Letters to the Editor | Aug. 23, 2023

Donald Trump always talks a good game, portraying himself as a tough guy, but he is not sufficiently brave to be willing to participate in a debate Wednesday with his primary election opponents for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Instead, he will submit to what is certain to be a softball interview with disgraced former Fox News host Tucker Carlson. I will choose to look on the bright side. Those who participate in the debate are unlikely to make a farce of the evening as Trump has always done. The chances of legitimate issues being discussed are greater, and the likelihood of rampant incivility and disruption are greatly diminished by virtue of his absence.

Oren Spiegler, Peters Township

I was 13 years old in 1964 when manager Gene Mauch and his first-place Phillies lost 10 consecutive late-season games and all prospects for the pennant. That awful harbinger, rivaled only in baseball by the Curse of the Bambino, is the origin story of the angry Philly sports fan. For years afterward, local kids who didn’t know Johnny Callison from John Facenda learned from their elders that hope breaks hearts more often than it springs eternal. Even Santa Claus is vulnerable to snowball attacks when you never find the special gift you really wanted under the Christmas tree. In his recent op-ed, Angelo Cataldi mentions his forthcoming book about Philly sports fans several times. I hope it is as big a success as his annual Wing Bowl events. Obviously, the man understands his audience.

Anthony Nannetti, Philadelphia, giacomo747@aol.com

If Pat Bagley’s Aug. 18 editorial cartoon wants to ridicule conservative viewpoints in education, it is sadly ironic for him to focus on the name of Arabic numerals. In mocking the use of Roman numerals as substitutes, he misses the denigration of Roman numerals in our own educational system. Not required by the state standards in Pennsylvania for students, our children miss the important role those numerals have played in history, architecture, and even in our own modern culture. Which Super Bowl is coming up soon, LVII? Or LVIII? One should not have to study Latin to learn Roman numerals.

Susan Dyshel Sommovilla, Elkins Park, sommo@comcast.net

One problem with interviewing out-of-town professors about Philadelphia’s real estate market is that it’s hard to give credence to proponents of doom who show scant evidence of having been here. They claim Philadelphia lags in buildings that are candidates for conversion. A short walk around Center City would explain why: Since 1998, we have transformed more than 40 major towers, almost 10 million square feet, into housing. That’s just downtown. Throughout neighborhoods, scores of factories and lofts are now apartments.

Philadelphia is a national leader with an as of right — abatement for conversion of older buildings — available citywide. Most cities target incentives only to limited areas. Our second, unique advantage: flexible zoning for the high-density downtown. Many cities are still imprisoned by silo-like codes that prohibit housing and hotels to coexist with offices without variances. By contrast, we have one of the most mixed-use and thriving downtowns in North America.

Paul R. Levy, president and CEO, Center City District, plevy@centercityphila.org

Through the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, former Democratic Gov. Bob Casey Sr.’s lasting legacy is that we are a state where every life matters. Yet many Pennsylvanians are still voting like it’s 1991, oblivious to the fact that the Democratic Party has left Casey and the unborn behind. Today, Gov. Josh Shapiro plans to strip the funding from Pennsylvania’s crisis pregnancy centers, which help countless women to keep and care for their babies every year.

Pennsylvanians have a history of proving there is no conflict between empowering women and caring for the unborn. It is not empowerment of women to abandon their offspring like many men do. It is not empowerment to abandon women who would keep their babies if they had the resources to. But now we are abandoning these women. Pennsylvanians still see the value of every human life: destitute women and their vulnerable unborn children. Abortion is not a valid solution to poverty. I urge every Democrat of conscience to let your state legislator know: Taking the funding from crisis pregnancy homes will not be tolerated.

Dorina Amendola, Waverly

With its recent opinion on the reversal of the sale of the East Whiteland sewer system, The Inquirer Editorial Board once again demonstrates how little it understands the highly nuanced and complicated issues surrounding the water industry, and instead continues its uninformed vendetta against rate-regulated water utilities. The Editorial Board suggests that local officials who are elected by their constituents should not be trusted when they decide that partnering with a professional water company is in the best interest of their communities. But yet, these same elected officials should be trusted to run a highly complex and capital-intensive water system? Readers deserve more than this simplistic narrative of “for-profit companies are bad, municipal governments are good.” I encourage readers and our communities to give more weight to their trusted, local elected officials than the people behind the keyboards on The Inquirer Editorial Board.

Robert F. Powelson, president and CEO, National Association of Water Companies

The recent article concerning the costs of doing business in Kensington demonstrates the difficulties that hardworking people who are putting forth the effort regularly must face. There is a huge correlation between this and the tolerated open-air drug markets. If we want things to change in these areas, the lack of accountability for open-air drug dealings needs to stop. The reason there are so many drug users in the area is due to a cheap and regularly available supply. If these dealers set up in every corner of Rittenhouse Square, would the police just pass them by as well? In Kensington, calls to the police result in, at most, cops telling the dealers to take a walk. Within minutes after the cops leave, they come back. Why? Because there is no accountability and no respect for the police or the people who live in the area. The response from Councilmember Quetcy Lozada’s office is to keep calling the police. Great!

There is a plethora of information in the press and the community regarding help for the homeless, help for addiction, and support services for such. I agree, but where is the help and respect for the people who live and do business in these areas? The people who pay rent, the people who create jobs, the people who pay mortgages, the people who pay city taxes, the people who must walk their children to school past illicit activities. Where is the help and respect for them? The city is basically saying to them that we value the drug dealers more. Our city deserves better. We need real action now. Shut down the drug markets.

T. McTaggart, Philadelphia, ttutone12@gmail.com

Larry Miller’s recent op-ed (“How do I feel about reparations as a Black man? It’s complicated.”) adeptly expressed why discussions addressing reparations due to the injustices of slavery usually wind up going nowhere and entrenching opposite points of view. Until the U.S. engages in a process of truth and reconciliation — as modeled by South Africa, and more recently in Canada — and honestly acknowledges its history, there will be no possible resolution of this issue. Miller’s poignant recommendation for a shift from dollars to opportunities, both in education and employment, might then fall naturally into place as a just and fitting measure allowing the country finally to move on.

Joan McCarney, Warminster

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