Letters to the Editor | April 24, 2024

Many years ago, a group of homeless people set up an encampment beneath the El tracks. It was a place to stay off the streets, keep protected from the weather, and be safe. One day, city officials took the area apart, and the homeless individuals were forced to live on the streets again. Originally, the only things in this area were discarded items. Fast-forward to 2024, and the homeless are still sleeping on the streets, but now the U.S. Supreme Court is getting involved. Some city officials want to punish people for sleeping outside, imposing a fine on the very people who do not have money. If people experiencing homelessness had money, would they be camping out on various sites in a city? Maybe some of the infrastructure money could be used to build humane, livable spaces for those human beings who are destitute. It is obvious that too many city officials are closing their eyes to the serious methods they want to use to eliminate the problem.

Gloria Gelman, Philadelphia

Readers of The Inquirer who are interested in the stewardship of tax dollars by the city of Philadelphia must read the excellent analysis by reporters William Bender and Ryan W. Briggs. The sheriff’s office generates fees from property sales, evictions, and serving writs. Sheriff Rochelle Bilal has used those funds at her own discretion, in violation of both city and state regulations on the use of those funds. The city solicitor, the city controller, and the governor’s office are on record as saying something’s afoot. In 2020, the city settled a whistleblower lawsuit by Bilal’s chief financial officer, Brett Mandel, who identified the misuse of funds. The city settled the suit for almost $500,000. Did the practice change at the sheriff’s office? Of course not. So far, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker is silent on the matter, and the City Council president praised Bilal at a recent meeting. Why is this practice allowed to continue? I wonder where the mayor is on this?

Angelo Sgro, Philadelphia

As Philly taxpayers seethe from the deplorable mismanagement at the Philadelphia Sheriff’s Office, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker offers silence. Numerous Inquirer articles over the years have documented the waste, mismanagement, and sense of impunity rampant at that petri dish of corruption known as the sheriff’s office. As Sheriff Rochelle Bilal has shirked her duty to the citizens of Philadelphia — through misuse of funds, failing to conduct sheriff sales, no-bid contracts, costly harassment and whistleblower suits, and arbitrary pay raises (including her own) — neither Parker nor any member of her sizable staff is offering a comment.

As millions in city revenue were lost to Bilal’s inaction on sheriff sales, and millions more in service fees and costs are used as an in-house piggy bank, the mayor’s silence is galling. Who’s guarding the henhouse? At recent budget hearings, Bilal received fawning praise from City Council, most notably Council President Kenyatta Johnson, for her stewardship. Bilal then audaciously insisted that her office needs dramatically more funding to operate properly. Really? How did this archaic row office become a third rail for elected officials? Will it take federal intervention for officials to act? Kensington is not the only place that needs a crackdown.

J. Savage, Philadelphia

Russell Byers Charter School would like to clarify a few statements made in Jenice Armstrong’s recent column. In 2001, Laurada Byers and her family founded Russell Byers Charter School and hired accomplished educational leaders to run it. Today, the school’s CEO is a distinguished educational leader, Jessica Ramos. School oversight is provided by a diverse and talented board of educators, business and community leaders, parents, teachers, and a successful graduate of the school. After serving 10 years on the school’s board, Byers resigned in 2010 to spend more time as an unpaid fundraiser and board chair of the Byerschool Foundation. She and her staff have raised over $20 million to support the school.

The foundation’s success has enabled the school to offer students benefits not available at most peer schools, such as a safe and modern Center City location, art and physical education, Spanish, music, and an Outward Bound program. These benefits advance the mission Russell Byers espoused: going beyond teaching reading, math, science, and testing to prepare our students for life. As Laurada Byers seeks her replacement at the Byerschool Foundation, the school thanks her for the educational opportunities she has made available to Philadelphia’s children over the past 25 years.

Stephen Prichard, board member, Russell Byers Charter School, Phoenixville, sprichard@byerschool.org

I am writing to express my disappointment at The Inquirer’s continued attempts to drive a wedge between district-operated schools and brick-and-mortar charter schools despite both being public schools, free and open to all. The Inquirer’s stance is especially disappointing because what it seems concerned about — that not every charter school is high achieving — is equally true for district-operated schools, yet The Inquirer hasn’t called for those schools to be held to the same standards despite every child deserving an equal education.

At a time when more than one-third of city students attend a brick-and-mortar charter school — with more than 21,000 others on wait lists — we should all be focused on what it will take to improve all public schools and give parents the education options they so clearly want, not creating false divisions. I am happy the mayor has included charter supporters among her nominees for school board, just as she included supporters of district-operated schools because they are both equal options for parents and should be represented. Hopefully, the new school board will reverse the anti-charter policies of its predecessor and support every Philadelphia public school.

Shereda Cromwell, Philadelphia

The resolve of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners to withdraw the demolition permit application for the Airy Street prison heralds a welcome shift from confined thinking. But critical to the informed decision-making process about future reuse will be the responses prompted by the release of a Request for Expression of Interest (RFEI), which is due to be circulated late this summer. The RFEI must clearly convey the commissioners’ imperative to save and repurpose at least the original Napoleon LeBrun-designed section of the prison — an 1851 architectural gem, rising just a short walk east on Airy Street from the County Courthouse.

Planning Commission Executive Director Scott France noted in his thorough presentation before the commissioners on April 4 that this entire endeavor will be predicated upon transparency and meaningful community participation. To that end, the county should provide regular and substantive updates on its website, with links to contracts for service, the findings of the conditions assessment, the RFEI, and most importantly, the development community’s responses to the RFEI. In combination with the adjacent 1.3-acre county-owned parcel, the historic Airy Street prison offers the potential for a truly monumental project, one that could complement the county’s nearby $414 million Justice Center investment.

Sydelle Zove, Whitemarsh Township

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