Letters to the Editor | June 8, 2023

Thank you for your coverage of our unhoused community in Montgomery County (June 4). The 160 people experiencing homelessness in the county seat need help finding jobs, affordable housing, health care, and other services. What they do not need is a bus ride to the campus of a nearby university. Norristown Council President Thomas Lepera clearly is frustrated, but his busing plan is misguided. In his day job as political director of IBEW Local 98, surely he influences decisions about the use of political contributions; the local’s most recent campaign finance report shows an opening balance of almost $14 million. Perhaps this union, and others, can use its resources to leverage an investment of public and private funds that will create an enduring solution — one that combines a housing-first approach supplemented by other supports. Bring the big bucks to the table and forget the gift cards.

Sydelle Zove, Whitemarsh

The June 6 article about the loss of control in Philadelphia’s subway system did not mention a policing tactic that would benefit 99% of people using the system: confiscating illegal drugs from passengers. SEPTA police officers should pat down people suspected of drug use in the subway, take away their drugs, and let them go. Then, to be effective, the officers should immediately go back to patrolling the system. When word gets out that shooting up on SEPTA platforms and in trains will result in losing illegal drugs, people who use them will stop riding the subway to publicly inject themselves. Who doesn’t want to see this change?

Joe Mikuliak, Philadelphia

After nearly 100 years of Republican-dominated politics, Joseph Clark, a Democrat, was elected mayor in 1952. Twenty years later, Frank Rizzo became the mayor. Soon after his reelection in 1975, he persuaded City Council to increase the city’s wage tax from 3.31% to 4.31%, one of the highest in the nation. The wage tax increase enabled the city to raise the pensions for municipal workers, including police and firefighters, leaving little money for other items in the budget. At that time the population of Philadelphia was 2.5 million, and the poverty rate was 15%. Later on, another Democratic mayor, Ed Rendell, noted that because of high taxation, the cost of doing business in the city is about 20% higher than in the suburbs. Today, the population has declined to about 1.5 million, and the poverty level is now roughly 25%. Sadly, after seven decades of only Democratic rule in Philadelphia, there is no rising tide to lift all boats; the city remains just a rusting old barge.

David Krahn, Wynnewood

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