: There's some very good answers here. Basically supporting the idea that a change in tense just to satisfy the potential pedantry of a reader is not worth doing. { There's some people just

@Twilah982

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There's some very good answers here. Basically supporting the idea that a change in tense just to satisfy the potential pedantry of a reader is not worth doing. { There's some people just looking for an excuse. "She had eyes? What does she have now?"}

But I'd like to focus on the question of "What would be the effect of switching tenses?"

A judicious change in tense can have a strong narrative effect.

If a present tense narration suddenly begins referring to a person or event in the past tense it has the effect of highlighting a distance. That distance may be either cold and disapproving, or nostalgic and full of longing.

His foot touches the brick, and he knows where he is. He walks this
street every day. Seeing these people, hearing these sounds. This is
Karen's street. She had green eyes. She had a smile that taunted men.
Sometimes he sat on that bench and wasted a few minutes, just in case
she had been late for the 8:05 bus.

Without any exposition the change in tense has set up a complicated relationship between two people.

Changing from past to present heightens the intensity of events. I think of Bram Stoker and Herman Melville using this deftly to bring the reader to the same experiential state as a character. (But I'm referencing them without fact-checking.)
A change to the present might also signify the vividness of a memory to a narrator.

"Together we stepped into the room. It had been a long day, far too
long. She leaned gently against the wall to take some strain off her
tired legs. She has green eyes. They flutter and hide behind dark
lashes as I kiss her cheek. She sighs gently, wanting this feeling to
last forever."

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