Metal and duct tape saved the day here. The can was only a few years old when this repair was made.

Fleas of Horton P.

When The plaza was completed (“The Fall of Horton Plaza,” Cover Stories, June 27), I went through it and judged it to be an insult to San Diego, in that it was what I’d expect in San Francisco. It was, to me, a horrible creation in both appearance and experience; getting through it to check out all the shops is a challenge to my logical mind. I’m surprised it lasted so long, and see it as a massive flea/street market, and office building to complement the Movie House, with the parking facility free. And keep the 24 hour gym. Taking it down and rebuilding would mean traffic problems so we shouldn’t do that! Redesign and make it look like San Diego. (I have no idea what San Diego should look like, but we should have a “Look”.)

• Saul Harmon Gritz
• Hillcrest

Grandpa’s got deep pockets. Irwin Jacobs has given a quarter million to a super-PAC backing his grandadaughter Sara Jacobs for Congress.

Primary primer

In a recent article about the California primary, concerning Sara Jacobs (“Grandpa Irwin’s Money,” News Under the Radar, May 2), your story called it an open primary. Voting at the Political Fault Line is a collection of articles by political scientists about primary systems. It was published in 2002 by the U. of Calif. Press, Berkeley. The lead authors are Bruce Cain and Elisabeth Gerber. The book defines types of primaries. Page 211 has this definition of “open primary”: one in which participation is open to all registered voters, but each party has a separate ballot, and voters are restricted to participating in a single party’s nominations.” This definition is the same definition used in several U.S. Supreme Court decisions. Justice Scalia defined it as “one in which any person, regardless of party affiliation, may vote for a party’s nominee, but his choice is limited to that party’s nominees for all offices.” A top-two primary exists only in California and Washington. The first time a top-two measure was on the ballot in California, in November 2004 (Prop. 62), a superior court in Sacramento ruled that it could not be described on the ballot or in the voters pamphlet as an “open primary.” No one appealed.

• Richard Winger
• San Francisco

Palm tree hiding cell tower

Un-selling cellular

Currently this (“Cell Phone Towers Where You’d Least Expect,” Neighborhood News, April 27) is the biggest issue of concern pertaining to our health. As an Integrative Nutrition/Wellness Health Coach I am finding that even if I am advising about non-GMOs, gluten-free, plant based, organic, clean water & lifestyle changes... in the end these efforts will not work well until you detoxify the EMFs out of your life! I am working with EMF expert Cory Willis to remediate homes & bring back peoples health. The cells in our body cannot do their job when constantly under attack. I am not a hypocrite though, technology is awesome & thus I protect myself from the DNA damage, major illnesses & cancer causing effects. I can also help all my neighbors do the same with EMF Solutions by doing home remediations.

• Karla Ferro
• North Park

Hollywood Casino grand opening

<a href="http://www.jamulindianvillage.com/grand-opening-photo-gallery/"> From JamulIndianVillage.com </a>

Location imploding

With regard to the description of the Jamul Casino location (“Jamul tribe denies casino imploding,” Neighborhood News, June 20), it would seem that Marty Graham has either never been there or is not familiar with San Diego’s East County. The casino is not located “right off Interstate 8”. It’s off Campo Road, which is the same thing as Highway 94, nowhere near Interstate 8.

• Patricia Bishop
• Spring Valley

RGB, redux

Scott Marks’ review of RBG (“RGB,” Movies, June 21) reveals a knowledge of cinema even poorer than what he knows about the current number of female justices on the Supreme Court. For a movie to be “visually stimulating” it need not involve car chases, explosions, or gun battles. It can also show an 85-year-old woman doing push-ups, delivering impassioned speeches against perceived injustices, or even laughing with a colleague who was her polar opposite on interpretation of the law. Visual stimulation in cinema, Mr. Marks, can even be achieved by watching and listening to two lovers or even a single individual speak quietly. Give it a try. Perhaps you can begin with Olivier’s soliloquy in Hamlet.

• Harold Mensch
• Poway

Gated driveway? No. Gated walkway? Yes.

Tom Hom’s home

I just spent 15 minutes reading the 2440 C St.(Golden Hill) feature (“A home built by city-designated master builders,” Unreal Estate, June 21) to Tom Hom, 90, the local icon who was my City Council colleague in the 1960s and became the first Chinese-American elected to our State Assembly in 1968. He was a favorite of Governor Reagan. He and his brood of wife Dorothy (a real civic leader) and six kids lived 30 years in the home which they bought for $29,000 back in the days that neighbors would have to ignore racial covenants for an Asian to invest in our paradise of a community. The Homs had me as their dinner guest weekly for at least two years in my days as a bachelor City Councilman, and recently enjoyed a reunion with him at his Chula Vista home. He autobiography is a great read and 6500 copies sent off to China for their better schools, to tell young Chinese how one made it big in America. Tom and his brothers owned David Produce Co. providing vegetables and fruits to all of post war San Diego, and ended up selling their downtown lands for Petco Park. I think his nexus to 2440 C St. is the real history of the manse.

• Mike Schaefer
• Ocean Beach

"Those trash cans are meant to be handled thousands of times and last many years."

Trashed receptacles

For all those who complain about having to pay for a damaged trash receptacle (“Should San Diego’s trash collecting stay free?” Neighborhood News, June 26), at least being a single family home owner in the City of San Diego you do not have to pay for trash pick up as I do owning my own single- family home also in the City of San Diego. I had to pay to rent a trash receptacle when I moved into my brand new house a year ago and then pay $58 every two months. The price just increased by $7 to cover a new recycling processing fee that supposedly penalizes us for putting non recyclables in the recycle bin. The cost amounts to $348 annually! I would gladly pay a one time fee of $159 for a new trash can as opposed to paying a private company to pick up our trash. I have no sympathy.

• Sara Isgur
• Del Sur