Letters: Fencl Award good for police image

IT SEEMS that almost every front page of the city's newspapers is about dirty cops or crime that's out of control. So it was extremely refreshing to read about Officer Richard Riddick receiving the Fencl Award.

It's easy to forget that an officer's job is to protect and serve, and that a majority do that admirably.

I don't disagree with the criticisms made against police officers. If an officer engages in corrupt behavior, the public has every right to know. But it's just as important that the public know when an officer is honored for doing his job correctly.

The men and women of the Philadelphia Police Department patrol some of the most crime-ridden streets in the nation, risking their safety and lives for the very people who believe they are all corrupt.

Taaja El-Shabazz, Hatboro

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President Obama has seemed to be micromanaging every detail of government. Every time I watched TV, he was giving a speech about health care or the economy. But in regards to the disastrous BP oil spill, he has been as quiet as a mouse.

Has he been swayed by Big Oil, or saving face by distancing himself from the crisis? After all, he supported increased offshore drilling shortly before the accident.

Mark H. Sigmund

Palmyra, N.J.

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Re all the SEPTA, school and city budget issues:

Working people are being forced to cope with budget cuts and increases in fees for services at the same time we are trying to cope with the largest economic crisis since the Great Depression.

From transit hikes to school funding cuts to paying for garbage service, we are told the money isn't there. We hear that we need to make a choice between job and service cuts or increased taxes aimed at those who struggle the most financially.

We are told that any increase in business taxes are off the table. Local leaders get working people to argue among ourselves while the real parasitic elements, corporate profiteers, reap enormous benefits from our work and never contribute close to their fair share to society.

Companies like Comcast and Aramark are seeing record profits during this recession. We need to make these companies give back at least a fraction, if not all, of the enormous wealth they have accumulated from our work and our city.

Robert Dill

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Philadelphia

I can't believe City Council has the gall to increase our property taxes. If the budget is short, too bad, lay off some city workers like other cities.

Everyone is struggling to keep their heads above water, everything has gone up except our paycheck.

It's time to button up and down - you get 0.0 percent from this homeowner.

Tina Bellosi, Philadelphia

Tell cartoonist Signe Wilkinson that thin people drink soda, too.

Regina Beaucheane

Philadelphia