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Where is the
Frankford pride?
Regarding the editorial about Frankford (Frankford is fed up, March 11 edition):
Frankford needs to fix their own problems and not rely on the city to bail them out of the mess that Frankford refuses to deal with.
Instead of dealing with the drugs and the vacant lots, the homeowners choose to deal with the “nuisance bars” and government inaction.
Frankford residents and their civic association choose to deal with the easy issues, the issues that require nothing more than a phone call or a letter, and complain that the city needs to fix everything else for them.
The parents of the Frankford section need to show their children that Frankford is their neighborhood, and they need to take the steps needed to clean up what was once a nice area (shopping, transportation and parks) for their future. Parents need to show, by example, that they are doing all they can to restore their neighborhood, and take pride in something they call their own.
These neighborhoods are not going to become great in one day. It’s going to take more years than you have to give to fix the area, and your children are the key to that success.
But then again, we can all just complain about having to work two jobs, complain that we have no time for our children, and expect the city to solve the problems for us, because that is the easy way out.
Brian Maddonni
Castor Gardens
The speaker is
speaking out
This letter is response to your March 11 editorial regarding the timing of the March 9 special election for the 152nd Legislative District seat vacant since the New Year’s Day death of Rep. Roy Cornell.
Our country was founded on the principle of government representation for all taxpaying individuals.
Prior to the official swearing-in of Rep.-elect Sue Cornell on Tuesday, March 23, the people of the 152nd district (which includes Horsham, Lower Moreland, Upper Dublin and Moreland Townships, as well as four divisions in the 58th Ward) had been without state government representation for nearly three months, and as speaker of the House, it is my duty to ensure these taxpayers have the representation they are guaranteed under state law.
In the weeks prior to the April 27 primary, the House of Representatives is set to address key issues such as property tax relief, gaming and economic growth, and the people of the 152nd Legislative District deserve to have their voice in Harrisburg on these and other critical issues.
John M. Perzel
Speaker, Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Career politicians
waste tax money
Every day on Northeast cable TV there are campaign ads from state Reps. George Kenney, Mark Cohen, and John Perzel.
They are on TV all the time, airing numerous times per day. I was very angered when I learned that these ads are actually being paid for with OUR taxpayer dollars.
Career politicians like George Kenney and Mark Cohen are getting away with it because they are classifying the ads as “constituent communication.”
These television commercials are nothing more than thinly veiled re-election ads, paid for with our hard-earned money.
Do Kenney and crowd really need to pay for commercials to let us know they are our state reps? They have all been in office for at least 20 years!
Furthermore, these career politicians just voted to raise our taxes by 10 percent, but then they have enough money to pay for all of these commercials? This is what happens when you’ve been in Harrisburg for too long.
Nicole Denofa
Rhawnhurst
Put SEPTA back on track
I agree 100 percent with last week’s editorial regarding SEPTA.
Why should the employees not pay a portion of their health benefits?
The rest of us do on our jobs, and it increases every year.
We don’t like it, but there’s nothing we could do. These guys let the taxpayers foot the bill while they laugh all the way to the bank.
I wish the state would take over SEPTA, fire some of these overpaid freeloaders, get rid of the unions and finally get SEPTA back on track instead of these constant fare hikes and greedy unions not caring about the riders but about their pockets.
Vadim “Bill” Preysman
Warminster, Pa.
Lookin’ good at Jardel
Jardel Recreation Center has a new basketball floor after 50 years and 1,000 knee surgeries later.
There have been significant changes to the recreation center with more to come, and they are welcome improvements that are beneficial to the community, the children and adults who use the facility, and the recreation staff workers.
It’s worth a visit to the center to see the enhancements, and a special acknowledgment and thanks to Councilman Brian O’Neill for his efforts and leadership on behalf of our community in spearheading the improvements at Jardel.
Michael E. Hartey
Burholme Civic Association and Town Watch
PGW has the people
all hot and bothered
It is extremely frustrating for middle-class taxpaying citizens to try and remain in this city with one insult after another from our government. The latest offense is PGW’s current idea to surcharge people who pay their bills for those who refuse to pay but still scam the system and continue to receive gas service.
Have you noticed that PECO and the Water Department do not seem to have the same problems that PGW has? Perhaps it is because those utilities routinely shut people off for non-payment, and do not allow ridiculously long payment plans and multiple broken payment agreements. What a novel idea!
Five years ago, I suggested that the city sell PGW to a utility company, because I feared its losses would continue to spiral and the city would still never improve its efficiency. At the time, there was more than one regional and national company interested, and this would have stabilized the company’s finances while continuing to guarantee its union jobs and customer assistance for the poor.
But no, we couldn’t do that, because that would make too much sense. What we did was continue to Band-Aid this company, and as I and others predicted then, PGW has continued to flounder, and now our asset is worth much less than it was five years ago.
So where do they find the cash this time to Band-Aid PGW again? From the very people who are struggling to pay their bills and taxes, raise their children, and find some reason to stay in Philadelphia.
The decision to try to salvage PGW back then is the same as it was all of the other times the subject of a sale was raised. The entity is worth too much politically and patronage-wise to let it go. Now the cash cow is out of milk and its leadership wants to tap the beleaguered ratepayer once again.
Enough! Do what we should have done 20 years ago. Start to negotiate with any and all utility companies that are interested in acquiring PGW. Get whatever legislation and bond rating agency approval necessary to deal with the status of the long-term debt. Insist that they maintain both a contract with the current unionized workers and a real customer assistance program, and then get the hell out of the way.
James F. Kenney
Councilman at-large
• • •
I recently received my gas bill along with an enclosure informing me that PGW is proposing in its March 1 filing that the company be permitted to recover the costs associated with increases in its uncollected billed revenues. I understand that this increase could be as much as $75 per customer per year.
I strongly object to the increase to recoup uncollected revenue. My husband is retired and I will be retiring by the end of the year. Throughout the years, we have always paid our gas bills on time. This was considered a priority and not a luxury. At times, it was difficult to do so, but we managed to reorganize our priorities to take care of our utility bills.
I realize there are legitimate cases of need where people are physically or mentally disabled, unable to work or have lost their jobs. However, I also know there are a large majority whose priorities do not include paying their utility bills. Their main interests are purchasing the largest screen TV possible and fancy clothing and cars, knowing full well that their service will not be turned off during the cold winter months. I strongly resent shouldering the burden for this segment. I’m sure many of my fellow citizens feel the same way.
Dolores F. McDevitt
Torresdale
Local lacrosse
is off and running
On behalf of the newly formed Northeast Youth Lacrosse Association, I want to wish the Lansing Knights good luck in the new endeavor.
After a year of planning, the Archbishop Ryan coaching staff (Tim Gerard, Anthony Bocchicchio and Bob Stewart) along with other volunteers have launched the Northeast Youth Lacrosse Association to begin play in April.
This new league currently has 90 players registered and more are anticipated. The league will consist of five teams that will practice on weeknights and play their games at Ryan on Saturdays.
Due to the commitment of the coaches, we are extremely excited and proud to offer this sport to the youth of the area. Clinicians and guest speakers are already being lined up to help with the development of the league.
The atmosphere surrounding the league is electric, and the kids can’t wait to get started. Finally, lacrosse has arrived in Philadelphia!
Good luck to all the participants of both the Lansing Knights and the Northeast Youth Lacrosse Association.
Rich Pepe
Treasurer, Northeast Youth Lacrosse Association
For a jolly good
Fels high school
I hate to say that I went to Fels Junior High School now that it is a senior high, but I know the place very well. It was a great design, one of the best school buildings that I ever had a lesson in, and a far better designed building than Northeast High with its small halls and confusing layout.
But, Fels was built as a junior high school, not a high school. A high school needs a real campus, with things like a football field with a track, baseball diamonds, basketball and tennis courts, and places to build school sprit.
High school students need a campus like this to encourage them to go to college for higher learning. Look at how great the campus of the new Edison High is. Northeast Philadelphia needs a new, modern high school like Edison, and the JFK hospital site is a perfect place for it. It should be designed with the same style as the Atlantic City High School, which is like an indoor shopping mall, which makes students want to go to school and learn.
A school like this would be great for the neighborhood. It would put life back into it. It would make people want to move there to be close to where their children are going to school. There will still be problems, but the problems are now only two blocks away, anyway.
So think, Mr. Gary Grisafi, before you go door to door bad-mouthing a great new project (Resident ready to fight planned Fels-to-JFK move, March 18 edition).
If you don’t want to live near a place where your child could learn, then move.
Gary Feldman
Fels Jr. High, Ninth grade Class of 1981; Northeast High 1984; Temple University 1993
Parents, stay out
of Hancock lot!
This is a plea to all John Hancock Elementary School parents: We have a very dangerous situation going on in the Morrell Avenue teacher’s parking lot.
Children are cutting through this parking lot to get to the schoolyard and many parents, despite the school’s many warnings and letters, continue to pull into this parking lot to drop off their children. I, too, am to blame, because my son and even I often cut through the lot as well.
One day last week, due to the snow there were a lot of parents dropping off their children in the parking lot, and I came within inches of getting hit. If it had been a child in my shoes, they would have certainly been injured.
All parents, please stop driving into this lot, and please warn your children to use the stairs and sidewalks.
Marilyn Milorey
Morrell Park
Firefighter: Keep us safe
Where did the commission that stated that there are firehouses in Philadelphia that have less that one run a week gather the information?
This is a complete lie. If anything, we need more equipment and manpower. Our response times are stretched now, which means it takes us longer to get to certain areas.
Fire deaths are up in our city, our firefighter injuries are up and our medic unit runs are up. What we need are more ladder companies and more medic units.
Twenty-five percent (10) of our medic units are only staffed and on the street half the time. The area of the city is the same as it’s always been, and response time is a critical factor — just ask somebody hanging out a window or watching a loved one having a heart attack while waiting for the rescue squad.
Public safety should not be a political volleyball. The city has to find another way to get back the money they’ve squandered.
Maybe they can cut down on the number of law firms that they will be using to defend themselves in the federal probe concerning pay-to-play.
Bill Gault
Vice president, Local 22, Philadelphia Fire Fighters and Medics Union
More opposition to
the Woodhaven Extension
I live in the Somerton section of Philadelphia. I have attended many meetings regarding the Woodhaven Road/PennDOT project. I became a member of the Somerton Civic Association to fight this major and detrimental change to my neighborhood, only to discover that they favor this project and refuse to hear any resident against the project.
I am writing this letter to tell you that the Somerton Civic Association, state Rep. George Kenney, state Sen. Mike Stack or any other person do not speak for me or my neighbors who are against this detriment to our neighborhood.
All these people seem to be of the mind that the completion of this project will alleviate the traffic problem in our neighborhood by dumping the traffic into Montgomery County.
They seem to have great difficulty understanding that until the Bureau of Motor Vehicles stops issuing driver’s licenses and vehicle registrations, this problem will never go away; and if they feel that their problem is worse than anywhere else, they should visit Five Points in Montgomeryville at rush hour.
The state tried to fix their traffic problem also, by enlarging the roads and adding highways.
Now all they have is gridlock and there are numerous other locations that could be mentioned beside the one I listed.
We who are against this project truly believe that our property values will be affected by these changes. We purchased properties in this area to give our families a better quality of life. We keep our homes and properties manicured and maintained so that our neighborhood will be maintained the way it has always been. All we are getting in return for our efforts is grief and an uncertain future from the people we have voted into offices.
If this project is finalized, my vote will be changing and I will become a reminder to those citizens who forget the names of the very people responsible for this act.
Peg Doman
• • •
This letter is in regard to the Somerton Civic Association’s March 9 meeting.
My wife and I recently joined the civic association. The meeting was only our second meeting. When we arrived, we were surprised by the large turnout.
We had no idea there was going to be a vote concerning the Woodhaven Road project. The board members stated if a no vote were decided, PennDOT would walk away from this project. The board members knew that a yes vote was needed.
My wife and I were very upset because we feel that the civic association only notified people that would vote in favor of the project.
We feel that something of this magnitude should be voted on by all Somerton residents: members and non-members of the association.
A person in attendance voiced a motion that the vote be held at a later date and his motion was denied.
Also to our surprise, Councilman O’Neill and the other political representatives had nothing to say about this matter, which goes to show you, it’s politics as usual.
We cannot understand how a small group of people from Somerton could make a decision about something that will affect all residents of the community.
We feel that another vote should be held after all Somerton residents have been notified about it.
Daniel Kelly
Somerton
• • •
I have been living in the Northeast with my parents since 1965. For years, my parents were members of the Somerton Civic Association, and now with a family of my own, I belong to the SCA.
I remember years ago when Northeast Philadelphia fought against the Woodhaven Road expansion. All the senior citizens had young children and were concerned about the same quality of life issues that now plague other parents here in the Far Northeast, including myself.
At the March 9 SCA meeting, as I looked around I realized some of the same faces that fought against this road construction years ago are now helping to push it through.
All of a sudden, this debate no longer concerns them. Their children are grown and gone. Some of them sold their homes and moved into the FOP home, no longer having to worry about their property value plummeting.
I was yelled at, sneered at and basically told to go home because I haven’t made it to every meeting.
Well, I have news for you, Mr. and Mrs. Senior Citizen. I am what you were years ago, married with children, employed, and a soccer, basketball, hockey, ballet, and music parent.
I don’t have the time or luxury to sit around with you and all your friends at these meetings, drinking coffee, eating doughnuts, discussing issues of someone wanting to remove a flowerbed and put in an additional parking space.
You’re right, these petty issues do not concern me. But it sure concerns me when you want to put a major highway down my street. You want to tear down businesses, take away people’s homes and cause total destruction of my neighborhood. How many of you really know or care about what this proposal will do to our precious Somerton area?
When the FOP home was built, they were well aware of the fact, Byberry Road is a very busy street.
Now they want to put a major highway through someone’s back yard because the people living in the FOP home can’t cross the busy street when it is convenient for them to do so. A simple solution would be to install a traffic light in order for them to cross the street.
The Somerton Civic Association seems to have become a special interest group caring only about the senior citizens of the Far Northeast and no one else.
This is why I also belong to the Citizens Alliance for Westwood. And this is the reason all of you very ‘busy’ people in the Far Northeast have to stop and pay attention.
The Somerton Civic Association voted to accept the new Woodhaven Road Reduced Impact Alternative even though only certain areas were notified of this meeting.
But what concerned me more was our elected politicians that attended this meeting seemed to agree with SCA’s every whim.
Michelle C. Fox-Avington
Somerton
• • •
The Woodhaven Road Expressway Project has caused turmoil in the Somerton community for years, and we should put a stop to this project once and for all.
I have lived in Somerton for 30 years and would hate to see the proposed expressway dividing Somerton in half, creating a north side and a south side.
This project includes the building of numerous ramps, noise barriers, six lanes on Bustleton Avenue, and a 300-car parking lot near the CSX Bridge, as well as the destruction of many businesses in our community. The building of this expressway will also lower property values throughout the surrounding area.
PennDOT readily admits that the rebuilding of the Byberry Road Bridge is necessary for this proposed project and that tractor-trailers will have direct access through our community if the expressway is built.
This east-west access will create a steady flow of trucks through Somerton. This fact alone should be ample reason for Somerton residents to stop this project.
Do we really want this added noise and air pollution? Somerton Civic Association either does not mention or chooses to ignore certain facts concerning the Woodhaven Road project at their meetings.
Act now by calling or writing your local politicians and officials at PennDOT and attend local community meetings. Voice your concern!
Jean F. Charters
Somerton
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