Letters to the Editor

by the Readers

Reason-able Requests

(Re: "We The People," Frank Lewis, Feb. 13, 2003)

Kudos to Frank Lewis on the cover story regarding the Reasons to Stay movement. This earnest group of people really cares about the future of the neighborhoods of this city. If only those in City Hall felt as compassionate about the problems we face as Vernon Anastasio's group.

While Anastasio was gracious enough to mention some elected officials who have been concerned with population flight and the deterioration of many of our neighborhoods, a reader only has to look to the words of Councilman Frank DiCicco to realize just how clueless our so-called leaders are. DiCicco's head-scratching at six years of work to make communities better is about as clear a statement as one could make about the sad state of affairs in City Council.

Frank DiCicco was honest -- he really does not understand what we're talking about when we say our streets need to be cleaner, our sidewalks need to be safer and our communities need to be free of blight. The fact that he was so very honest about how out of touch he is with neighborhood issues is the saddest part of Lewis' article. There is no better reason to have a Neighborhood Bill of Rights than Frank DiCicco himself. He should be ashamed to call himself a public servant. I know I am.

Danny Salisford
Center City

Editor's note: The version of the Neighborhood Bill of Rights quoted in last week's story turned out not to be the true final draft. The correct version has been posted here.

Unsafe at Any Screed

(Re: "The Too-Fast Lane," Steve Conn, Cityspace, Feb. 13, 2003)

Steve Conn's dishonest rant about Chestnut and Walnut streets really pissed me off. It is obvious that he's one of these anticar environmentalists who want all communities to be like Narberth. And I sense that he has a bias in favor of the entitled elite of the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel, who, like a lot of these silly and obnoxious cyclers, navigate streets like the world is supposed to kiss their behinds.

Conn lied blatantly when he spoke of drivers maintaining 50-mph speeds from Center City to 63rd Street. Given the timing of the lights, that is impossible. But even if true, he addresses problems like a typical stupid Philadelphian (two lanes one way, one going another), when he should have suggested slowing the timing of the lights. I would strongly suggest that Mr. Conn travel the entire United States, after which he will discover that Philly has the fewest streets with coordinated traffic lights of any city, as well as the most miserable "expressway." If drivers appear to be driving fast (maybe Conn is just a slow driver), maybe it is because these drivers have to drive in a city that has long been anti-automobile simply through its configuration, a situation compounded in recent years by the undemocratic imposition of bike lanes in communities where no one rides bikes, on streets already too narrow even for two lanes of automobile traffic. And, trust me, if there had been all these damaged bodies of Penn and Drexel students strewn about Chestnut and Walnut streets, the city would have probably implemented Conn's stupid idea a long, long time ago.

Lew Trower
via e-mail