Residents discuss Royal Farms and upcoming elections in this week’s letters to the editor.
We don’t need Royal Farms
In response to Lorie Henry’s op-ed, Help keep Trinity Church Oxford open to the community,” published in the Oct. 18 edition of the Northeast Times:
Let us get our facts straight. No one in the community is hoping for the closure of the church. This all started a few years back when the neighbors in the surrounding streets of Trinity Oxford got a paper shoved in their railings stating there is a meeting the next night regarding the land that PAL once occupied.
Now being that we were informed the night before, the few neighbors at this meeting got to learn that the plan was already in the works for Royal Farms to occupy the fields and building in which both PAL and a daycare have been in for years. At this meeting, the community got to see the sketches of what was going to be done with the land — another gas station and convenience store, to an area that already has a Wawa and a Sunoco.
Despite the community’s issues with this, the church never sat down with its neighbors and asked for help, to find another solution. To this day, they are fighting, writing nasty posts on our Stop Royal Farms Facebook page, flipping us off and cursing at us when we are peacefully protesting on Sundays.
The majority of the church’s parishioners do not even live in the area, and will not be exposed to the implications of having a Royal Farms added to this corner, other than when they show up for Mass for an hour on Sundays.
The problem with all these lies is not just with the church’s claimed “only option” for the land, but it is how this has all come about. Every step of this has been done with little information being brought to the community. The church claims that it is part of the community, yet no one in the community knows them? They get out of their cars on Sundays for Mass, then get back into their cars and go home.
The best solution for the community is not to have Royal Farms lease the property. Adding pollution from more gas pumps, adding more traffic to the already congested intersection, and taking away a place for the kids to go and stay out of trouble is not the solution.
Julianna Feltwell
Lawndale
Halloween wish from Rizzo
Happy belated Halloween! The Rizzo statue comes to life, walking, talking and swinging a billy club. Law and order restored in less time than it takes to deflate Trump rat.
Edward Friel
Rhawnhurst
Grossman is the best choice
I’ve been involved in law enforcement for over 30 years and am a retired police sergeant. I’ve spent thousands of days in court testifying in front of a jury or judge. On every occasion, there is a prosecutor and a defense attorney who defends the alleged bad guy.
In about a week, there is an election to vote for a new district attorney. One of the candidates is Beth Grossman, who has been a career prosecutor with an exemplary record. She has shined in her many positions within the district attorney’s office. She would make an excellent choice to set things on the proper course.
The other candidate is Larry Krasner. His wife is liberal Judge Lisa Rau. Krasner has no experience as a prosecutor. Unfortunately, he has exhibited an unwillingness to properly engage with police officers in any capacity in court over my 30 years. Krasner has been good at suing the city and its police on numerous occasions, costing the city thousands of dollars in tax money.
I have had many bad experiences with Krasner in 30 years in law enforcement. His association with Black Lives Matter and other renegade groups shows his inability to ever work with police to successfully prosecute anyone. This takes us back to Beth Grossman, the right person at the right time, in my opinion.
Brian King
Normandy
Tomlinson for city controller
On Oct. 19, I attended the candidates forum at St. Dominic. I learned much about both the district attorney and city controller elected offices and the candidates running.
Mike Tomlinson was the only candidate for city controller who showed up and participated. Myself, and it seemed that everyone else who attended, were very impressed with Tomlinson and his understanding of the overwhelming issues facing our city.
Tomlinson has the experience and the unique qualifications to be, as he defined, “the person to audit, investigate and examine everything in this city.”
Mike Tomlinson is our neighbor in Holmesburg and he inspired the room. I am voting for Mike Tomlinson for city controller.
Jaqueline Boyle Knoedler
Upper Holmesburg
