Letters: No slots casinos in Upper Merion, please

Re "U. Merion likes plan for a new slots parlor," May 21:

Residents did not show up to oppose the license request because we did not know about the hearing. We knew that the proposal was out there, but the hearing was not made widely known to the residents of Upper Merion.

The strong consensus among the populace is that we want no part of the slot machines. Why would we want that influence and the accompanying vices brought to our area? Look at the curse the casinos have been on Atlantic City.

Our township supervisors have again failed us, as they did when they blocked Target from coming in several years ago, denying us a store where normal people can afford to shop. So what if slots would bring in $1.4 million in tax revenue and 150 mediocre permanent jobs? Both are very small considerations compared with what is already in the area, and nowhere near the negatives that would occur.

Look at the economy already in King of Prussia, with the mall and Lockheed-Martin. And look at the mini-city being built near the mall. The traffic, already difficult, will be overwhelming when that is completed. We don't need anything the slots have to "offer," and don't need the trouble that comes with them.

John Felser

King of Prussia

Gov. Rendell said leasing the Pennsylvania Turnpike to a Spanish toll-road operator would generate about $1.1 billion per year for transportation needs. This 12 percent projection is based on the average earnings of the last 20 years. But those years included the stock market boom of the 1990s, the longest bull market in history. This projection may be too optimistic.

Rendell's new nickname should be "Optimistic Ed." Along with the turnpike deal, his earnings projections for the casino and Convention Center projects have been called - in addition to optimistic - distorted and outright false.

Rendell always appears to create short-term fixes that bolster his resume as governor. He has a pattern of aggressively ignoring the long-term concerns of his economic-stimulus programs, thereby putting the fiscal future of the commonwealth at risk.

Robert Sola

Philadelphia

I think Mayor Nutter's ticket policy for the Mayor's Box is fair and equitable for city employees and City Council members ("Nutter: No more suite ticket deals," May 21).

What bothers me is that the 53 seats were not used by anyone from April 4 to May 7. To this, I would like to offer some suggestions to Clay Armbrister, the mayor's chief of staff, who approves ticket requests:

Give some tickets to the schools so teachers can use them to reward deserving students.

Give them to those who have done a good job cleaning up their neighborhoods as a result of the mayor's cleanup campaign.

How about giving tickets to the homeless and providing them with transportation to the events? When was the last time they went to the circus or saw a ball game? Maybe Mayor Nutter could throw in some free hot dogs, too.

Lynda Mintz

Bensalem

» READ MORE: lgm399@comcast.net

Instead of selling the Pennsylvania Turnpike to extract money to maintain Pennsylvania's transportation infrastructure and letting the new owners raise the tolls, why not just raise the tolls and leave the turnpike as a valuable state property?

Better yet, the state could get the needed money from all people who travel and move goods by taxing transportation fuels used in all modes of travel. That would put pressure on all who provide transportation services, including air, rail, road, water and pipeline, to increase their efficiency.

Ernest B. and Elaine H. Cohen

Upper Darby

» READ MORE: ernest.cohen@ieee.org