Re “San Diego spending $2.2M to upgrade alley near Santa Fe Depot” (July 8): Of all the city’s many absurdities, this one may take the cake. The powers that be want to turn what is already a pedestrian passageway into a $2.2 million pedestrian passageway.

I live in one of the condo towers on Pacific Highway and frequently cross the train and trolley tracks and use that alley to get to Kettner Boulevard. It is not an unpleasant walk. If there’s an alley that could use work (as in gates to lock it up at night) it’s the urine-scented passage just to the south of this.

Given the rundown condition of Santa Fe Depot, spending millions on this alley is like putting an evening gown on a corpse.

— Stephen Bailey, Columbia District