Readers respond: Whites make Brewerytown better

Editor's note: After a lot of response to today's Letters to the Editor, our editorial page manager wrote a piece to address the questions and comments from readers. You can read it here.  

In response to the letter, "Whites taking over Brewerytown" (Friday), these "Caucasians" moving in are the best thing that could happen to any "hood." They are certainly not moving in to start drug-dealing, gang-operated businesses. Also, I guarantee they won't be terrorizing or preying on the elderly to rob them.

Are residents not looking forward to property values increasing and a cleaner and safer neighborhood?

But what made me chuckle the most, is the ridiculous statement that the whites' existence should not be funded through tax abatements. These law-abiding Caucasians have been funding the black community since their existence. It's people who dislike change who cause a racial divide. Nobody does more prancing in the neighborhood as though they own it than members of the black community.

— Vito D'Agotino, Blackwood, jrdaggs53@gmail.com

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I was offended by the letter, "Whites taking over Brewerytown." It was racist and in bad taste. The main reason whites want to live in Brewerytown is its proximity to Center City; please forgive them for raising property values in the neighborhood.

— John Mikula, Philadelphia

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Regarding the letter about whites moving into Brewerytown, blacks have been doing this in white neighborhoods for years and, for the most part, ruining those areas.

— Dale J. Porter, Philadelphia, dporter0227@comcast.net

In response to the juror who doubted Andrea Constand's testimony because of what she was wearing when visiting Bill Cosby ("Juror distrusted Constand, called her 'well-coached,'" Friday), I am reminded of the age-old, sexist attitude: She was wearing a short skirt — she was asking for it.

There is no excuse for sexual assault. What a person chooses to wear and whatever assumptions a predator makes do not give him/her the right to lay a hand on that person. Also, I often give incense as a gift, and I have never done so as a suggestive, sexual come-on.

Another loss for victims of sexual assault.

— Eleanor Day, Philadelphia

After all of my years of subscribing to the Inquirer, I am embarrassed by Philadelphia Media Network's request to have the names of the jurors in the Bill Cosby case released. I am sure the company has come up with many ways to rationalize this effort in the name of necessity, but all it has done is taint the possibility of a successful retrial and put the jurors, who I am sure endured agonizing hours during the trial, in the position of being harassed by reporters. Congratulations on reaching a new low.

— Paul Solliday, Quakertown

Penn State's response to the fraternity hazing death of Timothy Piazza is too late for sexual-assault survivors ("At Penn State, plan in place to make Greek life safer," Friday).

Piazza's death is an undeniable tragedy, and, as a senior and president of the main campus branch of Pi Sigma Alpha, the political science honors society, I am glad that the university is finally enacting restrictions to ensure that this never occurs again. But it disgusts me that only now have we found the motivation to implement these changes.

For years, Greek life has been a primary source of the sexual violence that occurs at Penn State, with the university reporting that sorority women are 50 percent more likely to be sexually assaulted, and fraternity men are 62 percent more likely to commit a sexual assault.

If the tragic death of a white male student had not occurred, I have a feeling this status quo would have been allowed to continue. The decision to act now signals that the safety and dignity of male students should be prioritized, while that of female students should only be secondary.

— Ethan Paul, State College, Pa., ekp5086@psu.edu

New wetlands rules proposed by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection would not increase flood damage, as stated in the Inquirer editorial, "Must protect N.J. wetlands" (June 19). The rules would not allow the DEP to take the word of developers rather than require inspections when they perform restorations. There is nothing in the proposal that would change the very strict requirements required by the law — developers must still submit completion reports and a five-year monitoring report. The DEP will perform the same number of inspections, in the same manner, that it always has.

The proposal would require the same 2:1 ratio for wetland mitigation, not a one-to-one ratio. It would not reduce the amount of wetlands.

The proposal would provide flexibility by allowing mitigation in the same watershed management area, rather than in a sub-watershed. The water would drain to the same estuary in either case.

New Jersey remains a national leader in protecting wetlands and will continue to be under the proposed rule changes. The rule proposal only streamlines the application, review, and permitting processes. It does not weaken any standards.

— Ray Cantor, chief adviser, N.J. Department of Environmental Protection, Trenton