Letters to the Editor

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Published: Jan 21, 2009

Rules of the Game

  In last week's article, "Game Changer" [News, Jan. 15, 2009], Isaiah Thompson says that library supporters "didn't intend to transfer power from the mayor to City Council" by lobbying to keep 11 libraries open. What library supporters did intend to do was to stand up at a decisive moment and stop the mayor from making a bad mistake by destroying the vital infrastructure of our city. We've received hours of blank stares from Nutter and his repeated assurances that there just isn't enough money. With $150 million being poured into the Central Library and an announced $40 million revamp of the park surrounding City Hall (including glass-enclosed pavilions and the decadence of an ice-skating rink) it's hard to believe Nutter as he continues to bleat "Budget! Budget!"

Just days after Judge Fox's ruling prevented Mayor Nutter from shuttering libraries, Free Library Director Siobhan Reardon (presumably working with the mayor) told branch head librarians that they now needed additional staff on hand to open their libraries. They also ruled out the possibility of volunteer staff doing any of the work normally done by city employees. These increased staffing requirements have caused closures throughout the system. This is not about the budget. Reardon and Nutter are playing dirty — pulling strings to destabilize the library system and help them justify cuts that will affect the poorest communities in our city.

We are not fighting for a stronger City Council, although a substantial check to a powerful mayor in a city traditionally ruled by corruption might be a good thing. We are fighting for the right of neighborhood residents to have meaningful involvement in the decisions that will affect their lives. We want public involvement in budget decisions. We want transparency and participatory democracy.

The balance of power has changed — people organized to stop the closures and they won. Now we need to solidify those gains and make sure that our leaders cut the shenanigans and help us find real solutions. It's our job to make sure that they do.

Paul Walker
Coalition to Save the Libraries

West Philadelphia

  Good article on slots [Cover Story, "Meet Your New Neighbor," Isaiah Thompson, Jan. 8, 2009]. Beyond the usual (but very significant) woes of addiction, crime, noise, pollution, corruption and congestion associated with casinos, what most saddens me about the possibility of bringing casinos to Philly is the defeatism and desperation that it represents. It's hard to imagine (at least for me) a more profoundly uncreative and unproductive solution to budget deficits, diminishing tourism or lack of jobs. Why can't we at least try to invest in constructive, profitable industries and businesses — more grocery stores, for example, or public transit projects — rather than black holes of vice? Does anyone in the city, excepting those with a financial interest in them actually want these casinos? Do our politicians (Nutter especially) not recall what happened to Atlantic City, as a "city," when the casinos came? Is that what we want for Philly?

Sin taxing — e.g. increasing taxes on cigarettes — is never a sustainable, productive solution. And plunking down casinos in Philly (America's "Next Great City" — anyone remember that?) will not accomplish anything except depressing the city's psyche and casting a dark shadow over the city's real cultural offerings. Maybe in years to come I'll be proved wrong, but I don't see New York, Chicago or Boston resorting to this "solution" — why should Philly have to?

M. Elias Keller
Society Hill

Great. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board has a real-time Internet link to make sure that government can collect a fair share of a casino, parting good folks from their money. While the people are talking green economy, the politicians are still funding the greed economy. This article is required reading for anyone who values human beings over the bottom line.

Carolyn Barschow
Fairmount

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