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Sad ending for
Marlo Books
Marlo Books was the first bookstore I ever stepped into, and it has always been my favorite. I can understand the squeeze from competitors like Borders and Barnes & Noble putting an untenable strain on this independent bookstore. But the closing of Marlo is the end of bookstores in the Roosevelt Mall area.
Try thinking of another, or of one within reasonable distance. The closest thing is the Northeast Regional Library.
Of course, if the bookstore has become a dinosaur in our community, what are the chances that people will bother to get a library card?
The Rev. Emilie J. Conroy
Rhawnhurst
Can we get
seed money?
I was very excited to read in the Inquirer last week that a non-profit organization has been formed where $1 million from the Philadelphia Flower Show will go toward cleaning up trash-strewn lots in the city.
Is there any chance the Greater Northeast area can benefit from some of this money?
I live within a mile of at least a half-dozen of these lots that could use some attention — specifically, the 1400 block of Welsh Road and the 1500 block of Grant Ave.
Please don’t forget about us. Thanks!
Rosemary Magee
Bustleton
Take me to
your leader
How come we can find salt water on Mars, but we can’t find a creep hiding under a rock?
Anthony “Tony Irish” Porta
Pocono Lake, Pa.
Making the case
for PGW
Why does it shock so many people that we will all be surcharged up to $75 a year because we have so many people that do not pay their gas bill?
This happens all the time. PGW is not the first business to think of this solution.
For instance, I have three children benefiting from a Catholic school education — one in a Catholic college, one in a Catholic high school and one in a Catholic elementary school.
I have been paying tuition for the past 13 years. The more money you make, the more you pay. I also pay my taxes every year.
Why should I have to pay to educate the children of Philadelphia? My kids don’t use the city schools.
PGW’s hands are tied. They cannot shut off the gas to those people who choose not to pay their bills during the winter months. Let’s get upset about that.
How about the senior citizen mentioned in last week’s Northeast Times? She didn’t feel that she should have to go out of her way to prove her eligibility for the discount program.
Why should she have to drive all the way to Frankford Avenue to the PGW office? I believe she said it was 10 miles away.
PGW is just looking to weed out the abusers of the discount program and save us, the middle-class tax paying citizens, some of that $75 we are all worried about.
But again, their hands are tied. City Councilman Brian O’Neill introduced a resolution calling on PGW to stop sending the notices. He feels that PGW should come up with a more convenient way for the seniors to prove their age.
Does anyone else see anything wrong with that? If PGW wants to give me 20 percent off my bill every month, I will happily take whatever information they need to see, to wherever they want me to go.
Councilman at-large James Kenney said he suggested selling PGW five years ago.
Two good things would come out of that — one, the seniors would not have to worry about showing their ID to anyone, as there would be no discount in the private industry, and two, all citizens of Philadelphia would have their gas shut off almost immediately if the bill is not paid.
I will agree that in the past, some of the management at PGW has made some bad choices. I believe those few people were prosecuted and are now gone. Life’s not fair; they wasted a lot of money, now let’s get over it.
Let’s allow PGW to try to recover some of that money we are all concerned about by putting limitations on the senior citizen discount. Let’s allow PGW to shut off anyone who does not pay his or her bill on time any time of the year.
I truly resent shouldering the burden of this surcharge. But like the Catholic school education, I will pay it and move on.
Peg Keeley
Fox Chase
Bus driver slams
our editorial
Let me say that I was quite appalled at your editorial in the March 18 edition.
As a hard-working member of TWU 234 and a SEPTA bus operator, I take offense to you labeling us as underskilled and overpaid.
We are a very skilled group of union workers. Every operator is a qualified commercial driver’s license-carrying professional driver.
We are held to the highest standards of the transportation industry. Apparently you don’t believe that driving a 40- or 60-foot vehicle through the streets of Philadelphia is a hard thing to do. I would love to see you do my job for a week, then tell me how unskilled I am.
Secondly on the issue of being overpaid, I am not ashamed of the money I make. Making a good living is still not a crime in the United States.
When you take in consideration that people like myself have to make up the difference that the deadbeats don’t pay, we really don’t make that much.
Why should we have to give up something that our union has fought for?
Also, 4,700 union workers work hard every day to provide the best transportation that is under our control.
Are you anti-union? I guess it’s lucky for you that your youth carriers aren’t union. God forbid you pay them a decent wage to deliver your paper!
Next time you take a swipe at TWU Local 234, just remember that we will not tolerate being berated.
James H Wickizer Sr.
Oxford Circle
Two votes for the
Woodhaven Extension
Thank goodness we have an active civic association in Somerton, one that confronts all the issues in our community, not just a single-issue association.
Those of us who have been here or moved into Somerton 30 or more years ago knew that Woodhaven Road had a right-of-way of ground put aside for the extension all the way to Philmont Avenue. There was never a question that it would not be completed. Homes were taken down more than 35 years ago to make way for the extension.
The Somerton Civic Association has fought for the completion of Woodhaven Road all of these years. One plan called for two lanes to be made into four lanes just before it reached Philmont Avenue. The SCA fought for and was successful in keeping this to two lanes. The Reduced Impact Alternative (which the SCA voted to accept) shows that very clearly.
PennDOT was up front with all the groups they met with, explaining why all the various studies showed this to be the least intrusive. Even then, Mary Jane Hazell, the president of the SCA, was adamant about the loss of any businesses in Somerton.
Apparently, no other groups wanted to compromise in their areas, so the majority of the SCA, after 40 years of this traffic invasion that is getting worse every day, voted to accepted the Reduced Impact Alternative.
To hear people say today that we never wanted it done until our children grew up and moved on — and now that we are older, we are indifferent to their feelings — is so far from the truth that it is ridiculous.
They talk about the values of their properties going down when they knew at the time they purchased their homes that the road would be coming through their neighborhood on the land that had been set aside for that purpose.
Someone referred to the FOP building on Byberry Road. That was an example of “spot zoning,” where the zoning was changed to permit a building of that size to be built in a residential area.
The civic association fought very hard to prevent that, even getting busloads of residents to go to zoning hearings in Center City. We lost that one battle, but you don’t see a row of high-rise building today along Byberry Road, do you?
The developers wanted these zoning changes, but the SCA has always fought for the best interests of the entire Somerton community.
They also tried then, and some are still trying, to get R2 zoning changed to R4 zoning — take down single homes and replace them with duplexes or larger buildings.
Who is fighting those battles to keep Somerton the community we want to live in and protecting our values? That’s right, the SCA, which meets once a month and fights for ALL of Somerton, not just the special interest groups!
It’s easy for some people to sit back, do nothing, and then criticize and complain.
I have been a supporter and member of the SCA ever since I moved to Somerton 37 years ago.
No, I don’t agree with every decision they have made over those years, but I would hate to think of what this community would be like without them. You wouldn’t be concerned about Woodhaven Road being completed. You would be begging for it to be completed.
This extension will not divide or tear Somerton apart. What is dividing us is the traffic invasion on Byberry Road of people that need to come through our community to get to and from work. A completed Woodhaven Road will solve this problem.
There are some people in the area that do not know that we have a lot of truck traffic on Byberry all the time. When road repairs or accidents take place, these trucks and buses start cutting through our neighborhoods. These same people apparently have no concern for our children and families. A completed Woodhaven Road will carry this traffic away from ALL of us in Somerton.
PennDOT, please have this Reduced Impact Alternative Extension started so we can get our community back.
Thank you, Mary Jane Hazell, and all those people that have volunteered their services to the SCA over these many years. I cannot think of anyone, especially those that now criticize, that would do what you have done for so many years.
Don Papouschek
Somerton
• • •
I was very disturbed by the letters to the editor in the March 18 edition concerning Somerton and the Somerton Civic Association.
I have lived in Somerton for over 38 years. When we moved here, our choices of where we wanted to live came down to Worthington Manor and Westwood. When I asked about the tract of land where the Westwood homes stopped, we were informed it was for the extension of Woodhaven Road, so we did not buy in Westwood. Remember, that was 38 years ago.
In the last part of the 1970s and the early ’80s, Philmont Avenue had major improvements. I thought they were preparing this road as an exit for Woodhaven, but they only made it one lane in each direction, meaning the Woodhaven highways could not, according to the law, exit there. So, Montgomery County was preparing for many years not to accept Woodhaven Road.
Next, I am a neighbor and friend of Mary Jane Hazell’s. I did not receive this mysterious flier, although she knows I am interested and have even picketed with her for the completion of this project.
I was surprised to find out I am not among a select group, or perhaps there is no such group! But I did receive a brochure from PennDOT explaining everything, so I do know what is going on.
Another phrase I do not understand is the term “less senior members.”
When you join the SCA, you are a member. As far as I know, there is no caste system. And I have never known anyone (new member or not) to be told to keep their opinions to themselves.
Mrs. Hazell is without a doubt one of the finest and fairest citizens of Somerton. I know no one who works harder and cares more for our wonderful community. And she has done this for 40 years without stop.
Mr. Peterson, you are vice president of the Citizens Alliance of Westwood. Why is there this organization? Why aren’t we all members of one organization — one Somerton organization.
Then I read Rob Rubin’s comment that some Westwood residents have been targeted with “hate” and were called “enemies.”
I have never heard such nonsense in my life. We are just disagreeing where a road goes. This is not war. I am also far from being embarrassed as a Somerton resident. I care about the entire community.
If the truth be expressed openly, the only problem is that no one wants disruption to their home or lifestyle regardless of how if affects their neighbor.
We are all self-centered and say we will not budge for the good of an entire community. It is only what “I” want personally. Westwood residents are the ones who have drawn a line in Somerton — right down the middle of Bustleton Avenue.
I find it hard to believe that PennDOT will withdraw from the project completely. Woodhaven cannot end at Evans Street forever. Something will be done.
What do I want personally? The original plan, now over 40 years in the making, seems most fair to all. This is where my fair vote will go.
Pat Cantwell
Somerton
Good goings-on
at GWHS
We would like to thank the community for their support of Washington High School’s recent production of Grease.
More than 1,000 of our friends and neighbors attended, and we appreciate the opportunity to have shown off our students’ talents. They did a great job!
We would also like to commend student Victor Wong on his achievement as a National Merit Scholarship winner and his acceptance to M.I.T. Our robotics team competed in the Philadelphia Regional competition last weekend and will compete in the nationals in April, and our performing arts department will be performing at Disney World in April as well.
We’re getting better every day. Thank you for your continued support.
Alan E. Liebowitz
Principal, George Washington High School
Thank you,
Mr. Policeman
I want to personally thank Officer Samuel F. Garcia of the 4th Police District. He recently came to the aid of my boyfriend, who had been stranded at Seventh Street and Pattison Avenue. My tire had been slashed and the spare had been flattened, and to make matters worse, he had to wait seven hours for my towing company.
Officer Garcia went beyond the call of duty. He not only proved himself to be an outstanding officer of the law, but a caring and compassionate member of the human race. Thank you, Officer Garcia.
Theresa Wise
Tacony
Thank you,
honest woman
To the honest woman who found my credit card outside of Frankford Hospital Torresdale Campus on March 18, I wanted to let you know how grateful I am for what you did.
I wish you would have left your name and telephone number so that I could thank you personally. I had no other way of finding out who you are, so I decided to take a chance and write this letter to the Northeast Times. I hope you get this message.
Barbara J.
Modena Park
Rush State Park
vs. vandals
Teenaged vandals come to Benjamin Rush State Park driving their ATVs (All-Terrain Vehicles) or motorized trail bikes. Both of these vehicles are banned from public streets, highways and state parks.
Presently only two groups are legally allowed to use assigned portions of the park. One is the Benjamin Rush Garden Association, whose members farm assigned plots of land and are normally active from March through November. Reports we have received from their membership is of destruction of crops and a regular dumping of the “port-a-potty.”
It’s the same kind of brainless vandalism suffered by the second group, the Northeast Radio Control Club. Our field is in use all year and is maintained by club members at no cost to taxpayers.
We have on site a handicapped-accessible toilet, a freight shipping container for equipment storage and an operation shack with wood stone and a pin board (frequency control center). We have fenced-in pit areas, flight stations and a visitors limit fence.
The club had a lot of donated lawn and patio furniture at one time. The vandals have relieved us of most of that. What they didn’t need, they destroyed. Also missing is a park picnic bench. They stole our 20-by-30 canvas canopy cover. The fences remain a target of destruction.
Our shipping container was secured with two high-tech padlocks at a cost of $75 each. They used some kind of cutting tool to cut these locks, and they stole a couple of cases of soda and bottled water.
They hold drinking parties on weekend nights, which is when the vandalism is worst.
They have set fires inside our operations shack, broke all the Plexiglas windows and shot holes in walls and the stove pipe. We have found the shell casings. The windows were shatterproof, so it appears they shot them out with a shotgun.
Last fall, a young man in a small black pickup truck drove down our flight line, threatening several fliers with a hand gun.
A few days later, we experienced our first drive-by shootings. I hear we have two fliers that have been hit with a high-powered pellet gun. The shooters are said to be 8 to 10 years old.
This brainless destruction of our field is escalating. They do wheelies on our runway. These vehicles they use are environmentally destructive. It costs us about $300 to rent equipment to roll our landing areas.
Our membership is getting more and more fed-up with this stupidity. I fear one day it may come to violence.
The vandals recently set a fire inside our operations shack; everything is black with soot. We will need a pressure washer to clean it, as there isn’t any water available to us in the park and we will have to transport it in.
We know these people come across the old prison farm and sometimes come in from Townsend and McNulty roads. They are from Parkwood Manor or western Bensalem.
We are asking anyone who knows these people to please contact the 8th Police District at 215-686-3080 or the Fort Washington State Park office at 215-591-5250 and ask for Mike Winters. Or, send an e-mail to fortwashingtonsp@state.pa.us
You can remain anonymous if you so desire, but please help us end this senseless behavior. Please, we need to identify these people and end the vandalizing of our state park.
Terry A. Miller
Torresdale
Thank you,
commissioner
Dear Fire Commissioner Harold Hairston:
On March 14, we had to call 911 for emergency care for my godchild’s mother and my dear friend. We encountered two very caring, helpful paramedics from E platoon Medic 38.
You should be very proud to have these two caring gentlemen on your team taking care of sick people. They cared for my godchild’s mother like she was one of their own family members. They held her hands and calmed her down until she was stable.
My husband and I were so impressed with Patrick Carey and Fred Kozachyn and the way they cared for my beloved friend and took the time to explain to her that she would be all right and held her hand until she was resting comfortably.
You only hear and see negative things in print, but I believe when someone does good things they should be praised. Their bosses should be made aware of the nice things that your employees have accomplished and also should be recognized for their deeds.
Mr. and Mrs. Robert O’Shea and the Holdofsky Family
Thanks for
the memories
Thirty-three years of memories vanished in 62 seconds, as my beloved Veterans Stadium collapsed in a giant cloud of dust and rubble. It is hard to believe that we will never see that imposing landmark again.
I drove to the site a few hours after the implosion to see what was left of what I called Philadelphia’s version of the Roman coliseum. There were pillars scattered about, railings still clung to walkways that rose from the rubble and at one part of the pile, a red ticket window that still looked intact, sat atop a shattered pillar.
I thought of how many times I stood at those ticket windows — and who knows, maybe that particular window — to buy my Phillies tickets and enjoy a game. I felt very saddened that I will no longer bask in the sun, watching and cheering and seeing that huge bowl filled with fans cheering right along with me.
The many afternoons in brilliant sunshine attending a businessman’s special and late in the game opting for a better view by working my way to the nicer seats.
That is all gone now, but the memories will last a lifetime for me and many others. Regardless of what some said about that glorious stadium, it will always be a special place in my heart.
I felt there was enough luxury just going there to be a part of the crowd and get the chance to cheer for my home team. I didn’t need any additional amenities, or the need to feel important. Yes it was old, but to many of us die-hard Vet fans, it still served its purpose.
In April, our new ballpark will open its doors and welcome the thousands of fans that were once the intimate offspring and the lifeblood of Veterans Stadium. However, nothing can ever replace that giant coliseum that provided me and many other fans with so many beautiful memories.
The Philadelphia skyline will never look the same again, but the grandeur and excitement of that special stadium will never be forgotten.
Joseph A. Yannuzzi Jr.
Bustleton
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