Letters to the Editor

by the Readers

Sour Grapes of Wrath

The Breslows (my publicists) have always told me never to write without being edited by them. Oh well, they are all tied up at Borgata, plus I've just been beheaded (aka Marie Antoinette), so I'm not thinking straight. And no one has invented that filter that goes between the brain and the mouth that many people think I should have. So, Ms. Ludwig, I would like to inquire how you have developed this notion of our neighborhood restaurants being "trendy and overrated" ["Hungry For Praise," Elisa Ludwig, Food, July 17, 2003].

Personally speaking, of course, from being in this city's restaurant scene with my partner since 1978 and being at The London/London's/London Grill for 15 years, all the while working very hard with the city, this community, including the other restaurants, and residing here while raising a family, I strongly object to this statement. Basically, Elisa, I now feel that you don't know what you are talking about.

Sour grapes for Fairmount?

Terry Berch McNally
Proprietress, London Grill

Roadmap To (Park) Peace

I can understand why the recent forum at the Free Library may have seemed like a "dog and pony show" ["Dog and Pony Show," Political Notebook, Mary F. Patel, July 3, 2003] due to this being an election year, but let me assure the readers of the Philadelphia City Paper that this is just another positive step towards the culmination of a new plan that I will work hard to implement.

The strategic plan is an outgrowth of hearings that were held in City Council in October 2001. Through the advocacy of groups such as the Friends of Philadelphia Parks and the testimony of a number of park users, I heard clearly the call for three items. The first two were immediate needs, the saving of the Fairmount Park Ranger Program as well as the positions of the valuable volunteer coordinators. Both programs faced extinction due to grant funds that had dissipated. Mayor Street heard our collective voices and was able to find the dollars in the city budget to keep these positions alive. I thank him for that.

The third item was the need for a strategic plan. Through the generosity of the William Penn Foundation, the first phase of the plan has been funded and is in full swing as evidenced by the forum that was held at the Free Library.

When the final plan is produced, there will be a tangible roadmap to improve our parks. I can't speak as to why previous plans have not been implemented, but as the Chairwoman of the City Council Committee on Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs, I will do whatever I can to see that Fairmount Park receives the funding needed to be the wonderful park that our citizens deserve.

Blondell Reynolds Brown
Councilwoman At-Large

Bruce Is Boss

Loose Canon's continuing series on meliorists who attend carefully and creatively to a discrete part of the public's agenda is exemplary. In our headline-befuddled media culture, it is helpful to have commentators uncover for the reader unsung activists who light one unflickering candle in the discouraging darkness.

Patrick D.Hazard
Weimar, Germany