Letters to the Editor | April 28, 2025

A year ago, we stood with members of Philadelphia City Council, SEPTA leadership, and transit advocates inside Council Chambers and called on the Pennsylvania state House and Senate to approve Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposal to increase mass transit statewide.

At the time, SEPTA officials said that without necessary funding from the commonwealth, they would be forced to cut service levels and increase fares — setting off a chain of negative consequences for residents and businesses, the economy of the Greater Philadelphia region, and the commonwealth’s future tax revenues.

City Council warned everyone a year ago that SEPTA and mass transit systems throughout the commonwealth, in general, needed a steady, predictable funding source from the state, or devastating cuts to those systems were inevitable.

The day of reckoning for mass transit in Pennsylvania has come. The proverbial can cannot be kicked down the road any longer.

SEPTA recently unveiled a budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year that includes deep cuts to services across the board, including fare increases and the shutdown of all rail services at 9 p.m. every day. The cuts would begin on Aug. 24, and a 21% fare increase would begin on Sept. 1. SEPTA is facing a $213 million structural deficit.

Elected officials in Philadelphia are doing our part to help SEPTA, but it is time for the General Assembly to do its part for all mass transit systems statewide.

We know public transit is vitally important to the economic success of the Greater Philadelphia region. Philadelphia is the poorest city of its size in the nation, and the only way to change that is to create jobs. But it doesn’t matter how many jobs are created through the city’s economic development efforts if people can’t get to them because affordable travel options aren’t available. In the Philadelphia region, SEPTA is that option.

We are urging everyone reading this letter, no matter where you live in the commonwealth, to contact your state representatives and state senators and urge them to support Gov. Shapiro’s increased funding plan for mass transit statewide.

We strongly urge state Senate Republican leader, Sen. Joe Pittman, and Republican Senate members to allow for a vote on the legislation instead of allowing it to die as has been done in the past.

The commonwealth currently has a $10.2 billion surplus, according to the Pennsylvania House Appropriations Committee office, so finding the money to fund the less than $400 million Gov. Shapiro is proposing to help mass transit statewide is a no-brainer to us.

The time is now to fully fund mass transit statewide.

We will not see the SEPTA die — not on our watch.

Kenyatta Johnson, president, City Council, Mike Driscoll, councilmember, 6th District, and chair, Council’s Transportation and Public Utility Committee

I applaud the efforts of the more than 60 Philly-area rabbis who signed a letter opposing Donald Trump’s targeting of foreign college students. They are exposing the lie behind the Trump administration’s persecution of international college students. The president and Secretary of State Marco Rubio claim these students are supporting terrorist groups when, in fact, they are simply exercising their right to free speech.

Unfortunately, Sen. Dave McCormick is repeating Trump’s lies. In response to a letter I wrote to him, he trotted out the same verbiage about the Immigration and Naturalization Act that “permits the federal government to revoke visas or green cards of any alien who ... endorses or espouses terrorist activity or persuades others to endorse or espouse terrorist activity or support a terrorist organization.”

Like most lies, McCormick’s appears to make sense until you realize his assumptions: that these students, by their actions, “support a terrorist organization.” They do not. McCormick’s assault on freedom of speech has little to do with antisemitism, as our rabbis are making very clear.

Alex Pearson, Merion Station

Reading the editorials within The Inquirer, it’s hard not to perseverate on the shortcomings of the Donald Trump presidency and the flailing economy — perhaps rightfully so. The markets are in flux, immigration officers are botching deportations, and the president allows our wealthiest Americans to infiltrate the federal bureaucracy. That said, it is worth noting that not every action taken over the past three months by our federal government has been to our detriment — particularly when it comes to newly elected Sen. Dave McCormick.

Since going to Washington, Sen. McCormick has prioritized legislation to secure the southern border and, crucially, to stem the flow of fentanyl into our communities. He introduced the Joint Task Force to Counter Illicit Synthetic Narcotics Act of 2025 to improve federal coordination in combating the import of these drugs into our country. This cause hits close to home, as Philadelphia has had over 1,200 fatal overdoses per year since 2020 (most of which have involved fentanyl).

Other noteworthy efforts of Sen. McCormick include helping to bring fellow Pennsylvanian Marc Fogel home from Russian detainment and passing legislation to address the recent avian influenza outbreak that has plagued Pennsylvania’s agricultural economy. In difficult times, it is important to highlight the good when we see it. Sen. McCormick has been doing important work in Washington.

James Gazak, Philadelphia

Every time a news report, opinion piece, or letter to the editor appears with words describing Donald Trump’s actions and words as unprecedented, horrifying, law-defying, and such, the only effect is to make the myth of his power and invincibility stronger, and weaken all resolve to resist him. These adjectives convey and embellish the message that he is beyond reach and is all-powerful, and play right into his self-image as the Master of the Universe, coequal, if not superior, to God Almighty.

Trump’s oxygen, which sustains and gives him life, is the attention and the fear of his opponents, and all these adjectives describing him are exactly what he craves, even more than the praise of sycophants who are already in his thrall. So please, all you pundits and letter writers and reporters, and tell-all book authors — stop with the adjectives! Let the king’s actions speak for themselves, and stop reporting the words he and his enablers use to vilify opponents and resisters. Deprive him of his oxygen, and he will suffocate on his own words and deeds as the world collapses around him and no one pays him attention. To Trump, being ignored is a fate worse than death, and is the basis of his innermost fears and his worst nightmares.

Joe Sundeen, Yardley

We failed to protect Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and his family from a man who police say was a murderous arsonist. Despite millions of taxpayer dollars invested in surveillance equipment, a 24-person, 24/7 security detail, fenced perimeter, and onsite monitoring capability, the suspected arsonist scaled the mansion’s perimeter fence undetected, hammered through two windows to enter two rooms without challenge, set three Molotov cocktail fires within the mansion to no alarm, escaped through a window without notice, scaled the perimeter fence undetected, and returned to his residence without chase. No video, no pictures, no witnesses, no alarms, no suspects. Total security failure. Later Sunday, with no suspect(s) identified by police, the alleged arsonist voluntarily turned himself in to police. The Pennsylvania State Police must review the multiple security failures and make immediate corrections to better safeguard the governor’s family. Keystone Kops do not always get lucky.

Fred Walker, Wyndmoor

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