Letters to the Editor | Feb. 14, 2024

As a former volunteer at Cook-Wissahickon School, I found Inquirer reporter Kristen A. Graham’s article about Germantown’s Lingelbach Elementary School downright exciting. What a great way to begin the day by reading about its dramatic increase in student performance. Excellent public schools make for a vibrant and thriving city. More power to Lingelbach, its teachers and students, and the rest of the city school system.

Anne Slater, Ardmore

The dramatic progress that has occurred at Germantown’s Lingelbach Elementary School is the most hopeful piece of news I’ve read in a long time. As a former educator, I’m inspired by what has been accomplished there and applaud the commitment, dedication, and intelligence of those who have made it happen. It demonstrates that caring educators working in a collaborative environment, being empowered to make the most critical decisions for their schools, is what matters most.

It also shows that instruction should be guided by science-based, student-centered methods with the right kind of thoughtful support to allow for their best chance of success. I hope the lessons to be learned from the success of this single school, and those individuals responsible, can become a model for transforming educational practices throughout the city. I’d expect Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. to show wisdom and leadership in ensuring the opportunity is not lost.

Joseph Goldberg, Philadelphia

This Valentine’s Day, there are plenty of reasons to feel the love if you are in or around Philadelphia, historically speaking. If you are a sports phanatic, you could not be in a better place as spring training kicks off this week. The first National League baseball game was played in Philly on April 22, 1876, when the Boston Red Caps beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 6-5. And who has the oldest continuous one-name, one-city team in America? Yup, it’s the Phillies, who first appeared as such when The Inquirer covered an exhibition game on April 3, 1883, and shortened the team’s name to what we know today as our Phillies. (We don’t want to come out and say that we invented football and baseball, but …)

Our Eagles just turned 90 years old in 2023. The professional football team that they replaced in Philadelphia (the Frankford Yellow Jackets) was a byproduct of the Frankford Athletic Association, which turns 125 this year. In non-sports anniversaries, Philadelphia’s Love Park (also known as John F. Kennedy Plaza) was first opened in 1964. Contained in Love Park is one of Robert Indiana’s Love sculptures (with the original being in the Indianapolis Museum of Art). Love is in the air, Philadelphia. Enjoy every minute.

Michael Thomas Leibrandt, Abington

Republicans have been screaming for years about how porous our southern border is. They finally got a bipartisan deal to secure the border, but because Donald Trump objected because he wants to run on that issue, they elected to not go forward with the deal. Why is the GOP listening to him and doing what he wants? Just so he can call immigrants “vermin” and lie to his adoring MAGA crowds that immigrants are stealing good jobs and getting benefits?

These people work as farmworkers and pick our food. They do landscaping. They do the jobs no one else wants to do. When did you ever hear someone say, “I used to be a farmworker until some immigrant came over here and took my job?” Trump is only a candidate for president, he’s not even in office, and he might not win the election, yet the whole Republican Party has gotten behind him to stop this border deal to the detriment of our nation and the good people of Ukraine and Taiwan who are in very real danger. The GOP finally gets what it wanted and then walks away. What a bunch of hypocrites.

C. Fogarty, Schwenksville

The attorneys for former President Donald Trump have apparently run out of ideas. The ruling of the appeals court to his claim of blanket civil immunity went badly for him. The court issued a unanimous opinion that basically said that someone who takes an oath to uphold the laws of the U.S. has no right to break those laws without consequence. Now, the Trump team is blatantly telling the U.S. Supreme Court that they don’t have an argument worth listening to, but the justices should delay Trump’s federal trial because he is running for president. Trump’s lawyers feel it’s more important to see if he can win and then pardon himself rather than have the millions of voters he sought to disenfranchise see if they have a felon as their candidate. The lawyers went on to say that this is a “novel, complex and momentous question that warrants careful consideration on appeal.” This is tantamount to saying, “Oh, yeah?!?” as a retort to being insulted. If the justices have any sense of patriotism, they should refuse the appeal altogether, and allow the chips to fall as they may.

Jim Lynch, Norristown

We applaud the National Park Service’s renovation of Philadelphia’s Independence National Historical Park for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. This long-overdue renovation can renew Philadelphia’s profile as a modern city that is also a living historic monument. However, one part of the plan profoundly contradicts this goal: the park service’s joint project with Philadelphia Gas Works to install new fossil fuel heating equipment in 20 historic buildings.

Given the rapid rate of global warming, installing new fossil fuel heating is clearly the wrong choice. It would lead to more, rather than less, greenhouse gas emissions and more toxic pollution in the neighborhoods adjacent to the park. It would also misallocate scarce public resources for equipment that, to comply with new federal building regulations, must likely be replaced in a few years. The park should be a model for the country in sustainable preservation. We call on the park service to abandon its plan to prolong its use of fossil fuels, to commit to heating all of the park’s buildings with clean energy, and to develop and share a strategy for doing so soon. Such a course correction will benefit all Philadelphians, our children, and the planet.

Don Campbell, Glenside, Elaine Fultz and Karen Melton, Philadelphia

Regarding Chestnut Hill West and all others, why not use self-driving commuter trains? The success in San Francisco with self-driving cars and cabs shows promise. Trains have regular stops, are on fixed steel rails, and there are no decisions to be made that are too complicated now for a computer. This would be a way to lower overhead costs and keep the lines operating without raising taxes. SEPTA also gives away millions of dollars with free rides to anyone 65 and older. Why give all that revenue away if you have such a huge shortfall? If the state pays for the free rides, use that money elsewhere in the system. SEPTA management: Here are two opportunities for you to keep the trains operating safely and efficiently without raising costs.

Gardner A. Cadwalader, Philadelphia, gacadwalader@gmail.com

I take issue with former U.S. Rep. Jim Greenwood’s op-ed calling for barring Donald Trump from appearing on the ballot. Greenwood had a distinguished career in politics, but is part of a vanishing breed: the moderate Republican. His argument in favor of keeping Trump off the ballot per Section 3 of the 14th Amendment leaves out another key provision of that amendment: the due process clause. Trump is currently awaiting trial on criminal charges relating to his role in the events of Jan. 6, 2021. Let’s allow the criminal justice proceedings to play out before banning Trump. It would just make him a martyr and probably more popular. Making incendiary comments at a political rally pales in comparison to sending soldiers into a war against our Union where hundreds of thousands died. It also smacks of antidemocratic principles to not let the voters and jurors decide his fate. Let the democratic process play out.

Angus R. Love, Narberth, anguslove76@gmail.com

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