Letters to the Editor

by The Readers

It's the Tax, Stupid

Frank Lewis' "Between a Rock and a Greenspace" (Ward's Eye View, March 19) makes it sound as though much of Roxborough consists of open spaces. In fact, only two streets are involved in the controversy over "open space." I own a farm next to the parcel being developed as an antenna site. The attitude of my neighbors is that they seem to have the right to prevent large landowners from selling at a profit because they feel they are entitled to enjoy these open spaces. We large landholders have paid exorbitant real estate taxes for decades. Under the Tax Equalization Plan, our land is taxed not as vacant or fallow but as if it were developed. Is the suggestion that we hold onto these properties for their enjoyment at a serious monetary loss?

Barbara L. Charles
Roxborough

Free Clinic, Free Help

"Clinically Depressed" (Gwen Shaffer, March 26) was an excellent piece of work.

A suggestion that you may want to pass on to the folks in charge: Social work students are an untapped resource for the centers. MSW students at local social work schools (Temple, Penn and Bryn Mawr) are required to do three days a week in the field at local agencies. Undergrad social work students are required one to two days a week.

The students get the experience, and the agency who cannot afford new hires clearly benefits. Also, for the health center that could not afford to hire a daycare provider—Community College of Philadelphia students in the child care/early education program also have to do time in the field.

Liz Thul
Family Advocacy Social Worker

How Crime Rates

Our thanks to Frank Lewis for telling your readers about Philadelphia Compact's study of how Philadelphians get their news and how concerned they are about crime ("Paint By Numbers," On Media, March 26). I do have some differences with Lewis about what our findings say. We never claimed that TV news viewing is completely responsible for concerns about crime. But when neighborhood crime rates are largely unrelated to people's concerns about crime, something other than personal victimization is at least partly responsible.

As for being elitist, it is worth noting that the Compact reported back in January that crime is the number-one concern of Philadelphians and that it is mentioned more than twice as often as job growth or the condition of the schools.

In any case, the fact that you gave Frank Lewis all that space to talk about our findings only goes to support our contention that newspapers do a better job of putting crime in perspective than TV news.

Dan Romer
Annenberg Public Policy Center

Corrections

In last week's Ward's Eye View, it was incorrectly reported that the 9th Ward committee members endorsed mayoral candidate John White by one vote in December. The vote took place in January: 16 committee members voted for White, four for Dwight Evans, two for Happy Fernandez and four members abstained from voting.

In last week's Noises Off, the David Mamet play recently staged by the Cut & Paste Performance Group was referred to, in an accidental attack of political correctiveness, as Sexual Diversity in Chicago. The title of the play is Sexual Perversity in Chicago.

In last week's "War Heroes," the photo of Amber Schoenk's design was taken by Hannan Salee. The model is Shalika Spronal.