Letters to the Editor | Nov. 21, 2024

Black Friday came early for the billionaires this year. They were able to buy their favorite politicians at bargain prices. There has been scant reporting on this topic. One would hope there are some investigative reporters left who will look into this. The public should be told who the individual billionaires are, who they have bought, and at what price, and what the likely favors they expect in return for their investments are.

Edgars Nilenders, Rockledge, ed.nilenders@gmail.com

You may have been as appalled and turned off as I was at the deluge of dreadful and disgusting campaign ads on our TVs this election season. This waste of time and money was because Pennsylvania is the largest Electoral College swing state. If we change the way we vote for president, we can stop this torrent of terror on our screens each election. There are two things we can do.

First is to support the National Popular Vote bill (HB 2662) in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Pennsylvania would join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact to cast its electoral votes for the winner of the national popular vote, like 17 states and the District of Columbia do. The second is to enact ranked choice voting to allow Pennsylvania to vote for the person they like best and not worry about spoilers. Elections have been uncomfortably close, and more choices would help turn out and minimize regret.

Jayson Massey, Philadelphia

I would like to point out that SEPTA is planning to increase fares, knowing that this will lead to decreased ridership and, probably, longer gaps between trains and buses. And yet, all the people pushing for an arena in Center City keep telling us that large numbers of fans will take public transportation and we will not have gridlock. How does that work? How dumb do they think we are?

Barbara Gold, Philadelphia

Philadelphians don’t have to look far to see how major long and drawn-out construction projects damage small businesses. When the upgrade of the Market Street Elevated train project was completed, you could drive along Market Street from 46th to 63rd Street and see dozens of businesses that were closed and never reopened. The same will happen in our historic Chinatown, especially in a city with antiquated traffic engineering.

Len Trower, Philadelphia

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