Let’s consider skaters

Because of the attention drawn to an article in the Chestnut Hill Local about the skate park at the Water Tower and a subsequent article the next week about trash, light and noise disturbances, etc. all the equipment used by skateboarders has been removed with no notice or discussion with the kids who frequent this spot. I must defend my nephew and his friends who have used the spot at the recreation center for years.

I don’t know who neighbors are talking about regarding people being out there at all hours drinking, doing other stuff, bouncing off public property and sometimes damaging it. I can assure you that my nephew and his friends only want a nearby place to skate and enjoy their sport.

They do not drink, smoke, do drugs or destroy property. They know that some neighbors have complaints, but they have always been respectful when talking to them. They have never been approached by the Water Tower staff and asked to leave, nor told that they should not be there. It is my understanding that the spot where they skateboard has been a designated area for the past 15 years.

Some have said that skateboarding is prohibited at the Water Tower. Although there are signs to that effect on the tennis courts, there is no sign in the area where skateboarders skate. Skateboarding is a recreational sport and what better place than the local recreational center to have equipment that they can use? Let’s consider this for our neighborhood kids and young adults.

Rita Lawless

Chestnut Hill

For skaters, Water Tower was home

I am a resident of Chestnut Hill and I have been skateboarding at the Water Tower almost every day for nearly seven years. Throughout the years, nobody has had a problem with us skating there, and the people who worked at the Water Tower gave us permission as long as we didn’t skate on the tennis courts.

After the article came out about the skate park a couple weeks ago, things started changing.

For one, I want to apologize to the neighbors for any inconvenience the skate park has caused in regards to noise. However, I just discussed the issue of the noise with a few of the neighbors living directly behind Water Tower and they said it is not an issue to them at all and that they enjoy the skate park being there. My friends and I aren't there past 9:30 p.m. at the latest and the lights go off around that time anyway. Since the article came out, we haven’t gone there past 8 p.m. We brought brooms and a trashcan to Water Tower in order to keep the place clean. It was working for a while before somebody stole both of them. The garbage was always a big deal to me.

When my friends and I go there, the spot is only used for skateboarding, nothing else. Contrary to popular belief, there is no drinking or drug use that goes on in the vicinity we skate in. The things that we’ve built and brought there aren’t dangerous and one of the obstacles was made specifically for skateboarding. When I arrived at the Water Tower today, I found that everything was gone. It was as if our home had been taken from us.

Water Tower is a recreation center. There is no reason skateboarding shouldn’t be allowed there when the area is not used for anything else. The spot has been a designated place for skateboarding for over a decade and it’s where I grew up skating and met people that I’m going to be friends with for the rest of my life. Water Tower is our home.

Joseff Filamor

Chestnut Hill

Don’t forget positives of Water Tower

I was pleased as well as disappointed to read the article about the state of the Water Tower Rec Center. Pleased to see some of the physical needs of the building being addressed, yet disappointed that the positive impact that the Water Tower Rec Center has on the community was not highlighted. The Water Tower Rec Center has been a special place for my family. For eight years we rented an apartment within walking distance of the Water Tower. Two of my three children attended the nursery school program at the Water Tower and we have played soccer games and tennis matches and have enjoyed the playgrounds over those years. We have seen countless children learn gymnastics, karate, baseball and basketball, not to mention attend summer camp and other activities that are available at the rec center.

I am especially fond of the tennis courts at the Water Tower, which do need repair. One of the best kept secrets about the Water Tower is that it hosts a wonderful youth tennis program each summer, as do many other parks across the city including Allens Lane in Mt. Airy. My three children have all benefited from this great program.

When my oldest son was 5 1/2, we began our first summer tennis program at the Water Tower. He was young for the program, but the lead coach at the time, Terrace Scott, a native of Mt. Airy, made an exception for him to join at that young age.

Since the summer of 2008, my children have been involved at the Water Tower site of National Junior Tennis League, also known as NJTL, through Legacy Youth Tennis and Education, formerly called Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis. For the past four summers, I have had kids in both the morning programs (novice) and the afternoon programs (intermediate and advanced) playing tennis at different levels. The NJTL program is an affordable day camp for children ages 7-17. This program has given my children wonderful summer experiences and innumerable hours of fun, and they end each summer in better physical shape then they began it in.

Our NJTL summers at the Water Tower have been filled with tennis, fun, running drills, stroke practice, ladder matches, water breaks, sunscreen, snack breaks, playgrounds, friends, coaches, junior coaches and lots of sweat. They play games like captain midnight, sharks and minnows, around the world, and king of the court, to name a few. My children and I have made numerous friends over the summers, both on the tennis courts and on the sides of the courts. We have traveled to playgrounds in parts of Philly that we would not have otherwise to play matches, and learned lessons in sportsmanship and being part of a team. Those lessons apply to life, not just tennis. They have seen that hard work does pay off, that being teachable is a quality that coaches look for, that people are drawn to those that are encouraging to them, and the importance of looking out for those younger and less able. They have learned that winning really isn’t everything, but is does feel good if you do it honestly and with respect for the person(s) you are playing against.

This summer my children are again enjoying another great summer in the NJTL program. Lead coaches Avery Mitchell and Hailey Bennett, who grew up in Philadelphia playing tennis in the NJTL program, are making tennis camp a fun activity for my kids. Area supervisor and local resident Stephanie Daniels coached my children for over seven summers and is now overseeing the NJTL programs in the NW section of the city. I cannot overstate my appreciation for these coaches and the many other coaches who have worked with my children over the summers. Their encouragement and teaching has had a profound impact on my children.

The NJTL program at the Water Tower is a great community to be a part of. It is a diverse group both economically and racially. It has reminded me of my summers as a college intern running a day camp at The Pittsburgh Project, working to make a difference in urban kids’ lives by giving them something to do with a purpose, providing an opportunity to build new friendships and deepen those that already existed, showing them how to have hope for a better community, and developing leadership skills in the older students.

I hope that you can highlight the positive impact the Water Tower Rec Center has on the community, especially through its programs for children. My family has found the Water Tower a place of learning and fun, and an anchor in the community for local families. Yes, there are things that need updating, improving and overhauling, but let us not forget all the good that goes on in its walls and on its grounds.

Becky Suggs

Wyndmoor

Beating the Regional Rail rush

Tired of the Regional Rail delays? Try the L Bus to the Broad Street Subway.

When SEPTA discovered the problem with the new trains, which forced it to take out 1/3 of its train fleet, it forced a major cut in service. But ridership is typically lower in the summer months. The real challenge will be if this condition drags past Labor Day, when the number of daily passengers will return to normal. As a former transit planner and press officer at NYC Transit, I used to assess these kinds of conditions, so here is my plan for avoiding the crush.

The best thing to do is not pretend rush hour is normal. Leave early or late to avoid the most crowded trains. In the morning, try to avoid the trains leaving during the 7 and 8 a.m. hours, and in the afternoon, avoid trains returning from Center City between 4 and 5 p.m. hours. If you can’t adjust the hours and you need to travel, one alternative I’ve discovered that really works quite well is the L bus to/from the Olney station on the Broad Street Subway.

The express service on the Broad Street Line is an outstanding service with air-conditioned trains that operate every 7 minutes. The trip takes only 15 minutes between Olney to Walnut-Locust, and the L line bus runs frequently as well with the trip taking about 30 minutes. If you like to avoid the delays, then do yourself a favor and be flexible - try the L bus to the Broad Street Line. You’ll be glad you did.

Bob Previdi

Chestnut Hill

Appreciating Pastorius Park

Last week I took one of my fairly frequent walks through Pastorius Park and was so pleasantly surprised to see how beautifully clean it was. Benches looked like new and the park looked like it had been vacuumed. I know that volunteers - Friends of Pastorius Park especially - for years have done this work, but Pastorius is heavily used, as it should be, and that takes a toll that can leave volunteers overwhelmed. A Fairmount Park crew was finishing up and I had a chance to let them know their work was much appreciated. Pastorius is one of our quality of life assets and if this work was a result of the soda tax, I'm going to have to buy some soda!

Marie Lachat

Chestnut Hill

All lives matter, including animals

Breaking from my full-time work at Responsible Policies for Animals to hear the memorial service in Dallas last week, I noted that President Obama’s speech might be among his best. He called upon Americans to approach injustice and calamitous events with “a new heart” and “an open heart.”

I am calling for an end to the belief that some lives have no value — the less-than-human attitude at the root of many shootings by and of police, as well as the incalculable animal abuse and suffering that informs civilization. The belief that some lives don’t matter starts with speciesism and humanist extremism, not with racism.

The news industry suppresses this understanding so thoroughly that soon we will institute a page at www.RPAforAll.org of unpublished RPA letters and op-ed pieces. Visitors will be able to grasp that what true animal rights theory — the innate equality and personhood of all animals — offers to human well being is systematically kept from the human mind.

The groundhog I saw killed by a car today matters, not just human beings. As long as this is denied and people are indoctrinated into animal abuse policy and practice and indifference to the consequences, there will be no peace or justice for human beings.

David Cantor

Executive Director

Responsible Policies for Animals Glenside

The mayor’s “not a Christian” comment

Concerning Mayor Kenney’s recent comment that Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput was “not Christian,” I am not a devout Catholic, but I do agree with them on some things such as their stand against the unnatural practice of homosexuality and their opposition to the cruel killing of unborn babies. There are a few other things I could add, but I also disagree on many things, and I have NO TIME AT ALL for the current pope.

Bottom line, here are a few things: Kenney does enjoy the right of free speech, and he doesn't lose that right just because he is mayor. Politicians may criticize religions, and religious figures may criticize politicians. I don't think most people care to hear too much of this, however.

Kenney's criticism of the church for closing schools is silly in the extreme! They didn't close them because they wanted to but because they couldn't afford to keep them open. Does Kenney want to pay for them? One of their hardships is that many parents cannot afford to pay both the onerous public school taxes and parochial school tuition. That’s why the parochial schools are folding everywhere.

I don't identify closely with these Catholic spokesmen, although I agree with them on some things. But I don't identify with anything concerning Kenney. He is a nut and the worst mayor you have had yet!

Christopher Bachler

Media