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To the Editor: 

The July 5 article on the Police Tower missed the point. The tower is not on the roof but is in the rear of the residentially zoned block. Without consulting neighbors, city staff, not residents, proposed the council item for further study of the tower. 

The new tower was not publicly reviewed in 1997 (and remains out of compliance) and in 2000 was erected on the weekend (also our of compliance). It violated the processes of review in multiple ways. 

Who expected the historic civic center to have a massive 170-foot industrial structure? No other city has had the bad taste to have erected such an embarrassing structure in its city center. It is humiliating to live in a city that has so little sense of taste or respect for itself.  

Would Gordon Wozniak's neighborhood tolerate placement of such a ridiculous structure or such a lack of process? I think not. 

Wendy Alfsen 

Berkeley