Editor:

D4 Supervisor Engardio’s vision of bringing ‘the spirit of Paris to the Sunset’ has a blind spot.

Where in his scheme is a fully functioning and reliable transit service operating along those transit corridors lined with ground floor bistros and tall buildings in D4?  Using housing density along transit corridors of an altogether different city with a different history (Paris) to bolster a complicated local argument for more housing on the west side is too simplistic. 

Fix Muni first, that is, hire and train more employees and improve the City’s transit service, and then let’s discuss a more realistic plan for housing density along transit corridors in D4. Or, does Supervisor Engardio assume new residents will use their cars to go back and forth to that new housing?  There is already enough vehicle traffic in the Sunset.  

One final note:  During my last visit to Paris (May 2023), striking workers were marching along transit corridors lined with shops and tall buildings and/or occupying urban spaces.  Transit service was limited or unavailable at times and city streets without protesters were lined with slow moving bumper-to-bumper vehicle traffic.  To me, that is also “the spirit of Paris.”  Is that what Supervisor Engardio wants here?

Herbert F. Mintz II