Phones are needed
Regarding the recent article about how Pennsylvania students soon won’t be able to use cell phones in school, the fact that we are reading about a plan to ban phones in schools not one week after a school shooting appalls me.
Yes, phones are “addictive algorithms,” but they also provide safety, allowing you to access those you need when you need them. As a student in the Philadelphia School District, I have experienced incidents year after year in which my school has gone into lockdown due to a safety issue, and my phone was the only way I could reach my parents and let them know I was safe. During the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, a student used her phone to call 911 from within a classroom. At Arapahoe High School in Centennial, Colo., students used their phones to tell their parents they were safe while an active shooter was roaming the halls. The bill states “schools must provide parents with a phone number … to be used for receiving messages during school,” but what happens when that number blows up?
I understand we need to alleviate digital harm, but right now physical harm is an ever-present, constant risk in schools, and we need our phones.
Maram Osman, Philadelphia
Optimism
Gene Marks’ column on small businesses and the midterm elections in The Inquirer overlooks a growing crisis closer to home: the elimination of Philadelphia’s $100,000 Business Income and Receipts Tax (BIRT) exemption for small businesses. Several colleagues and I are considering relocating our small businesses to the suburbs because of this, and it certainly deserves attention alongside speculation about how national elections might affect our “optimism.”
Although the exemption ended following a legal challenge, City Council has left replacement relief languishing while business owners face firm tax deadlines. As LIFTphilly.org explains, relief is possible; what’s missing is any political urgency.
Council’s inaction is especially galling after The Inquirer reported that approximately $20 million owed to the city sat undisbursed in sheriff’s office accounts until an audit uncovered it. Its eventual transfer does not erase the oversight failure. A city demanding more from taxpayers owes us competent management of public money.
Council should pass the pending BIRT relief legislation before more small businesses leave, taking economic activity and neighborhood investment with them. If Philadelphia wants small-business optimism, it should give us a reason to stay — and The Inquirer’s coverage should hold officials accountable for doing so.
Jeanne Andrews, Philadelphia
Public feud
Episodes of Law & Order open with: “In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: the police, who investigate crime, and the district attorneys, who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories.” I don’t recall ever watching an episode that had such a vicious war of words between the police commissioner and the district attorney as I’ve witnessed between Police Commissioner Kevin J. Bethel and District Attorney Larry Krasner. It’s time for these city leaders to stop publicly voicing their frustration with their partner in Philadelphia’s criminal justice system and instead fulfill their responsibility to represent the interests of the people to live in a safe city.
Paul L. Newman, Merion Station