{"id":238387,"date":"2016-04-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-04-01T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/letters-to-the-editor-april-2016\/"},"modified":"2016-04-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-04-01T07:00:00","slug":"letters-to-the-editor-april-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/letters-to-the-editor-april-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"Letters to the editor \u2013\u00a0April 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

A lifetime of art<\/strong><\/p>\n

[Ref: \u201c#ArtYouEnjoy,\u201d Vol. 16, Issue 6, or at tinyurl.com\/hhulhjs<\/a>]<\/p>\n

I enjoyed reading your story and learning about [her] family. I met Phylicia a week ago. I am a multimedia artist; I am 73 and still creating and producing my artwork. We moved from Julian to the city of San Diego almost two years ago. I have no studio now but I still am an artist, I lost my beret but I still paint, I donated all my art equipment to Julian High School because I thought I was finished with that part of my life.<\/p>\n

But here I am turning our little home into an art studio \u2026 my jewelry room is the \u201cGold Room\u201d named for my grandmother Yehuda Gold. And my dining room is now my paint studio, which I call \u201cMy Little Blue Room,\u201d and that has a story too. I reign from Taos, New Mexico, and my husband Monte is a saint for putting up with me!<\/p>\n

I am very impressed with Adelman Gallery and am hoping they have room for my art. Thank you Lee, I felt very comfortable with Phylicia; she had a very important meeting and still treated me very special. That made me come home with a warm feeling. Our daughter is a nurse and she treats us the same way. She told a doctor once, \u201cYou have lots of patients, I only have ONE MOTHER.\u201d Shalom.<\/p>\n

\u2014CoCo Leraas, via sandiegodowntownnews.com<\/em><\/p>\n

_______________________<\/p>\n

A different perspective<\/strong><\/p>\n

[Ref: \u201cGlimpsing into Downtown\u2019s future,\u201d Vol. 17, Issue 2, or at tinyurl.com\/zwab4bv<\/a>]<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve lived here for just over a year and can\u2019t help but laugh at this assessment. First off, name a single bellwether employer that has agreed to move Downtown \u2026 wait that silence is the fact that the only \u201cbusiness\u201d Downtown is law firms, hence the monstrosity of a courthouse I see from my office window. Also failed to acknowledge that most young professionals can\u2019t afford their own places so they are bunking up in Downtown because wages in San Diego are terribly low for the cost of living.<\/p>\n

So I beg to see real proof of this migration.<\/p>\n

My Lyft driver just told me yesterday how he regrets moving Downtown because there is nothing to do beyond restaurants or bars. Perhaps a government initiative to bring real business and culture Downtown would be a wise proposition. I\u2019ve lived in major cities around the country and San Diego is the only one where the exodus for work is away from the city \u2026. you\u2019ll never attract millennials with that strategy and they\u2019re flocking to the cheaper, better living of the beach communities.<\/p>\n

You guys really do live in a fantasy bubble out here, like you have to be a recent transplant to see how poorly run this county is \u2026 and don\u2019t get me started on the worst public transit system in the country.<\/p>\n

\u2014William Arrington, via website<\/em><\/p>\n

_______________<\/p>\n

Forgetting a timeless restaurant<\/strong><\/p>\n

[Ref: \u201cGaslamp restaurants stand the test of time,\u201d Vol. 17, Issue 2, or at tinyurl.com\/hdoys6s<\/a>]<\/p>\n

When talking about Gaslamp restaurants that have stood the test of time, how could you leave out Lou & Mickey\u2019s?<\/p>\n

\u2014Mark Augarten, via website<\/em><\/p>\n

________________<\/p>\n

Not a fan<\/strong><\/p>\n

[Ref: \u201cTiny shelters that can,\u201d Vol. 17, Issue 2, or at tinyurl.com\/jzn5668<\/a>]<\/p>\n

I am a resident of Sherman Heights, unlike much of the volunteers of this project, and I am NOT in agreement with this plan of a village of tiny houses!<\/p>\n

\u2014Rene Guzman, via website<\/em><\/p>\n

________________\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Historical question<\/strong><\/p>\n

[Ref: \u201cGaslamp Landmarks: Watts-Robinson Building,\u201d Vol. 17, Issue 2 or at tinyurl.com\/j5jq2xe<\/a>]<\/p>\n

Who is Watts?<\/p>\n

\u2014Joan Miller, via website<\/em><\/p>\n

Jake Romero, from The Gaslamp Historical Foundation, responds:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Mr. Watts refers to Nathan Watts, son of Henry Watts. Henry Watts held the mortgage on half of the two-story brick structure that was on the site before the Watts Robinson Building (The Johnson Building). Henry Watts was founder of Watts Holdings. It was Mayor David C. Reed (1880s) who loaned Watts the money to improve the property.\u00a0Watts died in 1889 and his son Nathan took over ownership and management of the building in 1890, occupying a room in the building as a real estate agent.<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

In 1912 at 45 years of age, Nathan\u00a0demolished the 26-year-old Johnson Building to make way for his Watts Building. So in truth, the building was known only as the Watts Building until the group of attorneys, which included Mr. Robinson, purchased the building in 1952. Unfortunately, I have no information in our archives on the \u201cRobinson\u201d law firm, if there even was one.<\/em><\/p>\n

________________<\/p>\n

Against the tiny shelters<\/strong><\/p>\n

[Ref: The tiny shelters that can,\u201d Vol. 17, Issue 2, or at tinyurl.com\/jzn5668<\/a>.]<\/em><\/p>\n

No one doubts your organization\u2019s desire to help solve the homeless problem in San Diego. There are so many well-intentioned folks that want to help, but we really must look seriously at the reasons for this problem and work together to find permanent, healthy solutions.<\/p>\n

As a resident of one of the most impacted by the street population, tax-credit low income, apartment properties in Downtown, I can attest to the heartbreaking reality of life on the street for the homeless, as well as the attendant effect on those attempting to share the public spaces \u2014 such as sidewalks and transit stops \u2014 with that population, while living our own economically challenged life. I cannot believe that to continue the \u201cshelter\u201d model is good for either the homeless or for any adjacent community.<\/p>\n

Like it or not, human nature is such that people who are suffering the tragic circumstance of homelessness need support, guidance, healthcare, and education, as well as decent permanent housing, to overcome the condition, which cannot be resolved by creating \u201cencampments\u201d that reinforce the perceptions of helplessness, rather than deal straight on with the specific needs listed above.<\/p>\n

We should not fool ourselves into feelings of being \u201chelpful\u201d so long as the bigger issues persist. We have a city government that is finally coming to terms with the real issues of homelessness, and need to put our talents and efforts into taking substantive action on the \u201cbig picture\u201d issues, else, our actions amount to no more than the ineffectual Band-Aid approach that \u201ctransitional housing\u201d has proven to be over the past decades. That approach has contributed to the acceptance of homeless as unavoidable in our society, rather than something to be repaired, and most importantly, prevented.<\/p>\n

We need a more comprehensive approach and \u201call hands on deck\u201d to achieve it.<\/p>\n

\u2014Inez Bradley, via sandiegodowntownnews.com<\/em><\/p>\n

____________________<\/p>\n

A homeless man offers feedback<\/strong><\/p>\n

[Ref: Vol. 17, issue 2, or at sandiegodowntownnews.com<\/a>]<\/strong><\/p>\n

The two front-page articles on the homeless situation are important, as it has major impact on both real estate values and new construction.<\/p>\n

We homeless (you featured an article about me in the Dec. 2014 issue [see, \u201cHomeless for the holidays,\u201d Vol. 15, Issue 12, or at tinyurl.com\/jq4qn8b<\/a>], believe the \u201cannual count\u201d misses over 90 percent of us, but David Schwab\u2019s article clearly indicates a 21 percent poverty rate (one in five) in San Diego County, and an estimated cost-of-living that is \u201cmore than three times … the minimum wage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Homelessness is a rotation, like a roulette wheel, and when the ball falls on you, you go from being one of the 330,000 \u201cClass 12\u201d Homeless \u2014 those who would become homeless by merely missing a paycheck due to illness \u2014 to a sidewalk \u201cClass 1\u201d Homeless. From there, I know of no one in 30 years who has ever \u201cescaped\u201d homelessness, just changed from one category to another.<\/p>\n

Fine issue, and thanks.<\/p>\n

\u2014Dr. John Kitchin, publisher, San Diego Homeless News, via email<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A lifetime of art [Ref: \u201c#ArtYouEnjoy,\u201d Vol. 16, Issue 6, or at tinyurl.com\/hhulhjs] I enjoyed reading your story and learning about [her] family. I met Phylicia a week ago. I am a multimedia artist; I am 73 and still creating and producing my artwork. We moved from Julian to the city of San Diego almost […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":238385,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"Letters to the editor \u2013\u00a0April 2016","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11552,11600],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-238387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-opinion","category-sdnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}