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Oh brother,
where was the love?
On Monday, Jan. 24, a lovely woman, my aunt, died. As the family gathered at her house in the Northeast to comfort her husband and children and to make funeral arrangements, we were saddened and upset at the way a couple of her neighbors behaved.
Since we are all originally from Northeast Philadelphia, we are very aware and respectful of the "lawn chair" custom after a snowfall. When we parked on the street, if a trash can or lawn chair marked the spot, we respected the marker, even though there is no legal reason for us to honor these barriers.
Still, certain "neighbors" who had not bothered to mark the spots where we parked decided it was their right to leave us nasty and threatening notes in our car windshields, stop people on their way to the house and even come to the house and knock on the door, inquiring how long we would be present in "their spot."
I know it is a lot of hard work to shovel out a parking spot and also very frustrating to lose a spot that you have worked hard to create. I also realize part of the problem comes from the city not getting around to plowing some of the smaller streets; this particular street had still not been plowed on Saturday, seven days after the snow. But still, is it necessary to harass people in their time of sorrow?
While the city was getting together and celebrating the Eagles, some neighbors couldn’t get it together and show respect for the passing of one who had lived among them.
I hope this is not an example of Philly’s famous "brotherly love."
Terri Mears
Cherry Hill, N.J.
SEPTA riders are
getting a free ride
Mayor John Street, Gov. Ed Rendell, even state House Speaker John Perzel, are calling for a dedicated funding source to perpetually avert our cyclical SEPTA "crisis." What lousy management practices! What lousy government! Any fiscal crisis can be averted by bleeding the taxpayer and throwing money at the budget.
I am extremely disappointed in, and appalled at, our mayor and governor and our other bands of city and state bureaucratic crisis-mongers (especially supportive Republicans) to even suggest that a "dedicated source" of funding be established to bail out SEPTA.
We all know where the money comes from: You and me.
In our country there is a right to travel. However, there is no right to transportation. What these career bureaucrats are proposing is rewarding a rider class by enslaving a private class to them, depending on one’s choice of government or private transportation. The wealth or lack thereof of the rider is irrelevant. The granny on fixed income, and the Center City lawyer riding SEPTA rails are equally subsidized in this scam, just for using the government transportation bureaucracy.
Some quick conservative numbers:
My costs:
Insurance: $1,160 per year. 3,000 miles/year @ 20 mpg = 150 gallons of gas @ $1.90 per gallon = $285 per year. Car payment & repairs = $2,400/year. Total = $3,845 per year or $320 per month, not including parking.
For a regular SEPTA rider:
TransPasses are valid for unlimited travel on all City Transit routes and the first zone of Suburban Transit routes. Customers can also use TransPasses for unrestricted travel on Regional Rail between Center City and Zone 1 stations. All SEPTA passes are good for unrestricted travel anywhere on weekends and holidays. = $70 per month.
Now, if SEPTA doubles that to $140 per month, it’s still less than half of my modest costs to the SEPTA ridership.
Where do these bureaucratic leeches get off telling me that I must subsidize their free ride? I neither get nor want a subsidy for my escalating transportation costs. So, don’t pick my pocket for the benefit of SEPTA riders! Public transportation is a bargain at twice the current price.
SEPTA riders: Ante up. SEPTA: Get profitable or make room for competition and die.
William Kitsch
Fox Chase
Ex-leader: Bustleton
did its homework
I thank Councilman Brian O’Neill for his response to the Scotchbrook issue (Councilman takes ex-Bustleton leader to task, Jan. 27 edition). It has been long in coming.
In his response, the councilman points to my selective memory in this matter. However, my selective memory is supported by my files.
The Greater Bustleton Civic League strongly opposed the zoning change for this 48-acre site and we did so by testifying before City Council (who could forget the support and testimony of East Torresdale Civic Association’s co-founder and recognized zoning expert, Joan Ferreira?) by letters, petitions and phone calls.
At various times, after a three-year battle and seeing the handwriting on the wall, GBCL did meet and questioned developers on safety issues. The issue of an entrance for fire equipment was resolved by making Neil Road a one-way entrance.
For the councilman to say that the community eventually supported zoning changes that resulted in an increase by 300 units is not factual. It was the city, not the GBCL, who entered into a 25-year agreement with the developer, which, I believe, ends this year.
As to the current zoning issue, the community is interested in seeing a development that is self-contained and will be maintained by an association.
Although the councilman states that the City Planning Commission now agrees with him, it was City Planning who suggested 60 condos, but that was before they saw the handwriting on the wall.
I thank Councilman O’Neill for his compliment on our victories, but I always remained independent and I expected nothing less of the councilman, whether to me or to anyone else.
Lastly, I plan on moving back to Philadelphia.
Bernice Sikora
Past and future Bustleton resident
Memo to the city:
You’re snow good
There is a saying that statisticians can make numbers tell any story. This was no more evident than during the recent snowstorm. Many of our city officials were quoted as saying that over 90 percent of our streets were plowed. This is true evidence that one can use numbers to support any story.
Let me first say that my side street in Northeast Philadelphia was included in this 90 percent. The problem was, however, that there were only a few inches of snow on the street when the plowing occurred — early Saturday afternoon.
In that this plowing occurred prior to the mid-point of the storm, the effort accomplished nothing. So, yes, my street was plowed, so the city receives an "A" for effort.
As for success, however, a much lower grade should be assigned.
H. Holmes
Lower Mayfair
• • •
Dear Mayor John Street,
I have one big question for you. Please tell me what streets do you have our city workers plow when it snows?
The side streets in the Northeast are lost and forgotten when it snows. You have the main streets done, but not our side streets.
I live in the Academy Gardens area. My street has not been plowed this snowstorm, and was not done last year, either. We pay taxes just like everyone else. What do we need to do to have our side streets done?
I saw on TV that South Philly and Manayunk were having problems also, because they didn’t get plowed either.
So tell me, Mr. Mayor, what streets do you plow?
Rose Mary Guinter
Academy Gardens
• • •
I have never been a fan of the Eagles or any football team, but this year I started to get Eagles fever a little bit. I got cured on Jan. 23, the date of the NFC title game.
I heard from a city employee that Mr. Rendell made it a priority to clean the road leading to the Linc.
I am a nurse, but because of the road conditions, many health care employees were unable to get to work, forcing other employees to work extra hours and extra shifts to provide minimal staff coverage, at best.
How sad that our governor felt it was more important to get fans to a football game than it was to get health care workers to hospitals and nursing homes. I guess the sick and elderly don’t count, since they don’t bring in revenue.
Mr. Rendell, I will keep this in mind come re-election time.
K. Misczak
Holmesburg
Dear Jon: Don’t
worry, be happy
It appears that our supposed fiscal watchdog City Controller Jonathan Saidel will be running for mayor in 2007.
Recently one of his top aides was indicted for allegedly living outside the city and filing fraudulent accident reports. Saidel is responsible for catching people who live outside the city and lie about it. Here is a guy right under his nose and he can’t catch him. Then there was the mortgage loan to his alleged girlfriend from his campaign funds. His son got 156 parking tickets that were "adjudicated" because of who the kid’s father is.
During all the years we knew Mayor Street, he didn’t pay his taxes, his gas bills, had city-related entities hiring his family members, and his office was bugged by the FBI in a federal probe of corruption at City Hall. Street was elected mayor twice.
Yo, Jonathan, this is Philadelphia. Don’t worry about a thing — you can still be elected.
Mayer Krain
Modena Park
Don’t like abortion?
Don’t have one!
This is in response to the letters to the editor in last week’s issue (Abortion stops a beating heart).
Dayle Steinberg does have a real job! All Steinberg did was let women know where to go to receive a safe procedure that a woman chooses to have.
Planned Parenthood also helps women if they choose to have a child. Planned Parenthood gives a woman all the possible options (i.e., contraception, adoption, help if you decide to continue with the pregnancy, and the choice of abortion). The choice is up to that individual woman.
I truly do not care whether you think abortion is right or wrong, however, I abhor the fact that you want to take a woman’s constitutional right away from her. If you do not like the idea of having an abortion, then DON’T HAVE ONE! Do not force your moral or religious beliefs on anyone else.
Abortions have happened for centuries and will happen in the future. The only difference is, because of Roe vs. Wade, women have a clean, sterile facility to go to when they make the CHOICE of having an abortion.
Judy Balaguer
Mayfair
• • •
I just have one thing to say about abortion. Did you ever ask a woman why she might have had an abortion? Did you ever think that emotionally, financially and psychologically she might not be ready for a baby?
I would think that having the baby and not being ready would be so much harder than having the abortion. With all of the birth control out there, nothing is guaranteed, and you could still get pregnant. It appears you believe all women having abortions were just stupid and didn’t use protection. This is not the case in many situations.
I find it funny that you don’t seem to care about the rights of the woman or about her well-being as a person.
If abortion were to be illegal, how many women would commit suicide, try and kill their baby with drugs or go to a back-alley clinic that performs abortions illegally? Is that really the option you want for women who are pregnant but might not want to be or who are not ready for a child?
And finally, if you really think every abortion should be stopped, then you can take care of all the babies that will be born as a result of it being illegal.
Perhaps if we could make the ‘morning after’ pill available to women at the pharmacy, we’d have fewer trips to the abortion clinic. Accidents do happen. However, I guess we can’t have that either, because someone will always scream bloody murder.
Gina Novak
Somerton
Eagles flag thief
sacked her spirit
This letter is for the loser who can blame his or her stealing frenzy on having Eagles fever. Someone had the nerve to steal our Eagles flag right from the bracket above our garage door. They even were brazen enough to take the whole flagpole because it would have taken too long to try to get the attached flag off without being noticed.
I just wanted to let you know, if you happen to read this, what a terrible Eagles fan you really are. How can you in your heart support the team when you have stolen their emblem?
We as a family wanted to show our support to the team by hanging the flag, and we especially wanted it hanging for the Super Bowl game. Now, thanks to your theft we could not see it waving that day.
I would have bought another but my faith is no longer there. But let me tell you, our spirit was still strong for the Eagles to win the Super Bowl, and that is something that you cannot steal or take away from us. I hope you enjoy your stolen flag or at least the profit that you made selling it.
So much for mankind. It is a sad world, indeed. It’s a shame that there is always someone out there that has to spoil things for the rest of us.
Rosemarie Ball
Winchester Park
His favorite Eagles
are flying high
I saw my first Eagles football game in 1937 at the old Phillies baseball park, Baker Bowl, located at Broad Street and Lehigh Avenue. The coaches were Bert Bell and Lud Wray and the quarterback was Emmett Mortell. The games were played on Saturday or at night. There were no professional sports on Sundays.
The Eagles played at Baker Bowl; Municipal Stadium; in two different series at Shibe Park; at Franklin Field; Veterans Stadium; and now at the Linc.
Here is a list of what I consider to be the top 10 Eagles players:
1. Steve Van Buren
2. Chuck Bednarik
3. Reggie White
4. Blackjack Jack Ferante
5. Tommy Mc Donald
6. Tom Brookshier
7. Harold Carmichael
8. Pete Retzlaff
9. Teddy Sizemore
10. Al Wistart
Bill Bergey was great for about three years. Donovan McNabb and Brian Dawkins are about to enter my top 10.
Bill Campbell was easily the best sports broadcaster Philadelphia ever had in football, baseball and basketball.
William E. Brubaker
Burholme
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