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San Francisco city of true caring for fellow man
Triangle columnist makes assumptions about west coast mecca; diversity and respect featured characters
Jessica Hemerly
Issue date: 3/4/05 Section: Ed-Op
William Mulgrew's commentary two issues ago ("An engrossing tale of two congressional districts," The Triangle, Feb. 25, 2005, p. 13) demonstrates such a high degree of ignorance regarding the city of San Francisco, I feel it necessary to address Mr. Mulgrew and the students of Drexel University to correct possible misconceptions.
To characterize San Francisco as "the epitome of 'vertical America'" is, in a word, moronic. Compared to powerhouse cities like New York and Chicago, San Francisco has very few of them. Dallas and Houston both have considerably more of than San Francisco, but I bet Mr. Mulgrew didn't know that.
While our most notable "sky-scraper," the Transamerica Pyramid, is the tallest building in Northern California, it is only the fourth tallest building west of the Mississippi River. The Transamerica Pyramid and its handful of sister skyscrapers in the Financial District hardly qualify San Francisco as the "epitome of 'vertical America.'"
Mr. Mulgrew's premise - the contrast between "vertical" and "horizontal" Americas - already finds itself on shaky ground. San Francisco is a city renowned for its many unique neighborhoods and residential communities; ask anyone who has actually visited here. I would feel comfortable saying Mr. Mulgrew's piece suffers due to a lack of familiarity with what he's talking about.
I also take issue with Mr. Mulgrew's use of the American Conservative Union's ranking numbers and his comparison to their places in a "parliamentary system." The voting setup alone in a parliamentary system is fundamentally different from that of our own system that any such comparison is purely superfluous. And just as Americans for Democratic Action scores are based on a liberal slant, the American Conservative Union's rankings are equally slanted towards proving support for a conservative bias. A more accurate and objective ranking system would have been that of National Journal, a non-partisan political publication based in Washington, D.C. National Journal's lack of bias makes it the most well-read publication inside the Beltway. Even when writing an Ed-Op piece, it's important to back his opinion up with objective information - it makes for a stronger argument.
To characterize San Francisco as "the epitome of 'vertical America'" is, in a word, moronic. Compared to powerhouse cities like New York and Chicago, San Francisco has very few of them. Dallas and Houston both have considerably more of than San Francisco, but I bet Mr. Mulgrew didn't know that.
While our most notable "sky-scraper," the Transamerica Pyramid, is the tallest building in Northern California, it is only the fourth tallest building west of the Mississippi River. The Transamerica Pyramid and its handful of sister skyscrapers in the Financial District hardly qualify San Francisco as the "epitome of 'vertical America.'"
Mr. Mulgrew's premise - the contrast between "vertical" and "horizontal" Americas - already finds itself on shaky ground. San Francisco is a city renowned for its many unique neighborhoods and residential communities; ask anyone who has actually visited here. I would feel comfortable saying Mr. Mulgrew's piece suffers due to a lack of familiarity with what he's talking about.
I also take issue with Mr. Mulgrew's use of the American Conservative Union's ranking numbers and his comparison to their places in a "parliamentary system." The voting setup alone in a parliamentary system is fundamentally different from that of our own system that any such comparison is purely superfluous. And just as Americans for Democratic Action scores are based on a liberal slant, the American Conservative Union's rankings are equally slanted towards proving support for a conservative bias. A more accurate and objective ranking system would have been that of National Journal, a non-partisan political publication based in Washington, D.C. National Journal's lack of bias makes it the most well-read publication inside the Beltway. Even when writing an Ed-Op piece, it's important to back his opinion up with objective information - it makes for a stronger argument.
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agreatnotion
agreatnotion
posted 3/04/05 @ 4:13 PM EST
Interestingly enough, that headline is terrible and was not included anywhere in my original letter to either Mr. Mulgrew or the Drexel paper.
I'd also like to add that my comments about San Francisco not "leaving people on the streets to die" were direct retorts to Mr. (Continued…)
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