Editor:

Thanks for the April 2022 article (page 2) re the future of Lake Street. This Slow Street is a hot-button issue. Also a scam.

The photo looking west from Park Presidio misleads. Foreshortening—and picking a “crowded” moment—gives the impression of a widely used park-like setting. Not so. I walk across or along Lake, east or west, at least twice each day, seven days a week. Observation demonstrates that morning, mid-day and afternoon; weekday and weekend; sun, rain and fog, relatively few people walk, run or cycle along Lake. Sidewalks and bike lanes prove more than sufficient. The COVID pandemic long ceased to play a role in providing recreational space, particularly since Lake runs just south of the Presidio.

Making Lake a Slow Street, say on Sundays, 9 a.m.–6 p.m., might be nice, but it’s hardly necessary. A permanent seven-day Slow Street serves no purpose. It also inconveniences motorists who must use an increasingly crowded California Street. My intersection at 15th Avenue and California is more than risky. It’s dangerous.

Some Lake Street residents may enjoy having a private street. But what entitles them to one—and at their neighbors’ expense?

David Perlstein