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I agree with the comments submitted by Tyler Jason Neyhart (The Mail, 10/29) concerning the impeding demise of O Street SE “gay corridor” (“The Big Whiff,” 10/22). Bob Siegel, self-acclaimed “mayor” of the strip, didn’t want competition to interfere with his entrepreneurial endeavors, so he bought up the block and other properties in the area with the dream of creating a “down-to-earth” Dupont Circle, complete with strip joints, drag bars, a bathhouse, a porn shop, a restaurant, and even a gay community center. Talk about ambitions! Now a proposed baseball stadium has dashed all of Siegel’s plans. Poor Bob! He says the mayor (of the District of Columbia) “has just destroyed [his] Disney World dream.”
I am familiar with these establishments and can say that Siegel’s “magic kingdom” simply does not claim the same family-appeal status that Disney World enjoys. In fact, the gay community should rejoice at the prospect of razing this nocturnal, crime-ridden strip too often overrun by drug addicts, hustlers, and the mentally ill out only to take advantage of a situation, sometimes with disastrous consequences. It’s a wonder they’ve been in operation as long as they have.
In the words of Bette Davis, I say, “Good riddance to bad garbage!”
Capitol Hill