”...designs and solutions that litter Northern California”

Dear Editor:

Re: Cannery Row (Aug. issue) What was the redeeming feature for the article other than to illustrate a point about tourist traps, ?EUR??,,????'??Once you've seen'm, you've seem them all.?EUR??,,????'?? Most people don't eat sardines or anchovies, Cannery Row's reason for existing, so without vintage dated sardine cans, what's the attraction for coming back, even for residents of the area? Several times when requesting anchovies with my Caesar salad the waiters had to go to the store. This place must be a nightmare for the marketing director, trying to keep people from running back to their cars. Northern California's weather even in the summer is cool and with an offshore breeze, the wind chill factor is even lower. Examples of wind breaks or shelters to retain shoppers and tourists in the shop areas would have been great. The landscape showed no definition of spaces, unique overheads, seating or spaces where people can get out of the wind or sun's glare. If you ever wanted an example of what happens when a sign painter goes wild, in one picture there is so many signs of all sizes and messages that most people turn off, making the signs ineffective. It's hard to tell a sign painter that people do not read in the landscape. John Jacobs in the Disney article made a good point:

?EUR??,,????'??In most urban areas it's not variety that's lacking, it's too much variety and it creates a disjointed viewing environment.?EUR??,,????'??

The articles on Disney, Keswick and Kierland are a sharp contrast to the ?EUR??,,????'??sophisticated?EUR??,,????'?? designs and solutions that litter Northern California.

Vince Mackel
Alameda, Calif.

In God We Trust?

Mr. Schmok: (via email) While I defend your right to free religious expression, I do not feel that your editorial page is the appropriate venue for your inclusion of New Testament material. (pg. 10, August 2003 issue). That brief message implies to me that those of us not of the Christian faith are in need of your magazine's religious comment. It simply is not a stance that should be expected in a nonreligious, professional journal.

As you choose to send out that passage, I will choose not to read your magazine.

I would hope that you would reflect on your editorial content position.

Thank you,

Jeffrey B. Gordon, AIA
Columbus, Ohio

Mr. Gordon: If you are referring to the verse listed in 6-point type at the bottom of the masthead or the simple ?EUR??,,????'??God Bless?EUR??,,????'?? at the end of the commentary . . . and this actually offends you, then I suggest you be careful to not drive down any street with a church on it . . .

My editorial content is deeply driven by my faith in Christ . . . my point of view. Just as your non-Christian point of view drives your life. I would not stop sending you the magazine because of your life choices. We all make choices and if you stop reading the publication because of those little inclusions, that, of course, is your choice . . .

Thanks again for your concern and albeit past readership.

George

?EUR??,,????'??The architect's best working tools are the eraser at the drafting board and the wrecking bar at the site.?EUR??,,????'??

–Frank Lloyd Wright