More on Doing D.C.

In an effort to fill a pothole in Christopher Reynolds’ otherwise fine article (“America’s Main Street,” April 26), I invoke a bit of black history in the name of Benjamin Banneker.

On a recommendation from Thomas Jefferson in the late 1780s, noted black astronomer and inventor Banneker was appointed to a planning commission for Washington. Although Banneker was not a trained architect and L’Enfant had sailed for France with the blueprints, he was able to realize the plans because he had committed the drawings to memory, right down to the most minute detail. Banneker’s superior memory saved a young nation’s cash-strapped treasury hundreds of thousands of dollars.

WAYNE FRENCH

Culver City