Miguel Valencia

By late 2020, I had begun to really make an impact within the neighborhood. I was drawing attention because of the type of figures I was photographing. Many of them I met on my own, some through mutual acquaintances. I was working on some material for Shelltown when I was introduced to a few well known heads from “Gamma Boys.” One of the originals (shout out to “T”) from this session asked everyone if they were okay with what I was about to do. I also had to explain the purpose of my work — what I was trying to accomplish. Once there was an agreement among the participants, I began to do my thing. The resulting photographs would become some of my most well known work.

Blowers gonna blow

Leaf blowers banned in '24? (“Noise is a necessary obscenity”, Cover Story, August 24) Not a chance my friend; this is gonna be another example of a law on the books that will never be enforced.

Patrick T

Hillcrest

Preening produces nausea

Your cover photo of two preening thugs was nauseating (“The Other Side of San Diego”, August 10). These imbeciles are nothing but domestic terrorists, bringing not "pride" to their "turf," but crime, drugs, mayhem and misery to the decent residents. Please do not milk these punks' inflated senses of import and perverted sense of self. You should have had a positive visual representation of a caring neighborhood citizen. Not this trash...

Eugene King

San Diego

Candidate promises lane change

During the Wisconsin Spring of 1958 on Milwaukee's Southside, my French mother bought me a shiny Schwinn with training wheels. The memory is seared into my mind of riding on the sidewalk for about 15 minutes then taking off the little boy wheels. This prophetic moment launched a 70-year love of cycling and then the sport of triathlon. From the rolling hills of Brittany, where I crashed into a brick wall at the age of 8 to the far away Island of Reunion 50 years later where I completed a triathlon 12 time zones removed from San Diego, I have seen it all, including my interviews with many Tour de France riders. There is more but for sake of brevity, I will cut it short.

(“Gloria Likes Bikes”, SD on the QT, August 25) Mayor Gloria has got this all wrong and make no mistake, I am friendly to cycling but friendlier to the truth. Riding a bike takes human energy and this is the genesis to why the mayor's position on bikes doesn't make sense. I believe my eyes and must repeat, I believe my eyes. Cyclists on bike lanes in most areas of the city are nonexistent. Diehard cyclists are rare. Riding a bike to mitigate climate change is not going to happen in San Diego unless pigs have wings. What don't you accept about this fact? It's all happy talk and castles in the air. As a candidate for San Diego Mayor, I will remove at least 70% of the bike lanes in San Diego. It is the judicious thing to do. Finally, for the third time, I believe my eyes.

Daniel Smiechowski

Bay Ho