Letters | Stand firm, Jannie!

ITOTALLY disagree with your editorial

"100 kids being held hostage on the parkway" (Oct. 2).

As I look at the names of the editorial board, I bet not one of you live in Jannie Blackwell's district or near where they proposed the "jail," and I'm not a betting woman.

I totally agree with the councilwoman's demands, and I'm proud she's standing up for her community. That area needs a community center, and the city needs more affordable housing. Why just accept a "jail" in your community that will interrupt traffic and parking and God only knows what else, and not negotiate for some amenities for the community?

Mayor Street knows how Blackwell is, she has been negotiating with him since the beginning of his term (just look at what her district got out of the Neighborhood Transformation Initiative) and future Mayor Nutter knows her as well.

I suggest he get with the program! Stand your ground, councilwoman!

Tracey L. Gordon, Philadelphia

Wrong on Bush & Iraq

With the excitement about the Phillies, I was late reading your editorial page of Sept. 25 (" 'Evil' speaks").

President Bush took a pre-emptive strike against a dictator who had proved himself hostile to his own people, to other nations in the Middle East and to the United States.

While it was pointed out that some Iraqi officials probably met with al Qaeda, the emphasis of Colin Powell at the United Nations, Vice President Cheney and others was toward the future: "Never again." I believe you've slandered the administration and owe them and your readers an apology.

It is more accurate to say that the media's arousal of desires for sex, toys and other things has produced the violence in the streets of Philadelphia than it is to say that President Bush suggested that Iraq was responsible for 9/11.

Thomas Muldoon, Philadelphia