Letters to the Editor | Sept. 8, 2022

I just lost a very good friend — and Philadelphia has just lost a champion.

Patrick Gillespie, who passed Aug. 29, was, of course, the iconic business manager of the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council and an outspoken supporter of the local union construction workforce.

Prior to meeting Pat, I had already decided that I could never like him, never respect him, and never understand his philosophies with regard to job creation in our city.

Then in 1987, Pat and I both wound up serving as board members of the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau as it began to focus on expanding the city’s national share of convention-related business. Just as important was stepping up engagement with local entrepreneurs of color who had been shut out of meaningful opportunities in the hospitality industry for so many years.

Over time, we found ourselves sitting at the same tables, month in and month out, discussing how we could sustain opportunities for his constituents and union members while, at the same time, exploring how the city’s hospitality industry might compete more effectively with other destinations. Our plan was to “grow the pie” by attracting more conventions aimed at people of color — and it worked.

It all would have been substantially more difficult, if not impossible, to implement if Pat, himself, had not eventually become one of the effort’s most unexpected, visible, and staunch advocates.

I’m proud to say that Pat and I — two old Catholic school war horses — even managed to strike up a mutual respect and friendship through the process.

While I am not the most religious or spiritual person in the city, I can say with every confidence, and without fear of contradiction, that God only made one Pat Gillespie, and that Philadelphia will have an extremely difficult time in trying to replace all that he represented for our region. We certainly join his wonderful and no-less-outspoken wife, Arlene, his children, and other family members in mourning his passing. Pat left us all too soon. — A. Bruce Crawley, CEO, Millennium 3 Management Inc., and founder, Philadelphia African American Chamber of Commerce

Jonathan Zimmerman in his op-ed on Sept. 1 and President Joe Biden in his Independence Hall speech on Sept. 1 correctly argue that the real battle facing our nation is that between those Democrats, independents, and mainstream Republicans who remain committed to the institutions of our democracy vs. Donald Trump’s MAGA authoritarian movement that doesn’t.

That being the case, a Joe Biden-Liz Cheney ticket in 2024 representing the alliance of the pro-democracy forces is not a bad idea. Beyond being allies against authoritarian forces, liberals and conservatives need each other to maintain a healthy democracy. Liberals need conservatives to keep them grounded, and conservatives need liberals to keep them relevant. In collaboration, they can maintain a society that both adapts to change and holds its center. Put another way, the job of liberals in a society is to enlarge the circle to include more people. The role of conservatives is to secure the circle. These forces can attain equilibrium in a society when liberals receive assurances from conservatives that people have room to be themselves while conservatives are assured by liberals that the expansion sought will not tear the whole apart.

Our future lies in each side valuing rather than demonizing the other. A Biden-Cheney ticket would make that important statement. — Donald Kelly, Havertown

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Jonathan Zimmerman’s op-ed promoting Liz Cheney for Democratic vice presidential nominee is not only “out there” (his words), but a recipe for disaster. Cheney’s voting record represents everything mainstream Democrats despise, and would not only alienate the Democratic base but drive hordes of MAGA-hatted vengeance-seekers to the polls against a perceived “traitor” to their party. Even worse is the idea of a Harris-Cheney ticket, pairing a current VP — who dropped out of the 2020 primary when her polling was in the single digits and who, since her inauguration, has substantially disappeared from public life — with someone who (in Zimmerman’s words) “would surely anger progressives and people of color,” two crucial Democratic voting blocks. This sounds less like a serious proposal than a trial balloon floated by the regressive wing of the party, priming us to accept a tepid, neo-liberal ticket in 2023 because the “alternatives” are even worse. — Susan Saxe, Philadelphia

Increasing salaries for nursing home staff is long overdue. A living wage for essential workers is, well, essential. That said, in my years of working in social services with the elderly, and now hospital chaplaincy, I’ve never met anyone who wanted to spend their last years in a nursing home. Nursing homes are a necessity, but it’s time we fully fund those who want to age in place in their homes. Let’s stop forcing elders into institutions where too often autonomy, privacy, and dignity are severely compromised. Where would you prefer to live your latter years? Let’s create a system where those preferences are honored and supported. — Eva M. Abbott, Southampton

I commend The Inquirer for publishing Massarah Mikati’s balanced, rational article about the firing of Natalie Abulhawa by Agnes Irwin School (Aug. 23). Some of the tweets for which she was fired were made during her teenage years. Few of us, including me, would want to be defined for life by statements we made between the ages of 14 and 18. It would be good to see a similarly balanced, rational article about the Israeli military’s unprovoked August attacks on the offices of Palestinian human rights organizations. — Jenny Duskey, Lansdale

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