Letters to the Editor | Aug. 27, 2025

Let’s be crystal clear on what’s happening in Harrisburg: GOP legislators in the state House and Senate are blocking bills that allocate Philadelphia-generated tax dollars to Philadelphia’s transportation services. These services benefit the entire region, constituents in many of the lawmakers’ own districts, and the state’s economy as a whole. The legislators do not have more important uses for the funds. They just want to stick it to the city and its residents. They are holding up the entire state budget to do so. And, as of Sunday, they are responsible for reducing the quality of life for millions, including the poorest and most vulnerable in the city. We all need to call them out.

Davida Charney, Philadelphia

As someone who enjoys food far too much ever to become vegan, I’ve long been concerned about what I can do for the planet. Fortunately, Pennsylvania has made it simple to reduce methane emissions without requiring me to give up ice cream: by finalizing the most robust methane protections possible in a new proposal from the Department of Environmental Protection.

As noted in an Inquirer opinion piece related to this issue, the Pennsylvania Constitution guarantees the right to “clean air, pure water, and the preservation of the natural environment.”

Methane is 86 times more potent than carbon dioxide and is a significant contributor to climate change. It also hurts the air that over a million Pennsylvanians breathe who live near oil and gas activities. I applaud state environmental officials for proposing protections like requiring monitoring at drilling sites and stopping wasteful flaring. However, to really protect our climate and health, the state must do more, especially by extending the rule to smaller wells, which release enormous amounts of methane, and speeding up leak repairs, as well as ensuring the rule is durable even in the face of federal uncertainty.

Gov. Josh Shapiro and the environmental protection officials must act now. Let’s not waste this chance — or any more methane.

Heidi Pan, Philadelphia

Joe Pyle and Kim Paymaster’s recent op-ed rightly calls for bold leadership in Philadelphia’s behavioral health system. At the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corp., we welcome the appointments of Kehinde “Kenny” Solanke and Donna Bailey, and urge them to lead with equity and vision.

Behavioral health is deeply intertwined with housing, education, safety, and economic opportunity. Groups like ours are essential partners in this work — creating conditions for wellness through affordable housing, small business support, and economic mobility.

Our group’s Black and Gold 2.0 initiative builds upon the program established under Mayor Jim Kenney’s administration and fosters healing and trust between Black and Asian youth, while the Immigrant and Refugee Wellness Academy equips multilingual residents with trauma-informed care and leadership skills. These efforts reflect a growing commitment to culturally competent, community-rooted care.

As federal threats to the social safety net loom, Philadelphia must act decisively. Solutions must be collaborative, transparent, and grounded in lived experience. We stand ready to work with Solanke and Bailey, Community Behavioral Health, and the mayor’s office to build a behavioral health system that reflects the full racial, cultural, and organizational diversity of our city — and delivers real, lasting change.

John Chin, executive director, Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corp., and Romana Lee-Akiyama, PCDC board member and former executive director of the Mayor’s Office of Public Engagement under Mayor Jim Kenney

While I have absolutely no love for Chris Christie, he is yet another demonstration that President Donald Trump has no sense of justice or morality. As reporter Chris Palmer pointed out recently in The Inquirer, “Bridgegate” took place in 2013. After Christie’s aides’ convictions were overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, Trump was quick to label the two prosecutions as nothing but an “Obama scam.”

Now, after Christie has had the temerity to speak critically of the President Who Has No Clothes, Trump remarked that he always thought Christie was “guilty,” and suggested the attorney general could consider opening an investigation. As we know from past Trump history, that suggestion is really a directive.

So the question is whether Trump was lying in 2020 when the convictions were reversed, or this week, after Christie provided his critique. Actually, it is a trick question, as the odds are great that Trump was lying both times. After all, his lips were moving. (And remember, Trump already had a full term in office after Bridgegate to push for charges against Christie, but did not.)

Yet, his supporters refuse to label Trump for what he is: a banana republic tinhorn demagogue. Trump has turned his weapons upon all whom he believes are his enemies — mostly people who merely tell the truth. He might be coming for you next.

Stephen Ulan, Wynnewood

Putting aside the overreach of Donald Trump’s use of federal power, what would be the downside of Gov. Josh Shapiro calling up the Pennsylvania National Guard to police every corner in Kensington for a month to arrest every instance of drug dealing? The focus should be on distribution. It could be combined with outreach to users to get them the help they need. But our fellow Philadelphians who, for years, have been trying to get the neighborhood under control so they can walk to school or a store without fear of physical harm or the daily impact of the open-air drug market deserve something other than half measures that have only made a piddling difference.

Matthew A. White, Philadelphia

Watching the continued attempts by the White House to deport Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia as part of the wholesale deportations of mostly Central Americans labeled as “bad guys,” I was surprised to learn how many extensive government deportations have been a modus operandi for the Western world, going back to the 1700s.

Seemingly, America learned the practice from the British. Until 1782, the English deported their “bad guys” to the “land of the free and the home of the brave,” America!

Who knew that many of the early Americans were British criminals? However, the mass deportations halted following the Revolutionary War when newly formed America refused to accept any more of England’s “bad guys.”

As a result, England turned to Australia to unload its undesirables, thereby disregarding that the 2.989 million square miles of Australia had been inhabited by brown people for over 65,000 years. Identified as Aboriginals, these early folk had over 250 distinct language groups and complex spiritual traditions and practices.

But that was, of course, before the British Navy’s Capt. James Cooke, in 1770, “discovered” the land mass and its people. He claimed it for England and named it New South Wales. This act was followed by another British captain who declared it to be a British penal colony.

Mass deportations are not a new concept.

Karen Warrington, Philadelphia

It is well past time for the citizens of this country to put a stop to President Donald Trump’s historic power grab. Regardless of your political affiliations, take a step back and see the big picture. Congress has the power of the purse. Trump’s stripping away of funding for institutions he deems unnecessary or a threat to his political agenda strips that away from the members of Congress we put into office. Political climates change. Whichever party is in control today may not be tomorrow. This foreseeable protracted flip-flopping of funding cuts puts our — your — institutions in peril. Congress must put an end to this.

Tim Reed, Philadelphia

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