Christopher Rodriguez: “We’re not lending money to randomness.”

Fair and Cooperative

I just read an article by Ken Leighton that has incorrect statements. The statement contained a quote from Chad Elliott, owner of Oceanside Jewelers that was not verified (“Oceanside anguishes over its businesses,” Neighborhood News, April 7). The statement read: “Meanwhile the landlord keeps calling, wanting his rent. If this [loan program] happens first, great.” I am the landlord of this location. My email is to clarify that we did not call Chad [or his business] once to collect the rent. Chad contacted us about the inability to pay and we wrote back explicitly saying that although the rent is not waived, we will work with him in good faith to make sure he stays current on his obligations.

A statement in this form was provided to all tenants who reached out to us. It is important to be careful about what is published, especially during this time. We are not heartless landlords and do not wish to be portrayed as such. We want nothing more than to work together with the downtown Oceanside community to get through this extremely difficult time, which affects us all. You can reach me at any time to fact check any comments made by our tenants between 206-228 N. Coast Hwy, Oceanside.

• Allen Adem
• Pier View LLC

The statement from Chad Elliott about his landlord is how I transcribed it from his conversation with me. After the article was published online, Mr. Elliott asked that that line be taken out since his landlord was in fact being fair and cooperative. Ken Leighton

Pandemic of anger

“No Walking Distance,” April 9, (Letters) makes the point that on a sidewalk you will come closer than six feet to someone walking the opposite direction. Therefore we should open the parks because you can walk in those and never get too close to others. It’s a very good idea. In addition, many people actually NEED parks or other nice places to walk for other reasons. Some suffer from claustrophobia and simply can’t handle been cooped up in their house or maybe even their neighborhood. For others, parks and natural areas provide the environment they need in order to feel relaxed and compatible with society, a very important concept to keep in mind during these highly stressful and uncertain times.

We already have one pandemic to deal with; we can’t afford another one of anxiety and anger by people who feel as though their whole lives are being controlled. I propose that they open the parks but divide households into either two or three groups and have certain days when any one group is allowed to go to the parks. That way the parks would not get crowded and people would have the space they need. Obviously there would need to be consequences for going to a park on the wrong day just as there are now consequences for going to a park ANY day. Perhaps even not allowing children in the parks unless accompanied by their parents might be good. Opening the parks, even on a restricted basis, could give us all space to walk safely and would give some people the type of environment to visit to soothe their special needs.

• Richard Robertson
• Navajo

McDini's, a grandfathered bar, lost its alcohol permit.

National City pub crawl

I was born and raised in National City and I’m still here. I’m 78. There has never been called Mile of Bars (“National City will never be Mile of Bars again,” Neighborhood News, March 17). It has been called Little Times Square, and everybody that was in the military here anywhere in the world if you were to mention Little Times Square, they knew where it was. Today there are probably five bars in National City. These new breweries are just another bar and no matter if they have dancing or they don’t have dancing. McDinis was always noted as the greatest place to go, because the original McDinis that was on Eighth and Roosevelt had a beer from anywhere in the world.

If you asked for a beer and they did not have it, you could drink for free. Mile of Cars was built after the bars were there. There were no bars after that, except for Stoney’s, which came in later, and a couple of ... Mexican bars. So whoever gave you this information about the Mile of Bars has their head stuck up their ass because they don’t know what they’re talking about. If you want to send somebody over here and look around, you’re going to find all that’s a bunch of smoke, and you’re Tin Fork guy, who doesn’t know a spoon from a knife, did an interview at Cabo Wabo, which is Eighth Street just east of Highland Avenue. That’s one of the bars.

• Hal
• National City