Letters to the Editor | Dec. 12, 2023

When it comes to the solutions that have been proposed by Mayor-elect Cherelle Parker to address crime, safety, and drug abuse, there has been a deafening silence on public health expertise. Politicians historically have failed to consult with public health professionals on these issues, and it shows in the simplistic solutions they often put forth. For example, Parker’s plan to address the ongoing opioid crisis in the city is alarmingly ignorant of the systemic factors that have contributed to the rise in opioid use and opioid-related deaths, including homelessness, unemployment, and poor mental health.

Instead, Parker wants to deploy the National Guard and increase police presence throughout the city, measures that are not in any way evidence-based or supported by public health expertise. Addressing crime with law enforcement is like seeing an apple tree with rotten fruit and expecting that picking them off will make things better. In actuality, though, the only way to produce better fruit is to find out what’s happening at the tree’s roots and address the problems we can’t see on the surface. Public health issues such as crime are a product of systemic, social, and environmental conditions. There are people who’ve dedicated their careers to understanding the roots of these complex and intractable questions. They are public health professionals. Parker should work with them. We need to move beyond Band-Aid solutions like hiring more police. Relying on superficial fixes is the reason these public health issues aren’t going away.

Katherine Ardeleanu, public health doctoral student, Drexel University, and Robert I. Field, professor of law and public health, Drexel University

And so, we soon say goodbye to Jim Kenney as mayor, and after three decades of service to his city.

It hasn’t been an easy ride — being mayor of a big city never is. You guided Philadelphia through extraordinary times — a recession, homicide record, fatal protests, pandemic, and a political scene unlike any other era — and you did it with class and a mostly reassuring demeanor.

Oh, sure, he lost that famous temper once in a while. And he grew weary of fighting the fight. But who wouldn’t? We’re exhausted and on edge from just watching the news. He lived it. Every day. For eight years. At least he can sleep without worrying about the next horrific shooting, the next terrible fire, or reading in the morning how everything’s his fault. May he enjoy his time off and whatever he does next. Mayor Kenney has earned it.

Lou Scheinfeild, Villanova

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