Letters to the Editor | Oct. 23, 2023

The editorial on the need for additional traffic safety measures and funding, and the city’s slow response to moving these sorts of efforts forward, is very much accurate and appreciated. However, one critical item seemed to be missing in the editorial, and ironically it is the same item missing from our streets: police enforcement. Police seem to have made traffic enforcement, or even their mere presence on our roadways, a very low priority. Without them, the effectiveness of the many devices and efforts that are being implemented to calm traffic will be for naught.

I understand the knee-jerk reaction the police provoke, the claims that officers are focusing on more serious crimes, and that there are many unfilled positions, therefore traffic enforcement is unattainable. But those are all city problems, and the city needs to solve them. Many of us are being asked to pay more in property taxes only to see reduced services delivered. We are also being asked to take unnecessary risks when we use the streets because bad actors know there’s no enforcement and operate their vehicles recklessly and carelessly without regard to the law, regulations, or other drivers.

Our esteemed City Council, unwisely, has passed an ordinance to reduce the number of violations that will be enforced, further increasing the number of bad drivers and unsafe vehicles on our streets. The fancy traffic safety doodads, bells and whistles, and similar items that come at a high price are wasted investments unless we decide that strict police presence and enforcement are critical components of any meaningful street safety enhancement program. Until then, we will continue to see these measures implemented but will not enjoy the full benefits they could offer.

R.M. Wright, Philadelphia

How thrilling to read about the latest Nobel Prize winners, women educated in faraway places whose spectacular discoveries help the whole planet. How much global talent languishes when girls (and boys) aren’t in school? Where is the next Katalin Karikó? New data from UNESCO reports 250 million school-age children aren’t in school — that’s one-sixth of the world’s children. There is hope: The 2023 READ Act Reauthorization Act addresses this crisis by boosting global education, to ensure all children can access quality instruction. The READ Act will empower the world to get back on track with education, particularly for girls in conflict-ridden nations. I commend my U.S. representative, Dwight Evans, cosponsor of the READ Act. While the House dithers, this bill sits. We can’t wait — our next Nobel winner needs to get to school.

Betsy Teutsch, Philadelphia, bpteutsch@comcast.net

There is a bitter irony with the vocal outcry of anti-Israel protests last week in City Council and on the streets of Old City. Nearly 250 years ago, our founders gathered in Philadelphia to embark on the bold experiment of democracy. In the initial words of the Declaration of Independence, they envisioned a government “from the consent of the governed.” President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority was elected in January 2005 to a four-year term. It is 18 years later, and no election has been held. Everyday Palestinians have not been able to raise their voices.

In 2006, Palestinians in Gaza watched as Hamas exhibited ruthless violence against fellow Palestinians. Iraqis, Afghans, and countless others across the world have had the chance to vote in elections since 2006. Alas, those living in Gaza have not. The unfortunate fact for the Philadelphia protesters is that Palestinians have no legislative bodies nor transparent and participatory governance structures akin to City Council or the U.S. Senate. Rather, brutality perpetrated by Palestinians against Palestinians rules the day.

There is no judicial system. There is no freedom of the press. There is no right to assemble. There is no right to petition the government. There is no concept of gender equality. Put simply, everything the protesters hold dear is anathema to those with whom they sympathize. This is not the fault of democratically elected policymakers in Israel. Blame lies with kleptocratic and corrupt “leaders” who have bank accounts and residences far away from the streets of a future Palestinian state.

Ari Mittleman, Pikesville, Md.

In a recent opinion piece, Montgomery County Board of Commissioners Chairman Kenneth E. Lawrence declared that demolishing the county’s former prison is justifiable “from both a moral and practical perspective.” It is neither. Lawrence posits that if the building could be viably repurposed, an entity or business would have come forward with a plan in the decades since the prison closed. But that’s not how it works. The standard procedure in such cases is to issue a request for proposals. This approach requires some organization and leadership.

While nothing in Lawrence’s op-ed indicates the county took such a step, he notes that recent plans for the county courthouse and Hancock Square Park “were developed only after county leadership and architects met with local preservationists.” Might there be a template for success there? In fact, successful reuse schemes for prisons abound. A leading example is Philadelphia’s Eastern State Penitentiary. Once threatened with demolition, this National Historic Landmark is now a model for interpreting exactly the sorts of historical injustices that Lawrence associates with the Airy Street structure.

The “moral” argument for destroying what is arguably Norristown’s most important 19th-century building is even more dubious. Lawrence alludes to a hazy set of misdeeds perpetrated on “marginalized groups” while suggesting such abuses are strictly historical in nature. In fact, they are ongoing, and modern prisons bear more powerful witness to mass incarceration than anything the 19th century produced. As for his reference to Confederate generals in Charlottesville, Va., I will simply add that buildings and statues are radically different things and that conflating them adds one more specious argument to those outlined in his op-ed.

Aaron V. Wunsch, Philadelphia

As a gun violence prevention activist for many years, I was excited earlier this year to hear about President Joe Biden’s executive order on reducing gun violence and making our communities safer. More than 100 people a day are killed by guns in the United States, and there have been more than 500 mass shootings so far this year. Most Americans want stronger gun safety laws, so this is a step in the right direction. Biden’s order stresses the implementation of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which helps increase background checks, adds accountability to gun manufacturers, and provides some more mental health services.

Still, Congress does little, and there is only so much a president can do on his own. At least we now know statistics will not be hidden from the public as they were from 1997-2018 (through the Dickey Amendment), and research will be acknowledged and published. Last month, Biden followed his executive order with the creation of the federal Office of Gun Violence Prevention. David Hogg, survivor of the Parkland school shooting and cofounder of March for Our Lives, has lauded the creation of the first-ever federal office devoted to this problem. Vice President Kamala Harris will head it up. It’s about time.

Lynda Mintz, Bensalem

It is disturbing that The Inquirer printed unchallenged racist dog whistles and pejorative stereotypes about alleged Jewish power, money, and malice in a recent article (“Penn plans to review policies and training”) that quotes someone who casts aspersions on Jewish members of the University of Pennsylvania community and Jewish community members beyond the university. At a time of increased hate crimes against Jews and dramatically rising discriminatory and prejudicial attitudes against them nationally, the article amplified dangerous and destructive stereotypes rather than challenging them. Jews have suffered terribly because of these stereotypes, and they contribute to current human rights violations against Jews as individuals and as a collective, yet you quote them as though they are neutral. These stereotypes lead to real harm and marginalization. Such statements also undermine efforts to advance the human rights of Palestinians by associating Palestinian cultural expression with attacks on Jews, their human rights, and fundamental freedoms — including their freedom of association, advocacy, and expression.

Noam Schimmel, Boston

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