it parroted in the Times.

The video that [Times writer Scott James] shot didn't show what was happening behind three of the four crosswalks at that intersection. If it had, I think you'd have seen a completely different picture: bicycles, cars, pedestrians, and Muni trains, all moving harmoniously through the intersection without a single incident. Never mind that drivers and cyclists rarely come to a full stop. If all users pay attention and cede the right of way when appropriate, then everyone makes it through quickly, efficiently, and unscathed, and the intersection has served its functional purpose. This phenomenon should be celebrated, rather than exhibited as the failure of an entire class of road user to obey the law.

That said, the indignation that some people reserve for cyclists running stop signs is totally disproportionate with [cyclists'] potential for harm to everyone else (relative to, for instance, a motorist's). That's some seriously misdirected anger right there. Get a grip, people.

Shawn Allen