Salute to streets dept. workers
The Philadelphia Department of Streets should be very proud of the recycling team of Anthony and Mr. Fields, assigned to Somerton. They are always pleasant to the people and dogs on their route. Anthony always asks, “How you doing, buddy?” to my dog who barks to greet him.
They are courteous to drivers and try to keep traffic flowing. They respectfully put down the bin, not toss. They also do little things that go above and beyond their duties and deserve recognition.
This opinion is not just mine but shared by many in our Somerton Facebook group “Somerton Neighbors.”
Anthony and Mr. Fields, we salute you.
Donna DiDonato
Somerton
NFL Draft will be a giant mess
Once again, the city is trying to put Philadelphia on the national map with a grandstand shebang in front of the art museum. The resulting inconvenience and dislocation caused to residents and commuters is not worth the anticipated revenues from the NFL draft ceremony, or any big-ticket concert extravaganza.
We have a huge complex of stadiums and arenas and a large surrounding area of open space and parkland well served with public transport and bridges and major highways to speed visitors to and from these events.
If they want to set a particular atmosphere for the draft, they could hold it at Lincoln Financial Field with a backdrop banner of the art museum and the Rocky statue, and the rest of us could go about our business in peace.
Chris Mark
Port Richmond
Please return old lady’s bike
To the bicycle thief who removed an old lady’s Trek bicycle from the bike rack at the ShopRite on Knorr Street on Monday, April 3, around 2 p.m.:
Please return it to the rack. No questions asked. It was not used for exercise. It was for need. Include the shopping basket and bicycle helmet.
A. McKay
Jail the illegal immigrants
I have just read the article on sanctuary cities. I have a comment and a question. Just changing the word “illegal” to “undocumented” doesn’t change the status of an immigrant. The individual is still here illegally. Isn’t that person breaking the law? Isn’t that enough for a legal warrant?
Joseph R. Bucci
Holmesburg
He shops outside the city
As a 40 years-plus resident of Northeast Philadelphia, I patronized many local stores, as it was convenient and at the same time, I supported our community merchants and employees.
However, like many others who are retired and on fixed income, I am careful in managing my resources, so I am concerned about the impact of the Philadelphia sweetened beverage tax. For example, I received the weekly flier from a local store, but instead of driving three miles to the Philadelphia store, I drove two miles to their store in Montgomery County. The difference in cost between the stores in the purchase of two items (juice and soda) was $12.75. But it is not just the difference in cost. I find the stores in the adjacent counties to be larger, better stocked, better selection, better parking facilities and usually are clustered with other stores that I patronize, making one-stop shopping possible.
If it were not for the tax surcharge, I would not have bothered to venture outside of Philadelphia to shop for groceries and would have missed out on discovering these advantages. Mayor Kenney has postulated that after a few months, people will get tired of driving outside of the city and will return to pay the beverage prices. Perhaps some will, but in the words of an old song, “How ya gonna keep ’em down on the farm after they’ve seen Paris?”
Richard Zipin
Pine Valley
House bill unconstitutional
House Bill 685 comes across as being unconstitutional.
By its passage, it prevents the small business sector the ability to promote sales that would attract customers. It would prevent people knowing what is going on in their neighborhood, such as crime, a new store opening up or a property being rehabbed.
Legislators mention the reason for this bill is these papers create litter. What about cigarettes and discarded food that are thrown from cars every day, onto large grass areas, especially along the Boulevard area?
This is not to say that litter is not a problem, but there is a reality that littering is a much larger problem than a neighborhood newspaper.
Marie Patton
Fox Chase
