Letters to the Editor

by the Readers

Chill!

"The Past Menagerie" [Cityspace, Paul Steinke, May 29, 2003] contained the misdirection those of us who are labeled philistines for opposing wholesale historic designation of whole districts have come to expect from the people who wrap themselves in the flag of preservation. Mainly, the equating of historic certification with the creation and maintenance of attractive neighborhoods having no claim to historic heritage whatever.

What Mr. Steinke calls "the Historical Commission's stewardship of its eight historic districts" in fact involves severe financial burdens on property owners. This, because the Commission has elected to micromanage everything from the precise profile of spindles used on porch railings and the muntins (the dividers between panes) on windows to -- and I'm not making this up -- the granite blocks between the trolley tracks on the 5300 block of Lindbergh Avenue in Southwest Philly (not exactly high on the list of tourist attractions). And the Commission has chosen to use the enforcement powers of the city to coerce compliance. The result is considerable time and involvement by the Commission staff and a great deal of expense for property owners to attend to details nobody but a Ph.D. in architectural history could possibly notice.

Were the Commission to act in more of an advisory capacity, to utilize incentives rather than penalties as its means of encouraging desired work, and to apply standards of reasonability to its deliberations, the staff could handle its present load, and more, within the budget. And it could better achieve the goals desired by people like Mr. Steinke because it could extend its influence over more of the city.

As it is, it's ludicrous to even suggest that a city having trouble paying for its schools, closing or curtailing hours at its libraries, reducing its public health services, cutting back on the recreation programs so vital to the development of its young residents, eliminating funds for sheltering homeless families and pinching pennies in myriad other ways should increase the money allocated to the Historical Commission to extend its present frivolous nitpicking processes.

Alan Krigman
Philadelphia

Green With Anger

Re: Timothy M. Lennox's recent complaint that votes do not matter ["Voting is Too Gore-y," Mailbag, May 29, 2003]:

A simple examination of the 2000 presidential election map reveals that the Green Party voters of two states, New Hampshire and Florida, seemingly decided the race. In both cases, the number of votes cast for Ralph Nader exceeded the margin of difference between Bush and Gore. Making the very safe assumption that only 75 percent of Nader voters would have otherwise leaned toward Gore, Nader's candidacy clearly made a difference. Adjusting the figures for a Gore victory in both states, the final Electoral College tally becomes:

Gore: 296

Bush: 242.

Timothy Parker
South Philly

Corrections

Last week's cover story, "The Cost of Freedom" by Daniel Brook, reported that the State Department modified its post-9/11 visa regulations on May 3. The Department did so on May 10. The unidentified man pictured with Willard Rouse in last week's Cityspace was Lloyd Smith, the Philadelphia Orchestra's acting associate principal cellist. City Paper regrets the errors.