A project well done

The Rotary Centennial project to clean up the Pergola and surrounding areas on Saturday, May 8, was a great success. Over 46 people participated and most were able to stay for the entire time.

The Pergola was cleaned and weeded. Leaves and dirt were removed from the grounds surrounding the Pergola and all areas leading down to the creek.

David Bower directed the removal of the old pipe fence and, with the help of members of the American Society of Civil Engineers and students from the Levering School in Roxborough, replaced it with a 90-foot-long post and rail fence similar to the fence along Forbidden Drive.

Richard Snowden sent two of his employees, Bob Markowski and Bob Newlin, to help with the project. They cleared the gutters along Cresheim Valley Drive, helped with the leaf and dirt cleanup and hauled many truckloads of dirt and trash from the site.

Officers Johns and Hall from the 14th Police District — along with other officers — brought 16 teens who were performing community service and supervised them as they raked leaves and cleaned up the island at Germantown and Cresheim Valley Drive and the grounds along the north side of the drive. The officers also made it much safer for us by slowing traffic through the area while we worked.

Ed Stainton of Friends of the Wissahickon came with his portable generator and sawzalls and cut up the pipe from the old fence. This made it much easier to haul the old fence away.

Iced tea was provided by the Trolley Car Diner and was a welcomed treat, along with Beth Ounsworth's delicious chocolate chip cookies.

The following groups were represented at the cleanup: Rotary of Chestnut Hill, David Bower, the representative from Fairmount Park, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Trolley Car Diner, students from the Levering School in Roxborough, Bowman Properties, Friends of the Wissahickon, Friends of Cresheim Valley, 14th Police District (including officers and teens performing community service), and neighbors from Chestnut Hill, Mt. Airy and Wyndmoor.

In addition to the generosity shown by all of the participants, staff members from the Trolley flower shop gave us beautiful bouquets of flowers to take home and were seen on Sunday morning watering the flowers that had been placed in the planters at the Pergola.

Everyone should drive by to see the new fence on Germantown Avenue and to enjoy the beauty of the area.

Arlene Bennett, M.D.

Greenpeace disaster

The Justice Department is prosecuting Greenpeace under a bizarre "sailor-mongering" law that has not been used in over a century. The case began when Greenpeace activists held a peaceful protest on a ship that was carrying wood illegally cut from the Amazon rain forest. The trial began Monday, May 17, in Miami.

This is the first time in U.S. history that the government has prosecuted an entire organization for the free speech activities of its supporters. If Greenpeace is convicted, the organization's future will be imperiled. So will America's traditions of non-violent protest.

Greenpeace has been working to protect the Amazon, where, every 40 seconds a slice of forest the size of a football stadium is destroyed by logging. People and animal species are being endangered by the destruction of the Amazon. It is also a criminal violation of the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

The Justice Department's unprecedented, vindictive prosecution of a persistent critic of the Bush Administration has been widely condemned by many groups from the NAACP, the ACLU, the SIERRA CLUB, to the NRDC.

Call Attorney General John Ashcroft at (202) 514-200 and tell him that his prosecution of Greenpeace endangers America's tradition of free speech.

Mary Ann Baron
Chestnut Hill

The following letter was sent earlier this week to Chestnut Hill commercial property owners by John Levitties, a Business Improvement District board member, and Bonnie Greenberg, a leader of the BID alternative committee. Suzanne Biemiller, executive director of the Chestnut Hill Business Association, asked the Chestnut Hill Local to print it as a letter to the editor. Ed.

BID changes

Two years ago, the Chestnut Hill Business Association began a process to create a Business Improvement District (BID) in Chestnut Hill. Although many property owners have expressed their opinions during that process, in recent weeks it became clear that some voices have felt left out of the discussions. Because the BID will belong to all of us, the board of the proposed Chestnut Hill BID felt strongly that it needed to hear those voices. A series of meetings and conversations took place where concerns expressed at BID Alternative meetings and at City Council hearings were discussed. The result has been a series of compromises that we feel have addressed many of these concerns and, as a result, have produced a more democratic, responsive BID proposal.

The following changes have been made to the BID's by-laws and budget:

Each year at the annual meeting, BID board members will be elected directly by a majority vote of the property owners in attendance. Each property owner will get one vote.

In order to sit on the board of the BID and to vote in elections, a person must be current in his or her property tax payments to the city of Philadelphia as well as his or her BID assessment.

The BID budget, including the annual assessment rate, must be approved by a majority vote of the property owners present at the annual meeting. The elected board must closely adhere to the budget approved by the membership.

The annual assessment rate will decrease from 12 percent to 10 percent. Because the first year of operation for the proposed BID is for a nine-month period beginning July 1, 2004, and ending March 31, 2005, the effective rate for this first 'year' is 7.5 percent. This translates into $75 to the BID for every $1,000 per year in real estate taxes.

In the budget for the BID's first year of operation, administrative costs have been significantly decreased from $75,000 to $26,250.

We invite you to attend a meeting on Thursday, May 20, 5:30 p.m., at the Venetian Club, to learn more about the proposed changes to the BID, to clarify misconceptions, and to express your opinion. We hope that by the end of that meeting, you will agree with the BID's many supporters that the BID is the best way for all of us to invest in Chestnut Hill and keep our community strong and vibrant.

John Levitties
Bonnie Greenberg

A great nation in an imperfect world

The POW pictures are of horrible, awful events. The severe damage and shame they cause will be with us for a long time to come. There is no escaping that. We should be proud of our reactions, public, private and military, where there is universal concern and early steps taken to investigate and pursue the matter.

But let us not forget that we are in a war where terrorists from a variety of sources have the choices and sometimes terrible things can happen. The murder of 3,000 on 9/11 preceded and succeeded by many smaller similar events in other parts of the world does not excuse, but simply indicates what we are up against.

Our is a great nation in an imperfect world and we share many of those imperfections. We are struggling on many fronts to protect an open vulnerable society. Our continent has been fortunate so far. There have been unexpected bumps in the road and there will probably be more. One can only surmise what might have happened to us had we not reacted vigorously and done nothing. The efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq can be successful and would be immensely contributory to a better world. Failure would be costly beyond measure.

This is no time to permit events in that prison to destroy the progress, still incomplete, that has so far been accomplished and on a wide scale in many places on the planet.

W.W. Keen Butcher
Chestnut Hill

'Truly outstanding'

The newspaper article that Jimmy Pack wrote on our new store 'Market Square Laundry' was truly outstanding. It just proves what we always believed. Let someone who really cares about their job get involved in anything you do and great things happen.

Great job. Personally, it was a pleasure meeting you.

Shirley Kantor and Vinnie Pizzo
Chestnut Hill