Although Ken Garcia is right about the Cow Palace structures not deserving preservation as a landmark, bashing that section of Daly City and nearby SF is unwarranted.

His statement ‘Does anyone really think that is going to be a destination shopping area?’ is an insulting dismissal of the whole area, its residents, their needs, and value to the Bay Area.

Further, his punch-line, ‘Maybe a drive-in or a bowling alley? Oh yeah —they already tried that,’ is misleading and deserves rebuttal.

The Geneva drive-in theater and Castle Lanes bowling alley closed about 10 years ago after serving the community for decades. Their separate closings had nothing to do with Daly City or whether the area deserves to be a shopping area. Drive-in theatres and bowling alleys have closed all over the US and the Bay Area due to the growing popularity of home entertainment — VCRs and DVD players, cable and satellite TV, video games and the Internet.

Daly City is where you’ll find the reborn Westlake Shopping Center and the phenomenally successful Century 20 Theatres. The Cow Palace area could be a similar success story.

We await Ken’s apology.

Matt Householder

San Francisco

Wave of development

San Franciso is becoming a city more concerned with image than with substance. John Upton (“Waves of development could sweep through four eastern neighborhoods,” April 17) points out that the number of industrial-based jobs could fall by as much as 23,000. I would submit that SF needs industry more than it needs high-end housing. I don’t need a 1,373 page draft in order to form an opinion — all I have to do is look out the window. I have lived in the Dogpatch neighborhood for some time.

I would suggest city planners do not rezone the central waterfront and rather provide for employment for those of us who actually live in San Francisco.

Dick Christian

San Francisco

Baker’s Dozen doesn’t add up

In the dismissal of almost all criminal charges in the Baker’s Dozen case, the San Francisco Police Department’s reputation took another hit. The Examiner reported that Judge Kathleen Kelly commented that the failure of police to conduct a lineup on the night of the incident was “troubling” (Examiner, April 17, 2008).

Troubling indeed since the judge dismissed all but one of the charges because the victims could not specify the identity of the attackers days after the incident. And, as I understand it, District Attorney Kamala Harris did not bring charges in several other of the assaults, including the ones resulting in a broken jaw and concussion, for the same reason. If a gang of men engage in assault and battery resulting in serious injuries, shouldn’t they all be criminally responsible?

Similar to the Fajitagate debacle, there is also the question of whether the police failure to adequately investigate the Baker’s Dozen incident was caused by favoritism towards the aggressors. I have not read if this question has been explored, but it should be.

In Fajitagate, the publicity concerning police bungling was limited to our local area. In the Baker’s Dozen case, however, SFPD’s reputation is diminished all the way back to the East Coast. Do Mayor Gavin Newsom, police Chief Heather Fong and the Police Commission care?

John M. Kelly

San Francisco

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