Letters to the Editor

The recent article about the visit by Pennsylvania House Democratic leaders to South Philadelphia High School highlighted urgent structural needs. For example, the visitors were told on their tour of the school that its boilers were running on borrowed time. They were also informed that the School District needs $40 million from the state for heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning repairs, along with $21 million for electrical work. State representatives were also informed the district had to close six school buildings due to asbestos contamination and that the overall urgent capital needs were estimated at $5 billion.

Having read this article, I was rather surprised to see that the Independence Charter School on Lombard Street was having its outside bricks repaired and replaced, and outside lighting was being installed. It seems rather bizarre that a charter school has money for such cosmetic work on its building, while there are urgent infrastructure repairs needed at our public schools. The legislature needs to get off the charter school bandwagon and fund our essential public schools, as required by the state constitution.

Paul L. Schraeder, Philadelphia

If there is a U.S. Supreme Court demonstrating bias toward women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, and voting rights, are we safe? If we have an antiabortion senator holding up promotions in our defense hierarchy, are we safe? If there is more concern about women and LGBTQ people in our armed services, while we have Oath Keepers in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, are we safe? If the First Amendment extends rights to people to be so abusive as to scare poll workers out of their homes, are we safe?

Did the Second Amendment writers ever think their concern over public safety would, in fact, extend to the public being more heavily armed than the police? Did we ever think that domestic terrorism would be the number one threat to our country? Did we ever think that a past president would be inciting his followers toward violence? Unfortunately, answers to securing our safety, the proper functioning of government, and an overall attachment to sanity are taking a second seat to partisanship and the retention of power.

William Cohen, Huntingdon Valley

Despite congressional legislation enacted in 2021, most hospitals still fail to be transparent about the costs of health-care services. Only 25% of hospitals comply with the requirement that prices must be provided to patients before they receive care. An approach to enforcing this rule is codifying it at the state level. Another concern regarding hospital costs is standardization. While this warrants pursuit, implementing transparent costs and standardizing those costs within the same legislation could delay immediate action. To standardize hospital costs, legislators must consider geographical regions, service pay rates, insurance coverages, add-ons/deductions, and outlier payments. Devising legislation that addresses these considerations with minimal opposition will take time. State legislation must enforce transparency before individuals face financial difficulties while simply trying to get the care they need.

Bryan Cammon, student, Drexel University

Join the conversation: Send letters to [email protected]. Limit length to 150 words and include home address and day and evening phone number. Letters run in The Inquirer six days a week on the editorial pages and online.