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Letters: Some amendments weakened legislation
A Jan. 11 commentary, "Pa. House takes lead on open records," by State Rep. Bryan Lentz about my legislation to strengthen Pennsylvania's Open Records Law, warrants clarification.
Lentz's claim that the Senate-passed bill "contained numerous exceptions and loopholes" is misleading at best. The Senate-passed bill contained fewer exceptions than the version passed by the House.
While open-government advocates say some of the House amendments to S.B. 1 strengthened the legislation, they also point out that others seriously weakened it. For example, the House's language permits agencies to make citizens pay for a "legal review" to determine if a record is public. It is not hard to envision "legal review" costs that quickly add up to thousands of dollars if an agency doesn't want to release a particular record. Also, the House version would allow an agency to forever prohibit an individual from accessing public records for failing to pay even a nominal copying fee one time.
I appreciate Rep. Lentz's support of my efforts to rewrite Pennsylvania's 50-year-old Open Records Law. I expect that the Senate will agree to numerous changes made by the House. However, we will not agree to any amendment such as the two described above that would severely limit citizen access to public records.
State Sen. Dominic Pileggi
Majority Leader
Chester
Why not the best?
Re: "Police face big change in Phila.," Jan. 14:
The article stated that Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey "signaled to the department's captains that he wants to assign the best commanders to the city's most crime-infested districts." This statement worries me.
I live in the Far Northeast, which thankfully for the most part has escaped the crime wave in Philadelphia. If Commissioner Ramsey puts the best commanders in the crime-infested neighborhoods, what does that mean for the parts of the city that are not crime-ridden?
Does it mean that we will get poor-quality commanders? By the time someone reaches the rank of captain in this or any police department, they should be the best.
Marc Eichler
Philadelphia
Payoff already here
Wow! Pennsylvania's slots parlors are doing so well. ("Pa. casinos rank as slots champs," Jan. 15). So well, in fact, that there is no need to build the two proposed slots parlors in Philly.
It looks like everyone gets what they want: Gov. Rendell gets to use gambling halls to bail out taxpayers and Philly gets to save itself from looking like a second-class city.
Meredith Warner
Philadelphia
Beckoning table
There's a saying that a picture is worth a thousand words. Here's my suggestion to lessen violence: Have two pictures placed side-by-side on buses and billboards throughout Philadelphia. One picture would show a man in prison eating his dinner with hundreds of other men. Have another picture that shows a man eating dinner with his wife and two children.
Then ask: Which picture would you rather be in?
Harold Schwartz
Philadelphia
