Letters to the Editor | May 5, 2023

SEPTA agrees that more needs to be done to combat the city’s gun violence, crime, and antisocial behavior that have spilled onto our system. However, Nathaniel Popkin’s op-ed ignores significant action SEPTA has taken to improve safety and security. SEPTA has been transparent about our challenges. Incidents such as the horrific shootings earlier this year reflect larger societal trends in which arguments escalate into shootings within seconds. Thanks to SEPTA and Philadelphia police, and our high-quality security video, suspects were immediately identified and arrested. Despite a looming fiscal cliff, we increased funding for safety and security by more than 50%. This includes the largest-ever salary increases for SEPTA Transit Police officers, helping us keep our talented law enforcement professionals. And next month, over 20 new SEPTA officers will begin patrolling the system — increasing the force by more than 10%. These new officers will bolster patrols on the Market-Frankford Line and other hot spots. As part of our effort to enhance our policing strategies, we regularly meet with peer transit agencies. To maximize SEPTA’s vast camera network, we recently hired retired police officers to staff a virtual patrol unit and began piloting cutting-edge gun detection technology. We remain committed to a holistic approach to homelessness, addiction, and mental health through our industry-leading SCOPE program. Together, these efforts helped reduce crime on SEPTA by 5% last year.

Leslie S. Richards, general manager and CEO, SEPTA

President Joe Biden should immediately grant clemency to Native American activist Leonard Peltier. The 78-year-old has been imprisoned for more than 46 years, some of which were spent in solitary confinement, serving two life sentences for murder. Peltier has always maintained his innocence, and Amnesty International has said there are serious concerns about the fairness of proceedings leading to his trial and conviction. Peltier’s attorney filed a new application for executive clemency in July 2021. The Biden administration should uphold its commitment to human rights and grant Peltier clemency on humanitarian grounds and as a matter of justice.

David Rendell, area coordinator for New Jersey, Amnesty International USA, Audubon

How come The Inquirer has a “Democratic Primary Voters Guide” but no guide for Republicans? The GOP has a contested City Council at-large primary, but readers have no way of knowing that since the newspaper refuses equal or even fair coverage. The Editorial Board also did not make an endorsement in the contested Republican at-large race, even though it weighed in on the Democratic race. Finally, by repeatedly saying that “Philly’s 100th mayor is likely to be a Democrat,” is that the justification for ignoring Republican mayoral candidate David Oh as an option in the “Which Philly mayoral candidate do you align with the most?” feature? Don’t blame low voter turnout in the fall on voter apathy. The editorial choice to ignore Philly Republicans is playing an active role in suppressing the vote. The Inquirer has no right to ever blame a single Republican for dismissing it as biased and unfair.

John Featherman, Philadelphia, john@featherman.com

As a father and a Christian, I implore voters who favor personal freedom and safe, healthy spaces in which our children can learn to reject censorship and hatred. As of July, Pennsylvania was tied with Tennessee for the third-most books banned, behind Texas and Florida. Unfortunately, many adults are influenced by hateful propaganda disseminated by groups that target our most vulnerable kids, particularly members of the LGBTQ community. In the U.S., suicide is the second leading cause of death among those aged 15 to 24. Things are worse for LGTBQ youth, who experience discrimination, harassment, and violence at significantly higher rates than their peers. They are twice as likely to have suicidal thoughts, three times as likely to make a plan, and twice as likely to make an attempt as others in their age group. However, research consistently shows that those in affirming spaces report lower rates of suicide attempts, and just one accepting adult in their life can reduce the risk by 40%. Innumerable youth have stated how access to stories different from their own has made them more empathetic. LGBTQ students have shared how empowering it is to read books about others like them. Some stories deal with harsh realities, but those harsh realities cannot be ignored. Allowing those stories to be shared, though, can quite literally save lives. If you support safe, healthy schools for all children, show it with your vote.

Mike Todd, Norristown

I read with interest the article on the Twitter “likes” by Mark Tykocinski, the president of Thomas Jefferson University and dean of its medical college. I am concerned about two things here. One is that The Inquirer tracked down his Twitter likes. Given an opportunity to respond, he gave, in my estimation, a satisfactory answer. My second concern is that the article is passively giving its assent to a cultural practice that I feel is abhorrent. And that’s the practice of gender reassignment surgery on children. Indeed, I agree that such a practice is child mutilation. Taking one’s own child, who is not of legal age to consent to any surgery, and allowing that child to have his or her sex organs removed and replaced is tantamount to child abuse.

Timothy Strapp, Philadelphia

Columnist Trudy Rubin’s description of this year’s joint Israeli-Palestinian Memorial Day ceremony and its history illustrates the importance of meeting “the other,” listening to “the other,” and allowing the spirit of empathy to humanize each other. Twice, in the last five years, we traveled to Israel/Palestine to learn about the work of the Combatants for Peace, one of the cosponsors of the joint memorial, along with the Parents Circle-Families Forum. We had learned about the group, former Israeli and Palestinian fighters now committed to nonviolence, from an award-winning documentary, Disturbing the Peace. In the fall of 2018, we joined about two dozen people on the Combatants for Peace’s first sponsored trip. So inspired were we by their personal stories of transformation, and their joint actions on the ground — blocking home demolitions, building playgrounds in the Jordan Valley, and supporting besieged Palestinians in their olive harvests — that we helped start a Philadelphia chapter of American Friends of Combatants for Peace. Our numbers grew, and this past October, 20 of us, mostly interfaith Philly people, made the journey to be with the group and learn from them. As Rubin writes that the joint memorial made it “possible to imagine a future in which more Israelis and Palestinians saw each other as individuals,” we experienced that coming together in action, a model for a future based on peace and justice.

Rabbi Sheila Weinberg and Maynard Seider, Philadelphia

On April 10, my organization, Esperanza, along with Impacto Media, Univision 65, and Ceiba’s Latino Equitable Development Collective, held the first Latino mayoral forum in Philadelphia. Unfortunately, most of the candidates fumbled an opportunity to address the specific needs of a community that is now at least 16% of this city’s population. They failed to go beyond the generalities we’ve heard time and again during this election season on issues our community needs answers to now. A priority concern for us is the lack of affordable housing for the working class, and tax policies that favor wealthier, new residents and lead to displacement. Talk of Philadelphia becoming a 21st-century city invokes a New York City and Washington, D.C., model, which pushed out Black, Latino, and immigrant communities. These cities point to a decrease in poverty, which we suspect isn’t so much the result of addressing poverty at the root but rather the consequence of policies that have allowed entire neighborhoods to be displaced. Philadelphia cannot become a displacement city.

It is time to speak about violence and safety in terms of structural disinvestment in our communities. This is the violence our leaders must atone for in policy, administration, and budgets. We need a mayor who will fight for a comprehensive affordable housing strategy that goes beyond Band-Aid policies and talking points to offer a pathway to housing for all: housing for residents on fixed incomes, for low-income households, for young renters, and for working families. We need a mayor who will make Philadelphia an example of how a city can grow for all its residents. Hispanic communities face many challenges. We need leadership that can address them with respect and specificity.

The Rev. Luis Cortés Jr., founder and CEO, Esperanza

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