Letters to the Editor

by the Readers

Cabbie's Stand

I worked my way through college driving a cab and, in our so-called prosperous economy, I'm still driving one, but let me give everyone the benefit of the education in computer science, business and communications that I am currently paying for.

Good business decisions are made after facts and data are analyzed. Bad business decisions are made on assumptions. The Philadelphia Parking Authority, without any facts or research, arbitrarily delegated financial responsibilities to cab-company business owners [News, "On Guard," Mike Newall, Feb. 17, 2005]. The cab-company owners have voiced their concerns of undue financial hardship through letters now posted on the PPA Web site. I have seen in this city nonresearch-oriented business ventures come in to take over an organization or start a business and make a mess of things over the years. How many businesses have to fail before someone speaks out and states that these people don't know what they are doing and have more money than sense?

If someone with authority in the PPA would just sit down and discuss the issue of what works versus what doesn't work as a solution to making the industry better, then that would be a start. There are solutions, but you will only find viable remedies through discussions with experienced people of the industry.
Carman Anthony Sgro
South Philadelphia

Canon Brawl

[Loose Canon, "Come To Israel," Bruce Schimmel, Feb. 17, 2005] is just the kind of rhetoric that fuels the flames of hate and racism against Palestinians and other non-Western peoples. If we are to believe Schimmel's account because he has been to Israel, mustn't we also ask ourselves how many tourists come to this country who are shielded from the discrimination and injustice that exist here? Gideon Levy, a prominent Israeli columnist for the Israeli news daily Ha'aretz asks, "Can the term "democratic' be applied to a state in which many of the residents live under a military regime or are deprived of civil rights? Can there be democracy without equality, with a lengthy occupation and with foreign workers who have no rights?" From its inception, Israel has been the state of the Jewish people, not the state of its citizens. There is a conflict between privileging one ethnic or religious group in social and political life, and the concept of democracy.

On the whole, Schimmel's claims are false, but the one democratic thing he actually forgot to mention is the democratic self-criticism expressed in Israeli newspapers that contrasts markedly with the fawning affection in these pages.
Kimberly Murray
West Philadelphia

Board Out of His Mind

[Cityspace, "'Board Meeting," Brian Howard, Feb. 17, 2005] left me wondering what all of the fuss is about. Skateboarders around the world have been bitching and screaming for years now about the loss of their mecca at Love Park and what a catastrophe it has been to all. All the city has to do is dust off the plans for Love Park and replicate it at the new site behind and across from the Art Museum. Do we really have to waste more city funds on studies, hearings and plans for this?
Roy Ziegler
via e-mail

Correction

In ["True North," A.D. Amorosi, Feb. 24, 2005], Olive Dance Theatre's upcoming production Brotherly Love was incorrectly identified as a "multidisciplinary musical." It is a dance theater production.