WHAT A GREAT PLEASURE to read such a finely balanced and carefully crafted letter as that from Kay Eckles, distinguished president of the Residential Action Coalition (RAC) (The Mail, 10/22). My only regret is that even in its brevity, it contained more factual errors than there are seeds inside a pomegranate. Referring to my letter in the Oct. 15 Washington City Paper, she takes me to task for unlawful use of my official RAC title of membership chairman and treasurer, and all but threatens to report me to the IRS, if not the U.S. Attorney, even though my letter decried the threat to residential zones by rampant commercial development and tasked politically inconsistent or incomprehensible positions on that score. As such, my text coincided exactly with one of the primary gospels espoused and preached by RAC. Moreover, despite its pithy eloquence and high satirical elegance, it was only a “letter to the editor,” for heaven’s sake. It committed RAC to no new policy, no new obligations, or expenditure of funds, I might add.

Although it grieves me, I must point out that I have labored just as long and hard for residential and community-improvement goals as Eckles, and had organizational credentials to prove it even before my dear estimable friend ever arrived on the scene.

Insofar as the immediate case in point, chiding decent fellows like Messrs. Terry Lynch and Jack Evans on the matter of backing a pro-development buccaneer like Charlene Drew Jarvis for council chair is not merely a civic duty but a public service, and when done with such demonstrated deftness, almost a kindness as well. Certainly the matter requires no apology or threat to my RAC ID. In fact, I never leave home without it. Certainly I do not need Eckles’ permission to identify myself in the above-referenced context; neither, most assuredly, do I intend to ask for it.

Membership Chairman and Treasurer, Residential Action Coalition, Dupont Circle