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Category: Published Op-Eds
Inventing (and un-inventing) West Mt. Airy
Mt. Airy Times Express, January 7, 2004 (WMAN) and East Mt. Airy Neighbors (EMAN) have invited members of the community to join the Boards of each organization at our annual joint meeting, which will be held Tuesday, January 13, 2004, 7:30 p.m. in Hagan Hall of the Lutheran Theological Seminary, 7301 Germantown Avenue. The purpose of this meeting is to begin a discussion about the future of the two organizations. Among the topics we will discuss is the possibility of merging the two organizations. In order to encourage the broadest and most inclusive discussion, the meeting will be led by a professional facilitator who does not live in our community. This meeting was prompted by a committee appointed to discuss the ongoing relationship between WMAN and EMAN. Derek Green, the president of EMAN, and I encouraged the two boards to form this committee earlier in the year. Our aim was… Continue reading
The R8: We are not out of the woods, yet
Chestnut Hill Local, July 3, 2003 Everyone in Northwest Philadelphia took a deep breath on hearing that SEPTA was proposing a new budget that did not call for the discontinuation of either the R8 train or the C bus. There is no doubt the effort of so many citizens in Chestnut Hill, Mt. Airy, Germantown, and East Falls to petition and lobby for our train and bus lines had much to do with this decision. The efforts of our political leaders—State Senator Schwartz, State Representatives Washington and Myers, and Council members Miller and Nutter—to lobby for our train and bus lines should be commended as well. Yet before we get carried away congratulating ourselves, we need to read the fine print of SEPTA’s new budget. To look at it closely is to see that we are not out of the woods yet. The threat to the R8 remains extremely serious… Continue reading
Why we may have to fight
It is not easy for those of us who came of age politically during the Vietnam War to support any war, let alone one that does not respond to an imminent threat to our country. We know that war is horrible, even for the victors. And we distrust those who tell us that war is necessary, especially when we can see alternatives. These are healthy instincts. They account for the opposition of many people to President Bush’s determination of go to war against Iraq in order to disarm Saddam Hussein. But even our best political instincts have to be checked against the truth of the situation we face. Unless Saddam changes direction and agrees to disarm, war is likely to be the best response to our situation. What are the alternatives to war? The first is deterrence. We can prevent Saddam from using weapons of mass destruction to pursue his… Continue reading
Misunderstandings abound in Cecilian Village project
Chestnut Hill Local, January 18, 2003 The dispute over the Sisters of St. Joseph’s (SSJ) proposal to place 49 units of low-income senior housing in the historic Pelham district of Mt. Airy has, as it should, generated a great deal of debate in this papers’ letters columns as well as in many private discussions. But along with reasoned argument and debate have come some serious mistakes and misimpressions about what is at issue in this dispute. I would like to correct one of them here. The most serious—and indeed appalling—charge that has been made in this debate is that WMAN is acting to protect the interests of well-off and mostly white homeowners who fear that the proposed project will bring low-income and mostly black senior citizens into their midst. This claim has been a sub-text in some letters to the editor that have recently published. And we have heard reports… Continue reading
A new supermarket for Mt. Airy
Mt. Airy Times-Express, May 9, 2001 A New Supermarket for Mt. Airy Position Paper on the Proposal for a New Acme Supermarket In Our Community West Mt. Airy Neighbors (WMAN), Mt. Airy USA, (MAUSA), South Mt. Airy Task Force (SMATF) Mt. Airy needs and deserves a new, first-class supermarket. Why? A supermarket in our community is a necessity for neighborhood residents, especially those who come to the existing Acme on foot or by bus. Mt. Airy has the buying power to support a new first-class supermarket. Today, a majority of Mt. Airy residents do their grocery shopping elsewhere—often outside the city—where they have access to new stores that, unlike the current Acme in Mt. Airy, are clean, well-designed, stocked with fresh food, staffed by trained, courteous employees, and able to provide many of the services found in the best contemporary supermarkets. Not only will a new first-class supermarket be a much… Continue reading
How to fight the politics of racism
The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 20, 1990 Racism is widely–and rightly–thought to have been a major factor in Jesse Helms’s victory over Harvey Gantt in the North Carolina Senate race. But the way in which racism was important is rather different than commonly understood. Many white voters were encouraged to come to the polls by the racially tinged Helms campaign. But few people voted against Gantt just because he is an African American. Most of the voters in North Carolina who are influenced by racial considerations would probably not vote for any liberal democrat, black or white. Indeed, exit polls show that Gantt won 35% of the white vote. This is only a few percentage points less than white candidates such as Jim Hunt received in his 1984 race against Helms or Bob Jordan attained in his unsuccessful race against Governor Jim Martin in 1989. The real damage that racism did in… Continue reading