Letters to the Editor | Dec. 28, 2022

I am one of the roughly seven million immunosuppressed people in this country. Outdoor eateries during the pandemic made it possible for me to stay connected to friends. To be able to eat outside, stay unmasked, and chat is a gift. By making it difficult for restaurants to retain their outdoor dining areas, the city is isolating me and others who remain vulnerable to COVID-19, the flu, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). I know it is difficult to imagine what it’s like for us to constantly weigh the risk/benefit ratio of anything we do because the threat is not one you can see or touch. It requires imagination and empathy to understand life as an immunosuppressed person. Please, ask the city to allow eateries to remain open and profitable by eliminating draconian regulations.

Sandra Dean, Philadelphia

Recently, the Taliban decreed that women are now banned from attending universities in Afghanistan. I would ask the Taliban if it has read the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad. Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) has said, “Seeking knowledge is a duty upon every Muslim” (Sunan Ibn Mājah 224). This includes every man, woman, and child. How can a person seek knowledge without access to education? It’s the reason that the first university was founded by Fatima bint Muhammad al-Fihriya al-Qurashiya in 859 CE in Fez, which is now Morocco. That’s right, the first university in the world was founded by a Muslim woman. Wait until the Taliban finds out about that.

Madeel Abdullah, Garnet Valley

Our former president has started selling $99 digital trading cards where he is portrayed as a superhero, a sheriff, and an astronaut. Perhaps he could put his picture on a baseball card. On the back, his stats could show how many lies he’s told, which wouldn’t leave much room for anything else. It could also show the number of impeachments, lawsuits, bankruptcies, insurrections, elections that he won and lost, donation scams, and, most recently, criminal referrals to the Justice Department. They might not sell, but people need to remember what he did in his rookie season.

Phyllis Ponisciak, Willingboro

The Union League is “a vestige of another era,” indeed. An era of racial, religious, and gender bias writ very, very large. Once, a potential employer invited me to the Union League for an interview. We met in the only room that allowed women. I took a pen and a list of questions. Someone approached and said that writing was not permitted. What? I was applying for a job as a writer! Decades later, a guard denied me entry to a professional meeting because I was wearing jeans. I was not. I was wearing a denim skirt. A Ralph Lauren denim skirt. (I chose not to mention that I bought it at Marshalls.) The Union League is a relic of a time we should all forget. I live nearby and often tell gawking, picture-taking tourists about this forgettable monstrosity. Instead of adding a $25 million rooftop restaurant, maybe it could become a homeless shelter.

Susie Perloff, Philadelphia

Our Declaration of Independence is about 1,300 words long. Our U.S. Constitution, including all amendments, is roughly 7,600 words. These documents were read thoroughly prior to signing and have sustained American freedom and democracy for centuries. The fact that our current Congress requires a 4,155-page bill to fund the U.S. government through September is concerning, particularly as the elected officials who voted for it likely did not read the entire document.

Fred Walker, Wyndmoor

The state gas tax will increase next year to 61.1 cents per gallon, up from 57.6 cents. We already have the highest gas tax in the country. The federal $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill allocated $110 billion for road and bridge repair. Additionally, Pennsylvania Turnpike tolls go up 5% on Jan. 8 — it’s already the most expensive U.S. toll road. All of these measures take more dollars out of our pockets. I am all for safe roads and bridges, which have often been neglected in the past, but it appears both the federal and state legislative endgame is to raise taxes. Who is going to coordinate these federal and state taxes to ensure efficient investment delivering improved roads and bridges? The Department of Transportation? Doubtful. Here’s hoping Josh Shapiro ensures our tax dollars are put to good use.

Scott A. Smith, Ivyland

When someone worth $10 billion pays little, if anything, in federal taxes, some may chuckle and say, “Good for them,” but the shortfall has to be made up by people like you and me. And that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Tax laws created by powerful lobbyists legalized these cheating schemes that benefit a privileged few. Congress will not correct these laws because they are beholden to those powerful interests; they fund their campaigns and keep them in office.

The issue is not “tax the rich,” a typically misphrased Democratic slogan, but “tax fairly.” I don’t like paying taxes, but I would mind it less if everyone paid their fair share.

Jim Kempner, Holland

In the recent article about a rise in hit-and-run fatalities, the whole point was missed. These are crimes, which have nothing to do with traffic safety. Anyone who is involved in a hit-andrun incident committed a crime, and the police need to investigate. Sadly, anti-car activists are using these incidents to seek more failed policies, such as Vision Zero and automated traffic enforcement. The perpetrators were obviously not deterred by the many ticket cameras Philadelphia has now, nor are they worried about the multitude of surveillance cameras. Why not set 85th percentile speed limits, make yellow lights longer, have fewer stop signs, and repeal automated traffic enforcement in the city? Real information and data will set you free.

James Sikorski Jr., Pennsylvania advocate for the National Motorists Association, Wapwallopen, Pa.

The governor of Texas has repeatedly sent buses of immigrants to Philadelphia, New York, and other cities, as a way to appeal to his base. But his most recent stunt involved sending more than 100 people to Washington, D.C., and dropping them off in 15-degree weather with no warm clothing. If not for caring volunteers, those people could die. Does that really impress anyone? Whatever moral character Gov. Greg Abbott had, it has been lost through such cruel and inhumane actions. These are innocent people being victimized.

Barry Adams, Malvern

A question for the 76ers’ owners and city government: Do you consider the destruction of Chinatown an acceptable price to pay to build the Sixers arena in Center City? When we tell Sixers representatives of our fears that basketball patrons will take all of our parking spaces and snarl traffic, thus depriving our restaurants of business, they just smile indulgently and tell us their studies show that Chinatown will be fine. “Just trust us.” When we point out that the building of the basketball arena in Washington, D.C., did, in fact, destroy its Chinatown, they tell us that D.C. is different. So far, the 76ers won’t even entertain the idea that our fears may be reasonable. So far, there has been no meaningful dialogue. I believe the Sixers and the city see Chinatown as a tolerable sacrifice to build the arena. Chinatown is united. We all know the arena will destroy our businesses and eventually our residential community. We intend to fight for our community’s survival. We have fought before and we have always won. We don’t intend to lose Chinatown this time, either.

Father Thomas Betz, OFM cap pastor, Holy Redeemer Chinese Catholic Church and School, Philadelphia

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