Letters to the Editor
The article "Community gardens are dealt a setback" (Thursday) is misleading. Councilman Curtis Jones Jr.'s ordinance protecting Manatawna Farm was unanimously passed by City Council's rules committee. The article suggests that because "some neighbors" opposed a commercial farming plan by the city, community gardens in general lost. Not true.
Farm protected; community heard
The article "Community gardens are dealt a setback" (Thursday) is misleading. Councilman Curtis Jones Jr.'s ordinance protecting Manatawna Farm was unanimously passed by City Council's rules committee. The article suggests that because "some neighbors" opposed a commercial farming plan by the city, community gardens in general lost. Not true.
First, "some neighbors" are actually thousands, including all the area civic organizations, the Philadelphia 4-H and Future Farmers of America, and the W.B. Saul School for Agricultural Sciences.
Second, there are more than 450 thriving organic community gardens already on the farm. Many of the gardeners favor this ordinance.
We urgently need food, gardens, wildlife, and livestock. That all that is happening right now on one parcel of land is extraordinary. But more would topple it all.
The real story is that a sustainable food system for Saul School's 550 students is secured; a historic farm and wildlife corridor are protected; and a community is heard.
Kris Soffa
Ellen Tichenor
Friends of Manatawna Farm
Philadelphia
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Political parties need competition
We allow ourselves to be governed not by representatives of the people, but rather by members of the Republican and Democratic Parties. If the elected representatives of these organizations worked together for the good of the nation, it might be an OK arrangement. Sadly, that is not the case.
Instead we have two organizations whose main objective is to hold power. Meanwhile, the country suffers. What is needed is some competition, but those who live to rule have done a great job of placing barriers in the way of newcomers who may threaten their control.
We need people from the center who speak to the issues of the majority and cut out the politics. At the very least, some competition for the main political parties could push them to rethink their behavior.
John Moore
New Britain
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Give to Haiti, not Pakistan
Is there any reason why we should send $2 billion worth of arms to
Pakistan
("Pakistan resists U.S. push on terror fight," Monday)? I'm outraged. We don't even know where Osama bin Laden is. Shipping arms to anywhere in that part of the world is a nightmare waiting to happen. I'm for letting the tribes fight it out
without us
. Haiti is far more deserving of $2 billion and it would be more appreciated.
Betty Bohlen
Haverford
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Make Philadelphia more accessible
Kudos to Dan Rubin for his column discussing Eleanor Smith's visit to the recent Design Collaborative Conference in Philadelphia, attended by hundreds of architects (Monday). Smith's pioneering work has been instrumental in making residential properties "visitable" - barrier-free - to those who use wheelchairs.
Sadly, Philadelphia is not among the many cities that require all newly constructed housing to be visitable. This is why Liberty Resources Inc. and numerous other community groups strongly support the ordinance of Council members Curtis Jones and Jannie Blackwell requiring that newly constructed homes in Philadelphia have a no-step entrance and a barrier-free first floor, including a bathroom.
Given Philadelphia's large number of elderly and people with disabilities, visitability makes sense and the time to require it is now.
Thomas H. Earle
CEO
Liberty Resources Inc.
Philadelphia
thomasearle@libertyresources.org
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Medical-data story a reason to subscribe
"Until The Inquirer asked for information, the company had not disclosed the data breach to affected members . . ." ("Medical-data breach said to be major," Thursday).
That sentence in Jane M. Von Bergen's article demonstrates one of the main reasons I subscribe to The Inquirer: You pursue stories and hold parties accountable for their actions or lack of responsible follow-through. In this instance, of course, it's the Keystone Mercy and AmeriHealth Mercy companies' loss of private information on 280,000 of its members. The companies' casual treatment of this affair calls for a lot of firings because of the lack of responsible safeguards.
There are other outstanding examples of recent Inquirer exposés: the Family Court building debacle; the Sheriff's Office overtime; the city's infamous DROP program; and Carl Greene and the sorry board of the Philadelphia Housing Authority. Keep investigating and re-investigating the many cases demanding it. Otherwise things will surely die down after the first outcry subsides. If that happens there is very little chance of reform.
Roseann Kelly
Philadelphia
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Conservative self-righteousness
The demand of Virginia Thomas, the wife of a Supreme Court justice, that Anita Hill abandon her difficult stand in reporting sexual harassment by Clarence Thomas is quite the opposite of what it means to "extend an olive branch" ("Justice's wife in the spotlight," Thursday). Instead, it shows the kind of terminal self-righteousness so prevalent among today's conservatives. The phrase "Sometimes wrong but never in doubt" comes to mind.
Kurt Jaworski
West Chester