No need for these speed bumps
Speed bumps on roads seem to be the rage on roads in Northeast Philadelphia. Two recent examples in the Somerton section highlight the fallacy that “if one is good, then more is better.” They both involve distances of well under a quarter of a mile.
The first is Tomlinson Road between Gifford and Ferndale. There are four speed bumps on a stretch of Tomlinson that is less than two-tenths of a mile long. On such a short distance, one speed bump would have achieved the desired slowdown of traffic. Four of them only cause unnecessary traffic backups and will cause cars heading up the slope to slide downward in icy conditions due to lack of time to develop any traction.
The disappointing response from Councilman O’Neill’s office was that this was a decision made by city engineers for our safety and nothing can be done to fix this foolishness. So, some unnamed bureaucrats downtown, who certainly don’t live on this tiny stretch and never see the traffic at rush hour, can impose these obstacles to smooth traffic in our neighborhood. Furthermore, adding insult to injury, one of the speed bumps is only several meters from a four-way stop sign.
The second is Selmer Road between Proctor and Northeast Ave. Again, this involves a very small stretch that is less than two-tenths of a mile long, yet some genius decided that it requires not one, but three speed bumps. With this kind of faulty reasoning, why not simply impose a 5 mph speed limit citywide? It certainly will make us “safer,” but at what cost?
Leo Iwaskiw
Somerton
Mayer Krain for mayor
There are about 10 people running for mayor on the Democratic ticket already.
There isn’t even one Republican, not even Al Taubenberger.
I was dreaming that I should possibly run as a Republican with my 40-plus years of financial expertise in industry as a corporate officer and CEO, being a CPA, PGW treasury supervisor, an auditor with the school district for 20 years and living and schooled in the city all my life.
My auditing experience would be better than Rhynhart’s office auditing the school district. She didn’t do anything about the frauds committed and wrote a terrible self-serving report on the police department just before she announced.
What a coincidence!
I would get rid of the entire Kenney puppet school board and not just rearranging the chairs because of their racist discriminatory practices.
Also firing the new superintendent who doesn’t know anything about running the district and is always seeking advice.
I understand large and small business and individuals’ financial struggles.
My signs would say “Mayer for Mayor.”
Mayer Krain
Modena Park
Contradictions
What people say sometimes is contradictory. For example District Attorney Krasner, who lost a criminal trial to Carlos Vega when he was (still) a defense attorney, called Vega “unethical,” “petty,” “abusive,” “disgraceful” and a prime example of a “win-at-all-costs” mentality at the District Attorney’s Office that Krasner vowed to dismantle. Well, if I needed a lawyer to prosecute a case, I would want that lawyer and those lawyers in the District Attorney’s Office.
Another contradictory statement came from President (King) Biden. During one of his infrequent press conferences, President Biden was questioned about Twitter’s new owner being a threat to national security. President Biden responded that the topic was “worthy of being looked at.” President Biden preaches that democracy must be saved. With that statement, it seems that President Biden is running a controlling police state.
Another statement that is contradictory comes from former Council member Cherelle Parker. When responding that she was the frontrunner in the mayoral race in Philadelphia, Parker said, “To me that represents privilege. I’m a black woman.” A few days after Parker resigned her Council post, Parker was hired as a lobbyist by a Harrisburg firm. Now is that considered a privilege?
Another statement came from the Biden administration where he eased some oil sanctions on Venezuela in an effort to boost humanitarian needs to that country’s poor. But under Biden’s policy, the profits from the sale of Venezuela’s energy would be directed to paying down debt to Chevron. Now, this was after President Biden warned of windfall taxes on profits on the big oil companies. Chevron is a big oil company.
Joseph Nadolski
Academy Gardens
Better candidates, please
It wasn’t about killing babies, it’s about quality of candidates. The Republicans who write into this publication complain that Philadelphia Democrats only vote for Democrats. If the GOP would ever pick decent candidates we probably would vote for them if they were the better choice. But please, Mehmet Oz, Doug Mastriano, Peruto? (I didn’t vote for Krasner, either). Where’s your new version of Arlen Specter, Sam Katz or Phila. version of Brian Fitzpatrick? If you put up candidates like them, they would garner Democratic votes. So, sorry to break it to you, but it’s you, not us.
David Chester
Bustleton
