Northeast Times

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The Northeast is no fan

of low-income housing

In regard to the April 3 letter from Kelly McCane about low-income housing and Republicans not caring for average and poor people (Don’t bash low-income housing), I for one don’t want my neighborhood looking like the Liddonfield projects.
The great people of the Northeast, I can bet, don’t share your opinion on low-income housing.
As for the Republican bashing, every elected Republican in this city serves the Northeast (state Reps. Kenney, O’Brien, Perzel and Taylor, and Councilman O’Neill). I think there’s a reason for our great quality of life compared to the rest of the city.
If you like low-income housing and liberals so much, you can go to North or West Philly where there’s plenty of both. It’s controlled by all Democrats with plenty of new and old low-income housing paid for by the hard-working families of the Northeast.
Chris Stine
Morrell Park

A different picture if

colors were reversed?

Looks like the city isn’t going to prosecute the four thugs who killed Sean Conroy as a hate crime. No surprise there. I wonder how long it would take Revs. Jackson, Sharpton and a host of black activists to swoop down on the city if four white students had killed a black man in the subway?
Looks like John Street was right — now we know who runs this city.
Ron Zabielski
Mayfair

The big cleanup:

Good and bad

Good Shepherd United Methodist, on Calera Road, did its part for the Philly Spring Cleanup. Due to a mix-up in registering with the city, I decided to get my own equipment ready, and also borrowed 10 trash poles from Parkwood Civic Association just in case. Good thing I did, because the show went on without any equipment from the city.
Instead of the expected 10 workers, there were 27 adults/youths on hand to help clean the wooded area along the west side of Academy Road from Chalfont Drive south to Red Lion Road and along Thornton Road between Comly and Woodhaven roads. Three people driving by saw us working and stopped to help; another person walked from Parkwood to the cleanup site, worked hard, and then walked back home.
We met a lady working by herself at Woodhaven and Thornton. Walt Philippi made two trips to the Ashburner and State Road trash station with 21 large plastic bags of recyclables. Bulk items and bags of litter were left at curbside for pickup. Four of us, after going home and getting washed up, went to the barbecue at Lincoln Financial Field.
Many thanks to Edwin Ammons, Doris Andrews, Phyllis Bartlett, Phyllis Brock, Pastor Susan Czarnecki, Anthony DeSimone, Connie DiFillippo, Candy Dorzon, Bob Heiser, Bill Kuehl, Heather Leese, Kevin Leese, Regina Leese, Betty McLaughlin, Joe Mellon, Clare Murphy, Erin Murphy, Barbara Parncutt, Bob Parncutt, Walter Philippi, Domenic Phillips, Randi Phillips, Maria Rios, Tryphina Smith, Reginald Tarawalley and Marge Whitlock.
Margaret Philippi
Parkwood

• • •

When the big cleanup of Philadelphia took place two weekends ago, some areas were completely overlooked.
There is a huge trash dump in a ravine behind the Central Square Shopping Center on Grant Avenue at Blue Grass Road. The litter/debris/garbage keeps growing and no one makes an attempt to clean it.
Is this up to the merchants? CLIP? The Department of Licenses and Inspections? There’s a long fence that separates it from Lowe’s parking lot.
Rita Guy
Modena Park

Bloody nose should take

a back seat to true emergencies

I am writing in response to the recent letter from the woman with the bloody nose who sat for seven hours in the ER at Frankford-Torresdale. First of all, a bloody nose does not require a trip to the ER.
The public needs to understand that ERs are not clinics. Frankford-Torresdale is a trauma center, for traumas and true medical emergencies such as shortness of breath, chest pain and possible life-threatening conditions requiring immediate medical attention. Too many people abuse the emergency room. If a person goes to the ER requesting treatment and is able to sit for a long period of time, watching TV, eating from a vending machine and complaining about the wait, then they should make an appointment with their primary care physician and stop holding up the staff from caring for TRUE emergencies!
I would hope the public would have more understanding and not expect emergency personnel to see patients based on the order they arrive over the medical condition they suffer from.
Susan Curran
Pine Valley

Barack Obama has more

experience than Hillary Clinton

This year’s Democratic primary elections have been the most exciting in recent history.
While both candidates, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, have strengths that would enable them to serve as president of the United States, it is my opinion that only one of these candidates, Sen. Barack Obama, will, if elected, be known in history as one of the greatest presidents of our country.
Throughout his campaign Barack Obama has shown a tremendous amount of integrity, honesty, courage and dignity. His campaign is not about tearing down his opponent but instead highlighting his strengths.
Unfortunately, the values that Mr. Obama stands for, his proposed plans of action for implementing his ideas and proposals, and his basic integrity have become overshadowed by issues of race, religion, fear-inducing advertisements and false rumors.
First and foremost, neither race nor religion should play any part in the upcoming election. The American people should base their decision on who is the better presidential candidate, Sen. Obama, Sen. Clinton or Sen. McCain, solely on their plans for our country, their methods for implementing such plans and the integrity of such individual.
In making such decision, I have overheard many people question whether Sen. Obama has sufficient experience to serve as president. I am sure that such questions arise as a result of Sen. Clinton’s claim that she is the more experienced candidate. However, when comparing apples to apples, Sen. Obama has as much, if not more experience as an elected official than Sen. Clinton. While Sen. Clinton was the first lady of the United States for eight years, she did not negotiate treaties, sign bills into law, propose new laws, or conduct negotiations related to foreign affairs in this capacity.
It must be remembered that Sen. Clinton was not the president of the United States but rather the supportive spouse of the president. In fact, Sen. Clinton has only been an elected official for approximately eight years. Sen. Obama, however, has been an elected official for approximately 12 years — eight years in the Illinois Senate and nearly four years as a United States senator.
During Sen. Obama’s eight years in the Illinois Senate, he proposed more than 820 legislative bills that addressed health care reform, poverty, crimefighting, the economy, human rights, ethics, gun control and veterans affairs.
In the Senate, he has authored 152 bills and co-sponsored 427 others. Accordingly, Sen. Obama has actually served as an elected public official longer than Sen. Clinton.
Finally, in making their decision as to who will be the next president of the United States, I implore the residents of Pennsylvania to ignore the rumors that have been initiated regarding Mr. Obama and to instead vote based upon the facts. Look at the candidates’ Web sites — for Barack Obama the Web site is www.barackobama.com and for Hillary Clinton the Web site is www.hillaryclinton.com — review each candidate’s congressional voting record and listen to what the candidates say about themselves.
I sincerely hope that the residents of Pennsylvania are savvy enough to conduct their own due diligence with respect to each candidate and not base their decision on rumors and false advertisements.
Dawn L. Vahey
Elkins Park

It’s way too early

to call a truce

A convention fight would not necessarily be bad for the Democrats. Two great presidents were selected at contested conventions. They were Franklin Roosevelt and John Kennedy. Harry Truman was elected in 1948 after a fractious convention here in Philadelphia when he supported the civil rights plank proposed by Hubert Humphrey, and many Southern Democrats walked out and formed the Dixiecrat Party, which backed Strom Thurmond.
Also, primary season used to start in March and end in mid June. It is now only the middle of April.
Ross Schriftman
Horsham

Promises, promises,

that’s all we get

I am writing about James Toland’s letter to the editor in the March 27 edition (Think before you vote for the stud’s wife).
Well, how many people think before they vote? I have been voting since I was 21. I am 74 years old now, and every politician has promised us the same thing, but none of them lived up to their promises. The government only looks out for themselves. They don’t pay Social Security or Medicare. So people should think about all the things the government didn’t give before they vote.
Charles W. Seiberlich
Rhawnhurst

Anything’s better

than Bush and friends

James Toland, I think you should mind your business and leave people’s personal lives to themselves. What they do in their personal lives is none of your business. One thing has nothing to do with the other.
I look at experience. Hillary was in the White House for a number of years as the first lady and I think she did an excellent job, as did her husband as president. He was great, and I do believe she will be, also. She will have his experience to back her up if needed.
If you stop and think about it, as long as a Democrat gets in, things will get better. Anything is better than what we have now.
Tony Lazarus
Morrell Park

Stimulus?

What stimulus?

The economic stimulus that President Bush has put into place is a mockery. With the rising cost of gas, who is he trying to kid? People can figure it out for themselves.
When you go to the store to spend your rebate, you already spent some of the money on gas just to get there. Obviously, due to the rising cost of gas, the store must charge more for the product.
Even if you decide to save the rebate to be used for a trip in the summer, you become aware that the interest rate is next to nothing. So who is the winner — the person who got the rebate or the rich guys who run the refineries that supply the gas so we can get to the store to spend our rebates?
Furthermore, if gas prices do not come down, we will have to make severe cuts in our day-to-day living just to make ends meet. So much for the economic stimulus.
Marie Patton
Fox Chase

Three cheers for the

Philadelphia Democratic Committee

The Philadelphia Democratic Committee should be commended for keeping the April 22 primary election an open affair. The committee resisted the efforts of President Clinton, who was obviously pushing the committee to endorse his wife Hillary. The committee also resisted efforts by Gov. Rendell to endorse her.
Gov. Rendell has already been rewarded by the Clintons when his wife Midge, an ordinary attorney, was named a federal district judge for life years ago by Bill Clinton. Nice rewards for backing a Democratic candidate in a Democratic city and state.
However, now Michael Nutter, who has barely completed 100 days in office, is getting into the act. I have received phone calls from the mayor, electronic, of course, inviting me to Hillary events.
Before passing his first budget, our new mayor is getting heavily involved in a presidential election. What is he looking for, or what has he been promised by the Clintons? It makes you think about the sincerity of our good mayor and what is going on in our city’s politics.
The primary should be left an open affair, because by Election Day, voters will surely have made up their collective minds as to who they want to nominate for president of the United States.
John R. FitzPatrick
Ward chairman, 56th Ward Democratic Committee

Responsibility

is for everyone

Kudos to the editor of the Northeast Times for his April 3 column about the credit and mortgage crisis (For many victims, the culprits are in the mirror). It’s about time someone hit the nail on the head about this situation. It is indeed a devastating epidemic.
I find it unbelievable how greed and stupidity by both lenders and borrowers could have caused the country to arrive at our current dilemma. These people were either utterly misinformed or living in a fool’s world to believe that this whole mortgage and credit crunch would not implode.
You cannot keep borrowing money without eventually paying the piper. Do you really believe those ads about buy today and not pay for it for years to come? No one can be that gullible to think that one day you will not pay — and pay through the nose at huge interest rates. Credit cards are good, but they have to be used wisely. Can’t people understand that if you have interest rates of 19 or 20 percent, you may never get out of debt?
The real estate problem is a whole other situation altogether. What happened to the time in the not-too-distant past when potential homeowners were expected to have a 10 to 20 percent down payment? This, at least, helped people from overextending themselves.
Now, who has to pay for all these really dumb decisions? People in the rest of the country, who live up to their means but not beyond. We are now expected to pull those irresponsible out of this situation by additional taxes and accepting lower interest rates. It is a steep price for those of us who take control of our lives as opposed to those who seemingly don’t have a clue.
I have been in situations where I lost my job (company moved out of state), took pay cuts and lost lots of sleep worrying, but my family didn’t lose their home and I didn’t rely on others to feed my family or pay my bills. So I find it difficult to feel sorry for those who overextend themselves needlessly and then expect others to cover their behinds. Responsibility is a very defining word. It is about time everyone finds out what the word means and lives by its definition.
Jack Miller
Rhawnhurst

Moms Against Guns founder:

We will keep on screaming

We moms are thrilled that the Pennsylvania House of Representatives has finally acknowledged there is a problem in our state — that the tipping point of the violence in our communities is tied into the control of illegal handguns. The bill (HB1845), which now goes to the Senate Judiciary Committee, is one-half-step in a right direction. But it is also an oversimplified solution to a complex problem. It is a Band-Aid on a gushing wound.
The bill that was passed did not include the crucial amendment (A6178) that called for a mandate to report lost or stolen handguns to the police. By not mandating a lost or stolen handgun to be reported condones irresponsible behavior. And that is no victory for anyone. It does, in fact, make us wonder who our representatives are truly protecting.
We are moms and grandmoms who are grateful that our voices are finally being heard by the House, but make no mistake — we will not be placated by, nor will we tolerate, a hollow version of law.
We are a growing power. We will not be silenced. We will keep on screaming until we know that our children are safe and our communities are secure. And to this end we will use the muscle of the ballot box.
It takes courage and integrity to be a true representative of the people. We hope our state lawmakers will use this special power that we, the citizens of this great commonwealth, have lent to them to honor this contract with us.
Lynne Honickman
Founder
Moms Against Guns, Pennsylvania

House speaker speaks

out against editorial

I was disappointed, to put it mildly, with last week’s editorial (Dennis the Menace) condemning me for opposing a seriously flawed House amendment claiming to deal with gun traffickers. I opposed that amendment because it would not have had the desired effect and would have caused serious legal issues for unsuspecting innocent people.
Contrary to your editorial, I do not oppose the reporting of lost and stolen firearms. I agree that every gun owner ought to do that, even if not required by law.
On April 1, I voted no on one of the several "lost and stolen" proposals considered in the House. It is also true (but not reported very well by most local media) that I voted YES that same day to the other lost-and-stolen proposals, including my own proposal to combat straw purchases of firearms by extending the time for prosecutors to bring charges. Those amendments passed and the House finished with a much stronger bill.
The changes I voted for will actually have an impact on straw purchasing rather than merely serving as a toothless test vote for activists on both sides of the gun divide.
The easy political vote for me would have been to vote for the unenforceable, ineffective amendment in spite of its glaring flaws. But I chose not to make the easy vote, and I’d do the same thing again.
I hope these facts will help Times readers understand that I do not reject the need to report lost and stolen guns.
My vote was not about the NRA. Rather it was about giving our district attorney and others around the state the best tools to attack the problem of illegal guns.
Dennis O’Brien
Representative, 169th Legislative District

. . . And he’s not alone

in taking shots at it

State Rep. O’Brien got it right.
Last week Rep. O’Brien was heavily chastised by the local media. This was because he voted against a gun bill that would require reporting of lost or stolen firearms within 24 hours, a bill that the Democrat-controlled general assembly didn’t even vote for.
One of the main reasons for voting against this bill was because it was poorly written legislation that would have been enforceable on many law-abiding citizens that committed no crime, not because it was viewed as wrong in principle. Yet the media came out attacking O’Brien as not caring about his constituents.
This type of knee-jerk reaction by the media is fueling one of the biggest problems we have with many of our elected officials and political class: creating do-nothing legislation that panders to voters and newspaper clippings.
As an example, the media are covering Mayor Nutter supporting Councilman Clarke’s legislation to create gun control in Philadelphia, legislation that is not illegal because of the Pennsylvania Constitution, but illegal because of the Uniform Firearms Act, created by state Sen. Fumo, which expressly states municipalities have no authority on gun control.
Instead of pointing out and attacking Clarke and Nutter for supporting a path that will do nothing except waste more tax dollars on legal bills when the state sues (and wins), they choose to throw them laurels and ignore the fact that nothing else is being done to solve the illegal gun trafficking in Philadelphia.
The police department and other agencies have stated that the laws on the books are sufficient; they just don’t have the necessary funds to actually go after the straw sellers — money we could give to the police instead of to lawyers.
And this is why O’Brien has it right. He stood up and voted against poorly worded legislation that would have accomplished little and failed to pass anyway. After reworking the bill, we now have passed, unanimously, a good set of legislation. We have increased the ability to prosecute straw sellers and buyers in a way that has no impact on law-abiding citizens.
We also have a bill that will allow Philadelphia to move some of its inmates to state prisons. This will alleviate some of the overcrowding, which will allow us to house violent criminals longer and not put them back on the streets to commit crimes of violence again, which are usually with illegal guns.
The media need to step up and start doing more due diligence in its reporting of legislation and go beyond reading the title of the bill.
Thankfully, we still have some elected officials that will do that.
Adam Lang
29th Ward Republican chairman