White right on illegals
I am writing in response to candidate Matt Darragh’s Letter to the Editor in the April 13 edition of the Northeast Times. Clearly, he takes issue with Rep. Martina White’s introduction of HB 1885 regarding unlawful sanctuary cities in Pennsylvania. It’s a shame it’s only for Pennsylvania. It should be for the whole country. Darragh claims that Rep. White, through FAIR, is trying to play on public anxiety to drum up votes. He goes on to claim that the Southern Poverty Law Center has critiqued FAIR for using scare tactics.
Let’s take a look at what else Mr. Darragh said. He stated he was no defender of illegal immigration but he dislikes his representative, as if Ms. White was his personal representative, for trying to “distract from the real issues facing our community.”
He seems to be saying that illegal immigration is not a real issue and he states that the Wall Street Journal reported that FBI statistics show that violent crime has declined by 48 percent, although he doesn’t say for what period of time. He could be referring to a WSJ articles that reported on the drastic reduction in crime in New York City prior to 2015. Although there are no national figures yet released for 2015, some cities released their own figures and they are startling.
In New York City, the murder rate has gone up 20 percent. In other cities, Baltimore is up 37 percent, and in L.A., violent crime is up by 27 percent. In Houston, murders are up nearly 50 percent. Obviously, Mr. Darragh did not look far enough into the reporting of violent crime. Granted, not all of these crimes are committed by illegals, but you would be hard pressed not to think a percentage is attributed to them.
The state of Texas, according to an analysis conducted by the Texas Department of Public Safety, states that between 2008 and 2014, illegal immigrants have been involved in thousands of crimes, 611,234 to be exact, with 3,000 of those being homicides. The report goes on to state that well over 100,000 individual immigrants have been booked into Texas jails.
Then, the matter of sanctuary cities, to which Mayor Kenney has affirmed that Philadelphia would continue to be listed as such. I wonder if Mr. Darragh has given any thought to the parents of Kathryn Steinle, the young lady who was murdered by a seven times-deported illegal immigrant. Somehow, I think these are issues that are related to our community.
Frank DeMeo
Somerton
Soda tax is a bad idea
Councilman Henon, in response to Mayor Kenney’s proposed 3 cents an ounce sugar tax, here is some added information that I’m sure you’re not aware of.
Did you know that Pepsi alone pays the City of Philadelphia $2 million a year for utilities? Are you also aware that Pepsi’s water use for the soda that the mayor says doesn’t cost much to make, comes to 51 million gallons a year? Does the mayor have any idea of the cost of that water bill?
If this water use were to go away, who would incur this income to the city? I’m guessing the residents of Philadelphia will get an increase in their water bill to make up the revenue the water department is used to getting. Times this by two when you include Coke.
I truly believe this is political suicide. Please, take your time, do the math and look at the big picture. The mayor should not fill his promises by putting his hands in the pockets of the companies that put a lot of the people of Philadelphia to work.
In closing, let the mayor know that with this soda tax, a six pack of beer would be cheaper, let’s hope the kids don’t figure this out. Thank you for your time.
Ed Langdon
Torresdale
Happy Mother’s Day
What is a mother’s love?
Something you can see. Something you can feel. Something that comes straight from the heart, that’s for real.
In good days and bad days, her body racked with pain — you help her up, you let her down, but yet, her love still stays the same.
She’ll pick you up and dust you off because her love will never change, when people say you’re right or wrong, she’ll lift her head and stretch out her hands and let you know she cares, but in the end she’ll let you know her love will never change.
Lenny Jaynes
Frankford
