Letters to the Editor

by the Readers

Calls for 911 Upgrades
In reference to [Cover Story, "Emergency Breakdown," Mike Newall, May 12, 2005]: Wow! But, it's not surprising, I used to work at the Philadelphia International Airport for a hospital-owned service that provided paramedics. We routinely had to treat patients while waiting upwards of 30 minutes for the Fire Department to come and transport our patient to the hospital.

In Philadelphia, we have a system run by a Fire Department that does not see the need for more EMS, who could not hire sufficiently trained staff to cover the units already on the street, overseen by an agency in the back pocket of the Fire Department and a union that is mostly concerned about the firemen in the system [rather] than the EMS staff who comprise only 10 percent of their membership. How to fix this all? Well, you need to start with a totally impartial review by the state after the county representatives are replaced by people not connected with the Fire Department. And, have a proper training academy that focuses on EMS and not fire.
Scott F. McConnell
Northeast Philadelphia

Kudos to Newall for his article, and kudos to City Paper for having the balls to print it. It seems EMS in this city is a sacred cow the big dailies won't touch. Or, they do fluff pieces on the Fire Department, and gloss over the sorry state of affairs that is EMS.

I won't call 911 if someone in my house requires emergency medical care. I'll take them to the hospital myself.
Joe Ladislaw
Northeast Philadelphia

I just wanted to thank you for your recent article on the crisis in the Philadelphia EMS system. I work as a dispatcher for the Philadelphia Fire Department, and the conditions you described do exist, unfortunately for myself, my fellow dispatchers and for the citizens of this city. It is an extremely important job that we do as dispatchers, vital to the system as the starting point of the whole process of getting emergency assistance — be it fire or medical. It is past time that the job we do, and the less-than-ideal conditions that we do it in, were recognized at least in some way.

We do a thankless job under extremely stressful conditions, with no margin for error. We do the job woefully overworked and woefully underpaid. We do the job with the worst schedule in the city, one medically proven to be unhealthy to those who work it. We do it with no rewards other than the personal satisfaction of saving someone's life or property, usually with that person calling us everything but a child of God on the 911 call.

I have always found that the city government never does anything until either one of two things happen: Someone dies, or someone prints a story in the media. If, by your article, long overdue changes finally come to pass, you will have done a great civil service to this town and to a bunch of damn good people who sacrifice a great deal to do a thankless, rewardless and absolutely essential job.
John Walsh
Via e-mail

Frozen Out
It is true that "special registration" is truly a special trap for those of us who thought this special registration was our wake-up call to start playing by the rules [News, "ICE Cold," P.J. Tobia, May 12, 2005]. We thought it was a "second chance" and we should honor this by respecting and participating, but things are different in the real world. Now, they treat us like criminal fugitives, while the others that choose not to participate walk freely because USCIS [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services] doesn't have a clue about these others. Special registration only makes ICE's [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] work easier. We voluntarily give our identities so they can nail us.

I'm a Catholic person who has respect for other religions, and I'm practicing my faith here by becoming an usher for my local Catholic Church, serving other people no matter what the color of their skin, which is still not enough evidence for the USCIS judge in this Nation Under God. For me, special registration is a stick and carrot that leads us Indonesian donkeys to the abattoir.

I just hope USCIS and ICE remember that this great country started as a great land for immigrants and their dreams. Don't take this great country for granted.
Name Withheld
Via e-mail

Take That, Di Giacomo
Donna Di Giacomo has a lot of nerve saying there is nothing trendy about Kensington, Port Richmond or Fishtown [Mailbag, "The Answer: $0.00," May 12, 2005]. Oh, so now that you moved from Kensington, you think you're so great? Any area can be made better. It's just that developers don't come to these areas and the realtors rip people off for their home prices when a house is sold. The realtors help keep these areas in poverty.

Anyhow, Germantown is not very good either. We had some of your tenants living in Kensington and we had to force them to move because of their filth and problem-causing in the neighborhood. Don't talk as if you live in ritzy Gladwyne or Chestnut Hill. Most areas of the city are having problems nowadays.
Betsy McCall
Kensington

Zipped Out
I was sorry to read of the relocation of Zipperhead, a 15-year or longer South Street retail clothing store [Fine Print, "Anty Matter," A.D. Amorosi, May 12, 2005]. The last 10 years have seen a tremendous, uncurbed leap in South Street rental lease prices, an activity in which the Queen Village Neighborhood Association is not bringing enough pressure to bear. These inflationary leases only encourage fast-food chains and other monotonous mall retail choices to fill up the vacancies in a city frightened of business district retail vacancies. Unfortunately, it is the artistic diversity of small business, not another pizza parlor, that has attracted both residents and tourists to the South Street area and always will.
Robin Albright
Center City

-- Respond to this article in our Forums -- click to jump there