Plaza's Muni entrance is functional
With regard to the Open Forum piece, "Honor Milk with new plaza" [Guest Opinion, December 7]: if the author, Andrea Aiello, would like to, as she wrote, "honor Milk at the plaza that bears his name," then follow the advice of Gary Lee and Joe Kelly [Mailstrom, December 7]. Put a statue of Harvey Milk in the plaza.
You save the money and save the rest of us the angst and great displeasure of destroying a completely functional entrance to Muni. If you are really gung-ho on spending money, how about a metal arch high over Castro Street at 17th welcoming people to our neighborhood? Is that an idiotic idea? No worse than yours.
Jerry Lang
San Francisco
Plaza redesign a waste of money
I read with some dismay the recent Guest Opinion in the Bay Area Reporter by architect Howard Grant concerning the proposed redesign of the Harvey Milk Plaza at Market and Castro streets ["Plaza architect weighs in on update," November 16]. I don't pretend to know anything about architectural matters, but I do know a thing or two about dollars and cents, having worked all my life, and spending $10 million on a revamp of the plaza seems to me to be a complete waste of money. What is wrong with the plaza as it is today? It is fully functional and nice to look at. The $10 million can certainly be put to better use, such as, for example, providing permanent housing for the homeless people who congregate on the upper tier or "ledge" (as I call it) overlooking the steps that go down into the station from Castro Street.
Furthermore, what an asinine idea to move the entrance facing west. This will be a huge inconvenience for Muni riders like myself who ride the 35/24 and on-board or off-board at Castro and Market and transfer to or from Muni. It will be especially unpleasant during the rainy season, and will undoubtedly create problems for our elderly and disabled citizens.
As they say, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
Barry Graynor
San Francisco
Don't trust the Russians
First of all, do not trust any Russians, including Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov, who is working under President Vladimir Putin ["Activist zaps Russian Diplomat," December 7]. I am from Ukraine, the former Republic of the Soviet Union, and I have relatives in Russia, so I know what I am talking about. Russian people are afraid to tell the truth up to now, no matter what. It was, it is, and it will be forever a dictatorship in Russia. I support Michael Petrelis for his courage to say the truth during the meeting with the Russian diplomat at the Fairmont Hotel November 29 before an audience of the World Affairs Council. We Americans have to tell the truth. If we won't, who will?
Georgy Prodorov
San Francisco