Letters to the Editor | April 29, 2025

Yo, fellow Philadelphia taxpayers. Did you just receive a 45-page glossy photo album from City Council? I wonder how many potholes or library books or air-conditioners for schools this self-promotion yearbook could have paid for?

Mary Goldman, Philadelphia

Like many of you, I have received a 45-page booklet titled “2024, An Incredible Year in Council.” It has lots of graphics and photos, all in color. While 2024 may have been an incredible year for Council, it was not an incredible year for the people of Philadelphia. Very few of the claims accomplished are supported by convincing evidence. And I noted the absence of the most consequential decision Council made in 2024: endorsing the misconceived scheme to build a basketball arena next to Chinatown. I have tried and failed to find out how much this fatuous orgy of self-celebration cost the taxpayers of the poorest large city in America. An aide to Councilmember Mark Squilla told me, “We do not know the cost.”

Peter Conn, Philadelphia, pconn@upenn.edu

There are huge problems with local law enforcement — like the Bucks County Sheriff’s Department — entering into cooperation agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement under the 287(g) initiative that go far beyond the distaste many of us have with the fervor of the anti-immigrant Trump administration. When local law enforcement spend time and resources assisting ICE in the enforcement of civil immigration laws, those personnel are not protecting crime victims and investigating crimes in the community. And when our local law enforcement assist ICE, many immigrants (whether in the country legally or not) will not trust local police to protect them from criminal elements. They will not report crimes to police or be willing to be witnesses in court. This encourages those elements in society to believe they can get away with committing crimes because certain people will be too scared to report it. Instead of protecting our community, 287(g) agreements make our communities less safe.

Steven Morley, Philadelphia

Whatever can be said concerning President Donald Trump’s foibles and liabilities, few should excite more outrage than his surrender to the Israeli government on the subject of Gaza. Does he express outrage at Israel’s turning Gaza to near total rubble, outrage by its refusal to allow food, water, or medicine into the enclave for over two months, outrage at its relentless attacks on hospitals, ambulances, aid workers, and journalists, and now its daily attacks on the fragile tents that house women and children, resulting in cold-blooded slaughters? Instead of excoriating the Israeli government over its villainy and barbarous pursuits, Trump instead invites Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu here to assure him of even more money and weapons, including 2,000-pound bombs to continue the carnage. This is the state of our U.S. government today — a moral turpitude of unprecedented proportions.

Sid Sussman, Hallandale, Fla.

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