Letters to the Editor | Sept. 18, 2026

A friend and I took a taxi to the Feria del Barrio Festival on North Fifth Street on Sunday and used the opportunity to visit my old house on Orianna Street, along with my former school and church at Sixth and Tioga.

As we walked from Fifth Street toward the school and church, we met many friendly people. A driver described how Orianna Street has changed since she moved there in 1993, including the many empty lots now there. A concerned young woman stopped to ask if we were lost, an older woman at the Sixth and Tioga bus stop shared stories about herself and her family, an Eagles fan offered the expected “Go Birds,” and a lovely woman with two teenage boys introduced us to tamarindo water ice near the Rivera Recreation Center.

Everywhere we went, people were kind and welcoming. Even the Route 47 bus back to Center City was on time. It was a terrific day. My thanks and warm regards to the people of El Bloque de Oro.

Catherine V. Beath, Yardley

A recent front-page article in The Inquirer raised questions about how Pennsylvania’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program granted a Philadelphia restaurant $1.5 million to expand. The recipient of the grant was no faceless chain franchise. Friday Saturday Sunday is a Philadelphia institution that’s locally owned and Michelin-rated. I’m guessing that compared with its profit, the grant constitutes a fortune.

Later in the article — buried in an obscure paragraph — The Inquirer barely mentioned that another local institution also got a grant, one for $1.4 million. Comcast Spectacor had a profit of almost $6 billion just for the first half of 2026. It takes a lot of you-know-what to come hat in hand to a grant program. And, unlike the restaurant, there’s no guessing about the financial stakes: Compared with its profit, the grant is chump change. Worse, Comcast has more than $7 billion in cash lying around, and yet it acts like CEO Brian Roberts must sell apples on Arch Street to save up for a winter scarf.

The Inquirer calls into question a small, popular restaurant, yet it hardly mentions a behemoth that’s raked in billions over the years.

What’s wrong with this picture?

Rob Weiss, Mount Laurel

This is not meant to be a comment in support of Macklemore’s sentiments regarding Palestine, Gaza, and the West Bank. Whether you agree with Macklemore’s sentiments is not the point. The point is that powerful people like Robert Kraft shouldn’t try to silence a controversial view. People in power do not like their athletes and performers to have a voice, and their “shut up and play” response is bullying and insulting. But what they don’t understand is that, in the end, their bullying just amplifies the controversial sentiment. It has put someone like Ed Sheeran in a difficult position because he really just wants to play and avoid controversy, but maybe he should be in support of free speech. Just sayin’, Ed.

This smells of what happened to Colin Kaepernick. We just never learn.

Bill Maginnis, North Wales

We have reached a new low point in America. From the man who has sown doubt in the integrity of the American electoral process simply because he lost an election came an offer to pay voters if his party prevailed in the upcoming midterm elections. It cannot be explained away as a slip of the tongue or impassioned rhetoric, as the offer to pay each adult American $5,000 if his party prevailed in November was repeated on consecutive days. What greater assault on the integrity of the electoral process can there be than an offer to buy someone’s vote? Never mind that this partisan payment would come out of taxpayer dollars regardless of party affiliation, would add over $1 trillion to the national debt, and would require congressional approval. Where was the outrage about this assault on our democracy? It was muted at best on both sides of the aisle. Where has our sense of integrity and accountability gone?

Mary Ellen Nepps, East Norriton

If the policies and programs of the Trump administration and the Republican Party are so beneficial to the American public as a whole, why does the president have to offer an inducement for voters to reelect Republicans to continue with their efforts?

Susan Olson, Ambler

Democrats, independents, and Republicans who care about their country — not Donald Trump — need to pay attention to the upcoming election. While Kash Patel is threatening to send federal agents to polling places, Trump is working to swing the vote any way he can. He has offered $5,000 to everyone if the Republicans hold Congress. He told attendees at the Republican “Trumpalooza” to go out and vote whether or not they are registered and “to cheat like hell.” This is from the man who is screaming “voter fraud” at every opportunity. Everyone who loves this country and is a registered voter needs to go out on Nov. 3 and vote to stop the lunacy, corruption, and incompetence of the current administration and Congress.

Mary Ann Furin, Philadelphia

Peter Dobrin’s excellent article on the Academy of Natural Sciences claims that a closure won’t stop “its beating heart.” This may be wishful thinking promoted by those who would rather lose the Academy as it is known in the world and take unnecessary chances with priceless collections and scientists than miss out on — or stand in the way of — a real estate deal worth millions.

The reason for closing the museum, relocating the collections, and selling the building in Center City is cited as Drexel’s ongoing financial challenges. But how will selling the museum and longtime home to the Academy guarantee Drexel will be able to fund and will continue to allow the Academy to continue as it operates now, even if finances are not a question? How are relocations of the collections and safe storage for them being paid for? Is there any way to guarantee that critical Academy scientists will also make the move and not leave for other opportunities? Is there any guarantee that the public would still have access to the exhibits? Is there any guarantee Drexel will continue the same public programs? No. The only things that are guaranteed by closing the museum, farming out the exhibits, relocating collections, and giving complete control to another institution is that Center City would be stripped of one of its best-loved and most respected institutions.

The Academy, its Parkway headquarters, and the museum also have a distinction that is rare among Philadelphia’s many storied “firsts.” Unlike some “Philadelphia firsts,” the Academy of Natural Sciences is not just historical; it has maintained its “first” status among its peers on a national and even global scale. It doesn’t just maintain historical collections and exhibits; its scientists and its collections continue to contribute to scientific research and learning. As Dobrin notes, researchers from around the world come to Philadelphia to access the Academy of Natural Sciences.

The Academy was the first natural science museum; it was the first place to fully put together a complete dinosaur. It is housed in a building that itself is a century-old gem among gems on the Parkway. It has shared the wonders of science with children and adults for centuries.

The costs of displacing the Academy of Natural Sciences from its long home on the Ben Franklin Parkway go beyond the monetary costs of moving the collections to some unknown place. They go beyond the cost of losing the dinosaurs and other exhibits to some other city while depriving regional children and adults. It goes beyond potentially losing the people behind the collections.

It will cost the city of Philadelphia immeasurable harm by allowing it to happen. Other cities and states would do anything to keep this treasure from being disrupted and dislocated.

Philadelphia’s leaders — private and public — must rise to the occasion and save all of the Academy.

Lisa K. Hastings, Philadelphia

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