Letters to the Editor | July 30, 2023

I’m so glad the Republican-led House has the courage to tackle the pressing issues of the day, such as, “Is the government covering up information about UFOs?” Once they blow the lid off that, maybe they can hold hearings on Big Foot and if JFK and Elvis are still alive. Who knows, once they take on all the big issues, maybe they will even have time to work on things like immigration reform, the fentanyl crisis, and gun violence. Nah, too far-fetched.

Stefan Keller, Huntingdon Valley

While the North American EV charging network is a strong and necessary step toward wide adoption of electric vehicles in this country, it is important to remember that EVs are not the be-all and end-all. EVs solve neither the traffic nor safety problems of conventional cars, and maintaining our asphalt roadways takes a huge chunk of the nation’s budget. A true transportation revolution would be EVs combined with public transport systems like rail, but Amtrak currently receives only about $2 billion in annual funding. It would be great to see more “multi billion dollar investment” into train infrastructure as well.

Ethan Frank, Merion Station

The recent passing of singer Tony Bennett had a special significance to those of us who served in Vietnam. His song “l Left My Heart in San Francisco” served as a theme of sorts for the time. San Francisco was the last city most of us saw on our way to Vietnam via Travis Air Force Base, the transshipment point. It was also the city we looked forward to seeing (with any luck), once our tour was over. His songs will always have a special meaning for many of us.

Joseph J. O’Neill, Dublin

Thank you for publishing Jasmine Schley’s heartfelt defense of living in Philadelphia. I have great admiration for her courageous resolve. She sees past the negativity and problems to find a deep vein of value and connection in city life. Philadelphia is made up of many neighborhoods, each one offering a different mix of difficulties and rewards. I can only speak to 20 years of living in Mount Airy and more recently Center City, but the overall experience has been very positive for my wife and me. We, too, have had to learn to deal with urban problems. They include, especially in Center City, less than ideal cleanliness, outrageous noise assaults from motorcycles and muscle cars, and a population of unhoused people, many of whom are obviously mentally ill (although almost never threatening). But for us, the benefits of living here far outweigh the problems. Those benefits are many, but at the top of the list are history, architecture, great walkability, the community in our building, restaurants, and fantastic cultural institutions. Cities are perhaps humanity’s greatest invention. Over the course of several millennia, countless millions of people have found the benefits of city life are worth the problems and risks.

Alan Windle, Philadelphia

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