Letters: BART EXPLAINS TAX 'OVERSIGHT'

TOWER Investments Inc. owns more than 100 properties in Philadelphia, including The Piazza at Schmidt's and Liberties Walk, which are largely credited with the dramatic revitalization of parts of Northern Liberties, as well as Avenue North, which enhanced the burgeoning area around Temple University on North Broad Street. The other 100-plus properties we own across the city are in various stages of development. Tower Entertainment, another of my companies, hopes to be selected to develop the $700 million Provence Resort & Casino on the iconic former site of the Inquirer and Daily News.

Of all this development activity that has reshaped the face of Philadelphia and generated thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenue for the city, the taxes due on one property - one - eluded our controller. Immediately upon becoming aware of this tax issue, we rectified the oversight in full, despite the fact that we were entitled to - but did not initially receive - an abatement on the property.

We are proud to be from Philadelphia - for Philadelphia - and this one insignificant issue will not deter us from continuing the urban transformational development for which we are known, in the city we love.

Bart Blatstein

President & CEO

Tower Investments Inc.

Scouts and Flowers

Christine Flowers' column as to the Boy Scouts being "forced" to allow local chapters to decide whether to admit gay children and adults was remarkable.

The Scouts are not being "forced" to change their position. The court decisions actually went the other way. I assume that declining enrollment and/or community pressure and/or a genuine questioning of the merits of the old policy has caused a shift in thinking. That sounds democratic. Each local chapter will be able to decide for itself whether to accept gay children and adults. That sounds democratic, too. Where have I heard about local autonomy being superior to a giant government's dictates before?

Ms. Flowers' "core values" argument is a red herring. The Boy Scout oath promises duty to God and country, duty to other people and duty to self. There's nothing in there about promoting heterosexuality. Boy Scouts must also promise to be "kind" and "friendly." Which is kinder and friendlier: allowing gay children to join and participate, or to exclude these children?

Even if you buy the "core values" argument, sometimes core values have to go. I'm hoping that Ms. Flowers didn't write columns years ago bemoaning whites-only or male-only organizations having to allow other people to join because of "core values." No doubt Ms. Flowers' same arguments were used back then. Fortunately, those arguments ended in the landfill of history, as they should.

Ms. Flowers' statement that the "don't ask, don't tell" policy in the military was "a perfect compromise" is odious. For who? Straight soldiers got to be open while gay soldiers had to hide in the shadows. How is that a compromise? I haven't read any stories about the military crumbling to dust since the policy was repealed. I have read stories about gay soldiers no longer being kicked out and being much happier. Same with states that have allowed gay marriage. All the arguments have proved hollow when the barriers are finally removed.

I searched Ms. Flowers' column in vain for a mention of the decades of sexual abuse in the Boy Scouts. Thousands of pages of documents have described abuse allegations across the country by over a thousand Scout leaders of thousands of victims. These are the so-called "perversion files." Officials from the Scouts fought in the courts to prevent the release of these documents. Let's see: Since gay people haven't been allowed in, that would mean that straight people committed these crimes, correct? Are sexual assaults and cover-ups "core values" that must be protected, too?

The bottom line is an organization's policy to prevent some children and adults from joining it for a reason - sexual orientation - that has nothing to do with the organization's activities. I'm sorry - that's called bigotry, and I'm glad to see the policy crumbling. We'll look back someday on the Scouts' old policy and view it like we now view segregated restaurants and buses.

Dave Lipshutz

Voorhees, N.J.

Blood-sucking is thicker than oil

Even the least tech-savvy among us has heard of computer trading in stocks and commodities.

A stock reaches a certain price - SELL! A commodity dips to a record low - BUY!

A 10-year-old can see how it works.

The Dow Jones industrial average hits a record high, and gasoline prices suddenly go through the roof because of low inventory (hmmm) and refinery problems (hmmm) and unrest in the Middle East (hmmm).

Cut me a break!!!

How can anyone expect the economy to recover when, at the slightest sign of progress, the bloodsucking oil companies are the first to jump in and make sure they get theirs? The working stiff can find solace banging his head against the wall.

J. Manzi

Conshohocken, Pa.