EDITOR AND DAN SAVAGE: Four Columns Park, with its view of the Space Needle, has both a worthwhile present and a promising future within the fabric of Seattle, and it is unnecessary to sacrifice it for any reason put forward so far. ["Screw the View," Dan Savage, April 19.]

Yes, there are times when nobody is sitting on a bench musing on the view. There are times when you can have Woodland Park Zoo to yourself, too. Of course Gary Carpenter (Dan's other quoted source) doesn't get it! He is a well-to-do man who lives in a neighborhood with a very low "grittiness" quotient, whose company has millions riding on whether they can take our view or not!

The fact is, urban parks are not heavenly. They don't show up on Sierra Club calendars, but they still have real value for the people who live near them. Four Columns [is also a] means of bringing visitors up the hill from the Convention Center and downtown, enabling our small businesses to thrive.

Boren-Pike/Pine Park, of which Four Columns is a part, measures about 0.6 acres and is the only open space in the Pike/Pine neighborhood. The five neighborhoods that come together at that location (First Hill, Pike/Pine, greater Capitol Hill, downtown, and Denny Triangle) have the least amount of open space of any neighborhoods in Seattle. Yes, conditions there are less than desirable; there is noise from the freeway and other pollution. [But] if you still doubt that the view of the Space Needle from Four Columns Park is worth much, [see] page 32 of Seattle Poets and Photographers: A Millennium Reflection, where there is a photograph of the Space Needle and the four columns taken by Tod Gangler. Out of 40 photographs published, one is of a place that inspired an artist one night, and, we hope, will continue to inspire artists, working people, tourists, intellectuals, Tango restaurant goers, and homeless people for as long as Seattle exists.

Jill Janow, Chair, Pike/Pine Urban Neighborhood Council

HELLO DAN SAVAGE: "Screw the View" has me concerned. You seem to feel that we need more people in our already overpopulated city. I [have] friends who regularly walk through [Four Columns Park], eat lunch, or even smoke a bowl and appreciate its quaint and not-so-quiet appeal.

I cringe a bit when I see another corporate entity suck up one more sliver of metropolis pie for monetary exploits. Maybe my view would change if I knew the "corporation" was actually a consortium of average local schmoes like us, whose interests lie in better living for those who already live here, not for the masses trying to add to the crowd.

Roger Strong, Greenwood

DERA MR. DeROCHE: If you were to come to my home I could show you the secret to my apparent agelessness [Up & Coming, Jeff DeRoche, April 19, "Ballsy, ballsy, ballsy Mark Arm..."]. In the attic, behind a dusty curtain, is a portrait of my testicles which dates to the early 1940s. Upon my last viewing of the portrait, over 15 years ago, the testicles had aged considerably. They are shriveled, gray, and lifeless; hardly the vibrant, jaunty testicles of my youth (which I still proudly display as you are keen to observe). It is a horrifying picture which I do not like to be reminded of. The only thing more hideous is my shrunken, blackened heart, which, regrettably I did not have the foresight to preserve on canvas.

Mark Arm, Seattle

EDITORS: I've enjoyed Rick Levin's articles on the Sonics all season long. I read with anticipation [his] feature-length article on the team ["Plays of Our Lives," Rick Levin, April 26], but was appalled at his comments [that hinted] Sonics fans were glad Nate McMillan stepped in as head coach because "Nate McMillan is black," and therefore could understand Gary [Payton's] "trash-talking game" and face it down "in a way a white coach never could." It's hard to determine whether this statement reveals only Levin's ignorance or an attempt to raise controversy.

It's insulting to Payton to suggest that he's some kind of problem child who can only be handled by a black coach (I guess Levin would feel Payton's mutual respect with George Karl must've been a fluke), and it's insulting to both blacks and whites to suggest there are limitations based on their race. How about the possibility that Payton could respond better to McMillan because they had a mutual respect from playing together, and from when McMillan had been assistant coaching for the team?

Rick, steer clear of presuming what anyone is thinking but yourself.

Bob Rousseau, Seattle

DEAR EDITOR: I had to write in response to the letter about Nate Lippens' Low article [Letters to the Editor, April 26]. I'm not a Low fan, but I was pulled in the article by Lippens' prose. I love the way he writes. I don't think he's pretentious just because he has a large vocabulary and can string together a thought that is poetic and informative. He has turned me on to excellent music and written about some of my favorite musicians.

Anonymous, via e-mail

EDITORS: It was an easy gig, but it had to end ["Meet the Messengers," Pat Kearney, April 26]. I worked for Kozmo from the day they opened in Seattle to the day they closed here in L.A. (and the rest of the nation), and I suppose I must take a partial, if a small, responsibility for the $280 million they pissed away.

The first couple months of my employment at Kozmo in Seattle were spent watching movies, playing video games, and surfing the Internet. I would regularly nap on the clock. Due to my diligence, I was given a promotion and put on salary.

I glided into Kozmo L.A. with my title and salary intact. For six months, I worked two hours a day and collected full-time wages. I often spent hours at the beach or kicked it at my house. Realize that this was not fraud--there was no falsification of hours; there was no lying to superiors. There was just a complete lack of oversight. There was no supervision. The degree of apathy and downright incompetence in this company was mind-boggling, especially as we were crapping out the remnants of $30 million monthly.

I am proud to have sucked on the dot-com teat while there was still milk, especially as I completely lack the skills to survive in this "New Economy." It has allowed my artistic life to flourish, and it provided me with a near-middle-class living for two years. For doing what? Fuck all.

Chris Tharp, Los Angeles

DEAR GRANT COGSWELL: After reading your brief preview of the Seattle Poetry Festival, "It's a Damn Slam" [April 26], I wanted to express my dismay at your clearly awful attitude toward poetry in general. If you are so distressed by the state of poetry ("The fact is that the very poetics of personality and identity have so infected the mass of American poets that their work can survive nowhere but inside the university and its journals, in which the cachet of publication takes precedence over distinctions of the quality of the work published, and critical rigor, when applied to poets neither white nor male [nor old], is mistaken for reactionary politicking"), then why are YOU the reporter giving the Seattle audience its preview?! If you are only interested in "traditional English verse" and the joys of its rhythms, then read it, and let the rest of the world try and work toward something new.

Cassie Sparkman, Director and Host, UW Workshop Slam

TO DAN SAVAGE, TIM KECK, JEFF DeROCHE, AND KATHLEEN WILSON: I've held my tongue long enough. I'm writing to tell you how extremely disappointed I am with your paper. In case you haven't noticed, times are tough right now. Business everywhere is slow, and people are more conservative in their spending. When it comes to our local music scene, it relies almost solely on your paper. You know that, and yet you continue to ignore the majority of it. These musicians are working their tails off, and your writers continue to review the same bands over and over. I was under the impression that things would change when Jeff DeRoche took over as music editor. That definitely hasn't happened. The Stranger favorites (bands and clubs) are obvious, [but] OUR WHOLE SCENE COULD USE YOUR SUPPORT. PLEASE! Enough with the negativity. Give the jaded and narrow-minded writers a vacation. Our scene could really benefit from your help right now.

A Local Music Supporter, via e-mail

DEPT. OF CORRECTIONS: In "Look Out J. Lo" [April 26] by Mike Seely, we stated that action-adventure star Jet Li is Korean. We were so wrong. Jet Li is Chinese.

In Grant Cogswell's preview of the Seattle Poetry Festival ["It's a Damn Slam," April 26], we stated that jazz great Charlie Parker died in 1953. This is totally inaccurate. Parker passed away in 1955.

In "Bareback Bucks" by Dan Savage [April 26], we mistakenly credited Erika Langley for the photo we ran. The photo was actually scanned from a local advertisement.

We regret all of our dumb errors.