Letters to the Editor

What You Say

Born in Flames

As someone who spent the first 18 years of their life in Coatesville, I might not be able to tell you who is setting the fires, but I can tell you that the match was lit by nearly a century and a half of Coatesville getting the short end of the economic stick [Cover Story, Mike Newall and Doron Taussig, "Who's Burning Coatesville?" Feb. 12, 2009]. Coatesville was the site of the last lynching north of the Mason-Dixon Line. For decades it was a Company Town wherein all products were purchased from the company store. During the 1920s and '30s, towers topped with searchlights were erected to discourage union activity. And in the late '40s, some madman ran around the city at night spraying poisonous gas into open windows.

The question isn't really "Why is Coatesville burning?" but, "How, considering the government's economic policies of the last 30 years, is Coatesville still standing?" Between Reagan's de-funding of cities, Clinton's disastrous "Welfare to Work" scheme and Bush v2.0's "Ownership Society," the residents of Coatesville lost not only their economic safety net, they lost the sense that their city was actually worth giving a damn about.

Sooner or later the arsonists will either be caught or the fires will just cease, and Coatesville will be forgotten again. And that's the real crime, because there's a lesson to be learned here about what happens to a city when cities are no longer deemed worth investing in.

Yeah, I'm rambling. I know.

Rodney Anonymous
Via citypaper.net

Rodney Anonymous is a City Paper contributor.

Let's be honest, with the midnight passing of PA Act 71, Ed Rendell's state/private gambling empire is like organized crime [News, Isaiah Thompson, "What Ed Said," Feb. 12, 2009]. He just needed to be elected to become so profitably effective. What did the Godfather tell us about lawyers with briefcases and men with guns?

HALF OFF DEPOT

Why live life at full price?

J. Bridy
Via citypaper.net

Who references [Thomas] Hobbes in an article like this [News, Sports Complex, E. James Beale, "What's the Point?" Feb. 12, 2009]? Someone trying way, way too hard. At the wrong things, I might add; the article tries so hard to be pithy that it forgets to be thoughtful.

The author appears not to have given much thought to whether an opposing team, given the options he presents, would be interested in making the deal. The author seems to suggest simultaneously that the Sixers' supporting cast is insufficient for most any purpose and that Phoenix would be happy to trade one of the "best players of this generation" for two of those players plus an (admittedly large) expiring contract. Which is it?

Similarly, with respect to the Portland deal, if Miller is as run-down as the author suggests, couldn't Portland do better with its big bargaining chip than Miller?

Rob
Via citypaper.net

When N. 3rd opened it was bad [Food, Trey Popp, "Tex Meh," Feb. 12, 2009]. Really bad. It's found itself and now is generally pretty consistent. When Cantina Dos opened recently it had a lot of issues, but it's hammered them out and now totally rocks.

I've been to [El Camino Real] twice and some things were a bit off and the brisket was hugely disappointing, but I'll give it a few months and go back probably in April or May. If the drinks are still bad, if the service is rude or if the food is tough and dry, I won't go back. But it's only been two months and I desperately want a good barbecue place in Philly other than Sweet Lucy's.

Rita
Via citypaper.net