No automated traffic enforcement
An April 24 letter spoke about how people are terrible drivers and how he thinks we need traffic calming and heavy-handed traffic enforcement. Then a few letters later on the same page, there is another letter claiming that the city is not enforcing traffic laws, and basically said that automated traffic enforcement is not deterring the terrible driving he brings up. Cameras are in the area, so what is going on? Camera locations nationwide have sometimes had increases in crashes.
The city needs best practice engineering the enforcement. This includes setting 85th percentile speed limits, using longer yellow lights, and fewer stop signs. Police should be used to cite drivers who commit egregious violations. Automated enforcement should never be used, as it is a total failure.
With reasonable policies, everyone will be safer, and only the truly dangerous outliers will be cited. It makes no sense to promote poor engineering and predatory ticketing on one hand, while then ignoring most traffic violations on the other hand.
We have seen years of Vision Zero, with nothing good coming from it. When you look at PennDOT data, the roads continue to be the safest in history. So is there a desire to raise revenue or get people to stop driving? Makes you wonder.
James Sikorski Jr.
Wapwallopen
Fix the Krewstown Bridge
With the $14.2 million grant to repair the Bells Mills and Valley Green bridges over the Wissahickon Creek, I am frustrated that for over 40 years here in Northeast Philadelphia the 1800 Krewstown Road Bridge over the Pennypack Creek in need of much repair has been ignored by the city. The bridge is within the 1,600-acre Pennypack Park. Krewstown Road is a heavily traveled highway, including SEPTA Bus Route 19. Approach and egress is dangerous at times, especially on the north side of the bridge. Ironically, the 1977 Pine Road Bridge over the Pennypack, a mile away, is currently being rebuilt by the city “to upgrade bridge capacity and improve public safety.”
The former Friends of Pennypack Park had raised the Krewstown Bridge issue numerous times, as far back as 1987. Unfortunately, that advocate had to disband, as we could no longer afford the high rate of volunteer liability insurance.
Harvey Cantor
Somerton
Double standard
If the schools in the School District of Philadelphia were held to the same academic and financial standards as the charter schools, they would be closed also. Why the double standard?
Richard Donofry
East Torresdale
Caving to Trump’s whims
In response to James McCaffrey, yes, I absolutely believe that Republicans would again turn a blind eye when Trump declares himself America’s version of Putin. They have repeatedly been silent when he blatantly ignores the basic principles of our nation. Almost every Republican who was horrified on Jan. 6, 7 and 8 soon forgot their own words. For fear of his retribution. Even Mitch McConnell denies everything that Trump has done, even all the nasty things he said about his wife. I don’t know about you, but if someone said those things about my wife, he’d have a hard time showing himself in public for a few weeks, but Mitch goes and endorses him. So yes, they will all cave and fall in line. They don’t care about the people of this country, they only care about winning at all costs. How long have we been trying to get legislation to fix the border? And we have it, but the Orange Buffoon opens his mouth and Spineless Mike refuses to put it out for a vote. They all cave to Trump’s whims. It’s right in front of your face and you refuse to see it.
Your hatred for Democrats blinds you to what is really going on in this country. The price at the pumps and in the grocery stores are no longer due to inflation. It is pure corporate greed plain and simple. They are all making record profits at our expense. Wake up. Hitler rose to power the same way, by catering to people’s fear and hatred. Giving hate-filled racist speeches in large stadiums. MAGA Republicans have an extreme hatred of Democrats and a racist fear of losing their privilege. There is a quote you should think about, “When fascism comes to America it will be waving a flag and carrying a Bible.” Sound like anyone?
David Chester
Bustleton
New jobs needed each year
If America’s consumers focus even more of their buying power to support America’s manufacturers and local businesses, we could create several million additional full-time and part-time jobs for American workers each year. That’s not considering the jobs that are reported in the news media each month as being created, because the majority of those jobs are replacing the workers who retire from the workforce each month. I’m talking about millions of new jobs created as a result of industries expanding their product lines and services here in the United States of America to meet the growing demands of America’s consumers.
Supporters of the Buy American Made Campaign have certainly been making a major impact on helping businesses remain stable, and our efforts have also been encouraging businesses to expand in America as we purchase more items made in the United States of America.
Only when we can all go shopping and find 50% of items we need made in America can we consider our efforts a success.
With your participation everything is possible and with all of us working together we can change the landscape of America and see more Americans able to support themselves and be part of the growing global economy.
Your comments and suggestions are always welcome. Email them to [email protected].
Michael Blichasz
Torresdale
