Letters to the Editor | March 26, 2025

Having lived across the street from Capitolo Playground for quite some time, I can say that the rat population there, as reported in The Inquirer, is a symptom of a larger problem. Aside from the playground, the only users of the grassy areas at Capitolo are soccer leagues and community gardeners. Passive recreation is nonexistent, as all but one entrance is permanently locked behind fencing that is 10 feet high. The lack of consistent human circulation, in addition to an endless stream of litter outside the park from cheesesteak customers and sidewalk gatherings, likely emboldens the rats to take up residence there. My suggestion is to open all the gates (or eliminate them altogether) so that this green space can be enjoyed by more people, and litter can be disposed of properly and efficiently in park receptacles.

Arielle Harris, Philadelphia

Energy affordability, climate change, and public safety are crucial topics. Philadelphians deserve accuracy, knowledge, and fairness when considering such important issues. Unfortunately, Pamela Darville’s recently published op-ed failed on most of those fronts. Darville criticizes Philadelphia Gas Works for not replacing aged main fast enough and then argues we should not replace main at all. She accuses PGW of pursuing “arbitrary mile quotas” when we deploy sophisticated leak modeling to inform our replacement efforts and reduce methane emissions. She refers to “profits” and “utility executives,” which is incorrect, as PGW is owned by the city, does not have profits, and operates under more public oversight than almost any other utility in the country.

On safety, the author uses inflammatory language (”Miraculously, no one died — this time”), yet cites incidents (like Miller Street in 2023) that did not include any PGW infrastructure. Her distortions of PGW’s safety record and her attempt to stoke fear in the community seem a subterfuge for her agenda against the use of natural gas and is an insult to PGW’s unionized workforce who work hard to keep Philadelphia safe.

Safe, reliable, clean, and affordable energy is a shared vision. Achieving it requires a balanced and pragmatic approach. 1.2 million people rely on PGW to deliver natural gas to heat their homes and power their businesses. To produce the same amount of energy PGW provides to heat Philadelphia on the coldest days of the year, it would take a solar farm the size of all of Philadelphia and half of Delaware County.

PGW aims to lead the industry forward toward cleaner and greener solutions and is doing so in a pragmatic way to ensure the options are feasible, safe, and affordable for our customers. PGW’s experienced 1,600-member workforce serves the people of Philadelphia 24/7 and is fully aware of the great responsibility of maintaining a safe and reliable delivery system. We encourage Inquirer readers to visit pgworks.com to learn how PGW safely serves our customers and our long-standing safety record.

Seth Shapiro, president and CEO, Philadelphia Gas Works, and Keith Holmes, president, Gas Works Employees’ Union, Local 686

Donald Trump has made the dismantling of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives a top priority, and has targeted 45 universities for investigation, calling such programs racist. It is a big lie, and other issues in America demand more attention. More than 75% of the chief diversity officer roles were filled by white people, and white women have benefited the most from such programs. Yes, it is true that the LBGTQ community and people of color have benefited from the programs, but so have disabled people and veterans.

Trump arguably holds racist and antisemitic views — as evidenced by violation of the Civil Rights Act in hiring in the past, his comments about Charlottesville, Va., hosting white supremacist Nick Fuentes for dinner, and his support and pardons of Oath Keepers and Proud Boys — but is now pretending to be anti-racist and a protector of Jewish students on campus. His hidden agenda is to quell free speech on campus, put DEI initiatives on the chopping block, run roughshod over what is taught, and discourage minority admissions. Any such admission will be viewed as discriminating against white students and always be suspect.

George Magakis Jr., Norristown

J. Cameron Anglum speaks truth to power when he writes in a recent op-ed that Pennsylvania public schools need evidence-based solutions to their problems. I’m tired of hearing billionaires like Jeffrey Yass falsely claim the solution is to give more money to private and religious schools. Most children go to public schools. Many of these schools have been underfunded for decades. The court agreed that funding for these schools was inadequate and unconstitutional. How is giving money to the 10% in private and religious schools going to help the 90% in public schools? The Commonwealth Court left it to the General Assembly to fix the inadequacy. Their only focus has been to send more money to private and religious schools. Our state senators need to wake up. It’s time to fund public schools adequately. Money to schools is an evidence-based solution. Plus, the money must be guaranteed over multiple years to stop policy flip-flopping. Our children are counting on you.

Carol S. Ritting, Gwynedd

Ironically, J. Cameron Anglum’s op-ed claiming that increased education spending results in better student outcomes appeared shortly before the Philadelphia School District released its “Annual Comprehensive Financial Report.” For the first time, both district revenues and expenses exceeded $5 billion. Since 2016, district enrollment (net of charter school students) is down 14% to 116,097 students, not one school has been closed, and 2,990 new employees — 96% of which are not teachers — have been hired. Since 2016, district spending is up 60%, to more than $31,000 per student (net of charter school expenses), while teacher salaries have increased only 20%, to an average of $82,415 ($135,100 with benefits). Sadly, overall district math proficiency remains at 18%, the same as it was in 2016. District students who don’t attend special admissions schools, essentially publicly funded private schools, have a minimal chance of receiving a quality education. Saving these trapped children through school choice is the civil rights issue of our generation.

David Pollard, Haverford

Donald Trump has the power to unilaterally impose tariffs only because the National Emergencies Act allows the president to declare an “emergency” (whether one exists or not) and impose tariffs. As a check on executive authority, Congress has the fast-track power to revoke the emergency (and the resulting tariffs) by resolution. Once introduced, such a resolution must, by law, be considered by a committee within 15 calendar days, and a floor vote must take place within three days thereafter. Such a resolution was introduced but will never come up for a vote. Why? Because in what can only be described as a Twilight Zone move, Republicans, as part of the continuing resolution to fund the government until September, decreed that “each day for the remainder of the 119th Congress shall not constitute a calendar day” for the purposes of the emergency tariffs imposed by Trump.

In other words, the time limit for requiring a vote will never expire. Republicans have by this ridiculous sleight of hand violated the clear intent of the law (not to mention common sense), giving Trump free reign to continue his dangerous tariffs, and have abrogated their oversight obligation as members of Congress. Because of the filibuster rules in the Senate, the continuing resolution to fund the government could not be passed without the support of Democratic senators. As the price for their votes, those senators should have demanded Congress do its job and take an up-or-down vote on the emergency tariffs as the law requires.

Rich Hluchan, Cherry Hill

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