Letters to the Editor | April 21, 2025

I moved to South Florida after 25 years split between New York City and San Francisco. Recently, I had the occasion to visit Philadelphia on business. Expecting big city pathologies would keep me within the confines of the hotel most of the time, I was blown away by Old City and Center City. My fiancé and I walked 50 miles over four chilly but sun-splashed days. Block after block of historic homes and tree-lined streets and boulevards, the very history of our nation is everywhere around us. Everyone we met was friendly and seemingly proud of their city. Remarkable food at Reading Terminal Market, South Street, and Third Street. Our last evening, we walked the length of the Ben Franklin Bridge and watched the sun set from the middle of the span as we made our final walk back to the Old City Marriott. Thank you, Philadelphia.

Glenn W. Rapp, Naples, Fla.

Congratulations to the fine retired Common Pleas Court judges who, in their recent letter to the editor, reminded us of how important it is that we repudiate the attacks by Donald Trump on judges and our judiciary. We need these same excellent judges to lead in getting the Philadelphia Bar Association and law firms to encourage candidates to serve the community by running for the bench. We need candidates who can get rated “recommended” or “highly recommended” by the bar association. And then all of us need to insist that the Democratic and Republican Parties never endorse candidates who are rated “not recommended.” It is a complete disgrace that only one candidate on the ballot for Municipal Court this May has been rated “recommended” when three are to be elected.

Mary Goldman, Philadelphia

Donald Trump’s executive order claiming to be “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” is aiming to do exactly the opposite. He is the one with the “concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth.” Is he now going to declare he never made the remarks cited from a speech in 2017 in which he praised the National Museum of African American History and Culture as “a tribute to so many American heroes”? It would not surprise me, nor probably many others, if he were to disavow this. Just because he says something doesn’t mean we the people must believe him or should accept what he says as true facts. We as a nation are being diminished more and more each day because of his self-interested and narrow-minded dictatorial actions and views.

Elsbeth Wrigley, Wyndmoor

On behalf of the many Tesla owners who cannot do anything effective about their past decisions, a thank you to columnist Jenice Armstrong for telling a simple story we share. I love our Chevy Bolt, the cheapest vehicle to operate I have ever owned, but it just didn’t have the range to get me to my long-haul business travel destinations reliably and conveniently. At the time, suitable alternatives weren’t available. I couldn’t wait a year to buy the Chevy Equinox EV that now does the same thing as a Tesla for far less money, and has access to both non-Tesla and Tesla charging stations (and has fewer unnecessary control gimmicks that I find annoying). Thank you also for something rare in the newspaper biz: telling simple stories of personal experiences that demystify electric vehicles (or solar, or electrification). We could use a lot more of that. The best way to send a message (and take positive action to slow global warming) is to vote with your dollars — put your money into an EV, not a gas guzzler, for solar, not for Peco, for heat pumps, not fuel burners.

Peter S. Puglionesi, Havertown

Donald Trump recently signed executive orders to jump-start coal production, including an effort to name it a “mineral,” and direct $200 billion in financing toward coal infrastructure, as well as allowing coal mining on federal lands. At the end of his public commentary, he said essentially it’s OK for sea levels to rise because then we will have more coastline. His comment on sea level rise indicates he no longer considers climate change “a fraud.” In which case, he is intentionally and knowingly taking an action he knows will accelerate climate change. This is rather extraordinary. And no one around him, his loyal staff or advisers, has tried to stop this. Don’t they have children or grandchildren?

Peter Handler, co-group leader, Philadelphia Citizens’ Climate Lobby, Philadelphia

Recent reports of Elon Musk’s DOGE team of technicians monitoring federal agencies’ communications for anti-Trump language are reminiscent of George Orwell’s 1984, a dystopian perspective of a futuristic society. Utilizing artificial intelligence to target workers who disagree with the president is but one more example of this administration purging the government of public servants considered adversarial. We have witnessed private law firms and individual prosecutors suffering a similar Orwellian fate: Those who participated in investigations of alleged wrongdoing by Donald Trump now face federal investigations, spurious financial penalties, and loss of government contracts. It appears the only free speech Trump condones is language that praises, glorifies, and flatters his oversized sense of self to compensate for a fragile ego.

James L. DeBoy, Lancaster

I applaud The Inquirer’s series on Philadelphia’s child welfare system. By shining this spotlight on the tragic failures of this broken system, these stories have created an opportunity to finally pursue powerful reform. For 10 years, Turning Points for Children was the Department of Human Services’ largest Community Umbrella Agency (CUA) provider. We served more than 14,000 children — essentially 40% of DHS cases — and saw the breakdowns in the system firsthand.

Turning Points made the decision to exit the CUA system in 2022 due to intractable financial challenges stemming from a system that holds Philadelphia harmless in all lawsuits while providers carry the full burden of legal settlements. This model puts pressure on providers to the point of risking their stability. Turning Points was created as a child abuse prevention agency, and transitioning out of the CUA system enabled us to return to that mission. We are dedicated to improving the lives of children through prevention services. It’s essential we equip parents and caregivers with resources that will support safe and healthy families and environments where children do not need to be removed from their homes in the first place.

The details in The Inquirer’s series are devastating and hard to read. The facts can’t be denied. And while this is not a new conversation, now is not the time to turn away from the grim details. I urge us to see this as a moment to come together, not to point fingers. We must convene the agencies and organizations doing this work, look at models that have been shown to be successful, and collaborate to identify solutions. We remain a committed advocate for this essential reform within the child welfare system. We invite others to do the same. The children of Philadelphia need us.

David Fair, executive director, Turning Points for Children

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