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Opinion

Letter: No picnic for projects

ISSUE | PUBLIC HOUSING This wasn't a picnic The Blumberg implosion certainly brought about mixed emotions ("Blumberg towers come tumbling down, raising memories of horror and home," Sunday). I gasped at the utter irony of two worlds on display: the huddled former inhabitants of the housing project standing in a desolate parking lot wrapped in blankets, and the cheery Philadelphia Housing Authority celebration, complete with a heated tent and refreshments.

The Norman Blumberg Apartments - one of the city's most notorious housing projects - came tumbling down Saturday morning.
The Norman Blumberg Apartments - one of the city's most notorious housing projects - came tumbling down Saturday morning.Read moreAUBREY WHELAN / Staff
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ISSUE | PUBLIC HOUSING

This wasn't a picnic

The Blumberg implosion certainly brought about mixed emotions ("Blumberg towers come tumbling down, raising memories of horror and home," Sunday). I gasped at the utter irony of two worlds on display: the huddled former inhabitants of the housing project standing in a desolate parking lot wrapped in blankets, and the cheery Philadelphia Housing Authority celebration, complete with a heated tent and refreshments.

PHA still doesn't get it: These are the people they serve. How hard would it have been to offer everyone coffee and snacks? Did they really need a tent? And couldn't local officials have addressed all those in attendance rather than a select class of those who never set foot in such a dangerous, dreary, and depressing place as Blumberg.

So thank you, PHA, for finally demolishing a relic of failed government housing policy. But shame on you for failing to realize that this was not a celebration for those openly weeping in that cold dawn as they watched their old home, flawed but beloved, turn to dust.

|Theodore Lewis, Philadelphia