Letters to the Editor | Dec. 14, 2022

Thank you to Kristen A. Graham for giving voice to Philadelphia’s public school teachers about classroom discipline (“Safety issues go far beyond Dobbins,” Dec. 12).

I volunteer with the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Advancing Civics Education program. A lawyer and I have the privilege of teaching civics to a ninth-grade class at a high school in the city. The students are absolutely awesome except for two who are very disruptive. While I or the teacher are talking, they stand, walk around, and defy requests to settle down. Class is on hold because the teacher cannot order the disrupters to leave. The others bring out their cell phones and wait.

The School District’s policy is correct — save every single student and give a good learning environment for all. But as Ms. Graham reports, many School District teachers are frustrated because the resources are not there to do both. They are right — the superintendent should lobby for the money to make in-house consequences a Philadelphia option.

Hon. Ramy Djerassi, Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas

The article “Most Philly-area health systems continue to lose money” (Dec. 12) was a sobering description of the health-care industry in our region. If this trend continues, access, quality, and perhaps even safety will deteriorate over time. Contrast that with a report on Aug. 12 of this year, also in The Inquirer, detailing the 13% revenue climb of Independence Blue Cross to nearly $25 billion, with a net income increase of 31% to $816 million compared with 2020.

The stark mismatch in profits and losses between payers and providers is screaming to be rebalanced, such that both entities can become fiscally sound, while at the same time working together collaboratively to both underwrite and deliver essential health-care services to the residents of our region. Until that time, hospitals will continue to struggle, and we will all follow along with them.

Harvey Guttmann, chief emeritus, division of gastroenterology, AbingtonJefferson Hospital

Right now, more than 1.7 million Pennsylvanians, including one in four Black Pennsylvanians, should be receiving President Joe Biden’s historic student debt relief — but because of obstruction and opposition from conservative judges and Republicans in Congress, that isn’t happening.

Instead, Pennsylvanians are left waiting for the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on the president’s plan. The Biden-Harris administration is confident that the court will rule in its favor, and it’s making sure no one will have to make payments on their loans until that happens.

Voters, including Pennsylvanians, have been clear about their support for student debt relief. Sixty-five percent of young Americans, 89% of Black Americans, and 72% of Latinos support President Biden’s actions.

President Biden’s student relief plan will help Pennsylvanians immensely. Republicans in Congress and conservative judges oppose it. That tells you all you need to know.

Malcolm Kenyatta, state representative, 181st District, Philadelphia

Former Chinese Communist Party head Jiang Zemin’s most horrific legacy is ordering a genocide campaign in July 1999 to eradicate Falun Gong, a traditional Buddhist-based practice that espouses truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. Between 70 million to 100 million people have been assaulted, imprisoned, tortured, and even killed through forced organ harvesting in the past 23 years. I am one of the victims. I was arrested in December 2000 while studying at Tsinghua University (also called China’s MIT) in Beijing as a doctoral student and jailed in prison for the next five years simply because I practice Falun Gong. I was subjected to 16-hour-a-day slave labor and tortured with high-voltage electric shock batons, sleepdeprived for 30 straight days, and forced to squat for three whole days. I almost mentally collapsed. Jiang’s death brings some hope for the people in China to follow their conscience and stop participating in this vicious annihilation campaign.

Kui Huang, Wynnewood

Michael Doweary, the receiver for the city of Chester, says the city must draw revenue from the Chester Water Authority. Any attempt to monetize CWA will mean higher water prices for CWA customers. The most extreme case would be the sale of CWA to Aqua Pennsylvania. If allowed, CWA customers alone will pay the $400 million bill to bail out the city. Over 80% of CWA’s customers do not live in the city of Chester, yet they will see their water bills double. Most Chester residents will be unable to afford the inflated water bills. Why should a small fraction of the state’s residents pay the price for decades of mismanagement? Chester’s problem should be handled at the state level. Pennsylvania currently has a budget excess of $8 billion. It can easily bail out the city and play an active role in restructuring its finances to assure a stable future.

Peter Mrozinski, Landenberg

Kyle Sammin’s column (Dec. 12) mischaracterizes union members’ relationship with their unions and the political forces at work within the Democratic Party over the past 50-plus years. Most union members are not progressive Democrats. Members of the rail unions he cites tend to be conservatives, who are unlikely to equate unions with the Democrats. Other trades are conservative as well. I should know; my father was a lifetime member of the tile layers union in Philadelphia.

Democrats have abandoned unions since the Carter administration, and unions withered and collective action died. Unions became irrelevant. President Joe Biden is changing that on two important fronts: He appointed Jennifer Abruzzo as general counsel to the National Labor Relations Board, and he appointed a string of Sen. Elizabeth Warren acolytes to positions in the administration dealing with the implementation of antitrust laws. These appointments are good for labor and good for unions.

Maron Fenico, Philadelphia

This paper published “Future of TV news might be free streaming” on Nov. 13 and is now offering only a one-sentence explanation about the sudden absence of the TV guide a week after its departure. This is a disservice to those of us without the bandwidth to stream or check listings online and an abdication of the paper’s responsibility to provide a historical record of the changing broadcast lineup. Despite the earlier article’s age-focused rationalizations, I’m in my 30s and technologically literate. I’m not “leaving this mortal coil,” I’m being abandoned. A course correction to the direction of public service would entail not only a return of the guide but a report on which major newspapers still print it and their plans to continue to do so or not.

Elliot Sadlon, North Wales

While Christmas shopping on Amazon, I discovered Aftermath: A Memoir by Anthony S. Giarratano. Recognizing the author from years ago when I knew the family, I bought the book. In 2006, Anthony was being treated for acute promyelocytic leukemia at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Fast-forward to 2011, Anthony developed an opioid addiction while trying to treat the pain of his leukemia, and got himself into trouble by holding up a Walgreens because he was desperate for more opioids.

The book’s message? Prison is a harrowing place. Far worse than anyone could ever imagine. Through sheer will, focus, and the power of parental love, he survived, coming out the other side to new life and a wholly unexpected pardon from New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

The broader message? There but for the grace of God go I — in reality, really any one of us. May God bless Anthony and his family this Christmas and all those suffering the heartbreak of incarceration.

Alicia B. Grimaldi, Lawrenceville, Pa.

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