Tourists Stay Away From the City by the Bay

In reading “Fewer Tourists Leaving Hearts in S.F.” (July 27), I was surprised to see no mention of the factors that have dissuaded my wife and me from returning to San Francisco since our last visit about 15 months ago. We were dismayed at the foul streets and the swarms of panhandlers, most of them young and apparently able-bodied. When my wife remarked on the contrast between New York and San Francisco, I commented that Mayor Willie Brown is not Rudolph Giuliani and that, unlike San Francisco, New York has erected no monument to the homeless.

I lived in San Francisco for several years in the 1970s. This last visit, on Grant Avenue in particular, we were accosted by aggressive panhandlers in front of virtually every second shop. Near Halladie Plaza we saw human excrement on the sidewalks. In fact, of the many major cities that we have visited, San Francisco is by far the filthiest. Mayor Brown, if you clean up your city, the tourists will return and we will be happy to join them.

Keith S. Walker

Pomona