August 19-25, 2004

mailbag

Letters to the Editor

by the Readers

A Lot of Problems

I was touched by the article on Liza DeJesus and her desire to establish a memorial to her daughter [News, "Sacred Ground," Deborah Bolling, Aug. 5, 2004]. The problem lies with Nick Tsamos and the city government. It's his kind of parasitic "business" that drags down neighborhoods and indirectly leads to such crimes.

This is also just one of hundreds of cases where the city doesn't make efforts to collect taxes from slumlords, but is more than happy to hound responsible homeowners who happen to be sick, elderly or poor.

Compounding the problem, one aspect of tax reform that was killed early, the land-value tax, would have directly slammed vacant lots and derelict buildings while reducing the tax burden on those at-risk homeowners that City Council, the mayor and the bureaucrats ignore except at election and tax-bill time.

An unholy alliance of vacant-lot owners, parking-lot barons and oil companies teamed up against the best interest of our struggling neighborhoods to kill land tax for this year. Along with a serious effort to punish what I call the "vampire class" of slum owners, Philadelphia needs the land tax to reward what is right and kick what is wrong to the curb. The lot should be seized from Nick Tsamos and given to the community.

Joshua Vincent,

Executive Director,
Henry George Foundation of America

Booze Hounding

You are right, Bush has the look of a dry drunk in his eyes [Loose Canon, "George Is Drunk," Bruce Schimmel, Aug. 5, 2004]. You know the same look that the people from Jonestown had before they drank the Kool-Aid, or the look in the eyes of any fanatically passionate person. They are so focused on what they believe is the truth, they can't possibly open their minds to see another side. Super-brainwashing.

Horror movie villains have it in their eyes, too. I can't watch horror films because they scare me so much, but Bush frightens me even more.

Susan Gish
Philadelphia

I am not a Bush supporter by any means but [Schimmel's] reasons for attacking the president, stating that Bush is a "dry drunk" is confusing and poorly stated. I have never heard this term before and I hardly see it as a means of attack. I do believe that Bush is a "dangerous man," but I see it as such based on his politics, not his personal life. We all make mistakes, but is this really a reason to go against a political figure? Maybe people should begin to re-evaluate the politics before taking part in this political process.

Jenny Swigoda
haddonfield, N.J.

We-A Culpa

"Continuing Education" [Fall Education Guide, Tasha Kates, Aug. 5, 2004] was an excellent way of notifying adults of the variety of fascinating and fun-filled courses they can take in our city. However, the UPenn courses you referenced are not open to the general population but to UPenn students. For a better listing of adult non-credit courses open to all from cultural enrichment to professional, please see Penn's College of General Studies' Web site at www.pennclasses.org or call 215-898-6493.

Nadia Daniel

Special Programs
University of Pennsylvania