May 2- 8, 2002

mailbag

Letters to the Editor

by the Readers

Thin Line Between Love and Skate

(Re: News, “Love Jones,” Rick Valenzuela, April 25)

After reading the article about the city's plan to make Love Park unskateable, I have to ask why the people in charge of tourism are not protesting. Why aren't the colleges, who benefit from kids choosing to go to school here because of the proximity to Love Park, voicing their concern? I don't blame the professional skateboarders and photographers for saying they might have to move to another city. They have to work. I applaud them for living in Center City in the first place. All the other sports professionals seem to reside in South Jersey. Since the city is going ahead with its plan to destroy Love and refuses to pay for a new park, I think all skaters should boycott the X Games. What are they gonna do, make skateboarding illegal?

Sean Devlin
Philadelphia

Love Park offers teenagers a place to hang out and stay out of trouble -- a central point overlooked throughout the debate. Teenagers often complain that there is nothing to do, nowhere to go. Love Park offers a viable alternative to drugs and alcohol by giving them a place to skate and socialize. Government sanctions most teen activities, often leaving kids with nowhere to turn but to the bottle. City officials complain about damage to property and the "nuisance" these skaters create. If you take away Love Park and other positive teen outlets, teens are left to create "damage" and become "nuisances" by turning to crime that destroys the city and leads them to alcohol and drugs to stave off boredom. Which would you rather pay for: court proceedings, property damage and drug treatment, or a few lousy benches and sidewalks?

This park is good for the city, keeping kids occupied in a positive activity.

The price to keep them out of trouble is cheap. Philadelphia would be foolish to pass up this bargain.

Nicholas Kupsey
Upper Darby

Editor’s note: See Rick Valenzuela’s ode to Love in Naked City, page 47.

Blame Me, I Didn’t Vote for the Other Guy

It is very sad that Philadelphia has a racist mayor. And after Mayor Street's vicious, narrow-minded speech for the NAACP, I am ashamed I voted for him. I am sorry I wasted so much time arguing for his seat in City Hall, despite what everyone told me, despite that I am a gay white Philadelphian who loves this city maybe a little too much. For some reason I really believed in Mayor Street, and I was willing to forgive all his homophobic and sexist remarks that haunt his past. But he must not be forgiven for this latest upstart. This city needs a man or woman of courage to lead it, someone to build community and reason through the daily toils. It's a terrible time for our great city to have a leader bent on dividing us with his bigotry. I apologize to all of Philadelphia for helping vote into office a mayor who will go down in our city's history with great shame.

Now, does anybody out there know how to begin the impeachment process? Let's kick John out on the street! Let's say no to hate! Let's only reach out to those who reach back for a change!

C.A. Conrad
Philadelphia

Further Review

(Re: Food, “Back to Vietnam,” Maxine Keyser, April 25)

City Paper featured a glowing review of Vietnam Restaurant, including insightful and positive comments on my design for the renovation. I would be remiss, however, to accept this accolade without mentioning the building contractor, Drew Miller. Drew's dedication to this project was exceptional, and he communicated his enthusiasm to the talented crew, who put their hearts as well as their talents into the project. We really worked as a team with Benny Lai, the owner and general manager, who broke with Chinatown tradition to hire a "Western" designer and builder. Just as Benny nurtured Drew Miller and his crew throughout the two-year project with his wonderful food and service, they in turn put forth their best efforts to take his establishment to a higher level.

Jesse Gardner
Philadelphia

Database Instincts

(Re: Loose Canon, “Larry and Us,” Bruce Schimmel, April 25)

I thought the author's resentment toward Larry Ellison and Oracle was a bit misguided. Justified and even deserved, but thrown toward the wrong target.

Larry Ellison's company sells a database product for large companies. That's all it is --a piece of software that stores information. What those companies, like TRW and others, do with the database is completely removed from the parent company that made the database in the first place. The author decries Oracle like they are selling evil in a box. You don't have to store users credit card information in it, you can use it to store your grandmom's recipes. (Sure, it would be the most expensive cookbook in history, but you could do it.)

It's not the software, it's what said company does with the software. The errors that the author has obviously experienced were thrust upon him by some dumb schlep who keyed misinformation into his account.

Brendan Sgalio
Philadelphia

If We’re Counting Bodies …

Michael Moskow (Mailbag, April 18) asks why people pick on Israel and ignore "incidents that have exacted a far more grievous toll on human life." He lists several, all of them committed by Muslims against other Muslims or suffered by Muslims. Fine examples indeed, but I trust Moskow would allow us to offer more instances of picking on A while ignoring B, with at least one of the parties non-Muslim. Why, for example, fault bin Laden for killing 3,000 people on Sept. 11 when Ariel Sharon killed five to six times as many innocents in his war on Lebanon in 1982 -- a margin surely large enough to establish moral equivalence, even before adding Sharon's responsibility (according to an Israeli investigative commission) for the butchering of 900 men, women and children at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps the same year?

Of course, all such games are pointless and debatable; each incident is horrible and morally indefensible on its own terms. Why choose Israel? Start with its dispossession of an indigenous population 54 years ago, carried out by the founding fathers of modern-day terrorism, extended under the cover of the Oslo accords of 1993, and reinforced by a head of state with a long track record of certifiable war criminal.

Little if any of it would have been possible without the economic and military support of the United States. Israel is by far the largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid, totalling $95 billion from 1949 through 2001 and averaging $3 billion per year since 1980, with another $2 billion or more from indirect aid (support from the U.S. defense budget, forgiven loans, special grants). Furthermore, the Arms Export Control Act stipulates that U.S.-supplied weapons be used only for "legitimate self-defense," making both countries complicit in a gross violation of the laws of our land.

Richard B. Du Boff
Haverford

All he is saying …

I'm not religious, I'm not a Democrat, I'm not a Republican, I'm old enough to die for my country, I'm old enough to have a beer, I'm a college student. What I have to say may be something that only I feel and see, but I feel compelled to say it regardless. I don't think people should kill over race, money, politics, religion, drugs, oil or anything, to be honest. I can't understand why in the 21st century there is still poverty in Third World countries; I can't understand why in the 21st century there is still poverty in America.

I think we should pay a very long-overdue apology to Cuba while we end the economically violent embargo we've placed on them. I think children are more important than planes. I think the media system in this country has been on hiatus for a long time. I think most of the country is underpaid, while quite a few are disgustingly overpaid. I think presidential debates should be forced to involve more than two parties. I think buying oil funds terrorism. I think pot is harmless and hemp is a vilified miracle. I think a woman has an undeniable right to choice. I think equal pay should be equal for everyone.

My idols are men like Che Guevara, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph Nader and my dad, and I absolutely believe world peace can exist. Thank you for letting me speak.

Peter Schmidt
Philadelphia