Letters to the Editor | Oct. 30, 2024

It’s time for the commonwealth to join 17 states and Washington, D.C., in the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, which will award each state’s electoral votes based on nationwide voting results. More than 90% of 2024 presidential campaign events have taken place in only seven states, with the largest number in Pennsylvania. While we obsess over the latest polls in this election, and how we must vote because we live in a so-called swing state, we also say repeatedly in surveys that it’s time to end the Electoral College. Even though it’s too late for this election, write your state legislators now anyway and insist the national popular vote bill be reintroduced in the General Assembly.

Peter Larson, Abington

In the coming week, the Israeli parliament will be voting on two bills that, if passed, will cripple the operations of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). This move has been met with concern and condemnation by European Union member states, the United Nations, and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Per U.N. reports, 6% of Gaza’s population currently faces catastrophic hunger. If aid levels do not increase, this figure could reach 16% by April. If aid levels are decreased by interference by the Israeli government, we are likely to exceed that number far sooner. As U.N. special rapporteur Michael Fakhri reminds us, “Severe malnutrition is not a quiet or painless death.”

As cosponsors on the UNRWA Funding Emergency Restoration Act, Pennsylvania U.S. Reps. Dwight Evans and Madeleine Dean have demonstrated their understanding of the agency’s indispensable function to aid operations in the Palestinian territories. They should impress the urgency of this legislation to Democratic Party leadership and their fellow members of the Pennsylvania delegation in light of these troubling developments.

Tzara Kane, Philadelphia, tzara.kane@gmail.com

On Philadelphia making it illegal to stop in bike lanes, the will of a few cyclists overrides (excuse the pun) the will of car drivers and residents. What about those who are handicapped and need to be dropped off/picked up near where they live? What about when you need to unload your car from food shopping? What about if you’re expecting a delivery from Uber? What if your fridge went belly up and they are delivering a new one to you? Don’t residents have rights, too, or has that been overridden (again with the pun) by these few cyclists? What about in winter snowstorms, or when it’s raining? Do we really think the bikers are going to be using the bike lanes then? Come on. Use common sense and honor the majority of car users rather than the minority of bike riders.

Vicky Benedict Farber, Narberth

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