Regarding Ardleigh Street traffic

I am writing in support of the plan to perform a study of Ardleigh Street traffic patterns and I’d like to bring attention to the intersection of Ardleigh Street and Hartwell Lane. The stop signs at this location are regularly disregarded by drivers. My concern for this intersection arises from seeing pedestrians and other drivers narrowly escaping accidents over the past few years.

At the corner of Ardleigh Street and Hartwell Lane, students are either waiting for their school buses or they are walking to the Jenks School up the street. My fear is that a child is going to be seriously injured because of the traffic speeding through our neighborhood during rush hour. The danger at this intersection is compounded when there are events at the Water Tower Recreation Center and on the weekends, when those visiting our neighborhood park their cars nearby and cross at this intersection to dine at the restaurants.

I believe the entire length of Ardleigh Street should be studied, because there have been times when even the intersection at Evergreen and Ardleigh Streets seems precarious. I’m not sure of the exact solution to our traffic problem, but those of us who live in or near Ardleigh Street may need to become more visible to these unsafe drivers. Should we stand alongside the road and hold our own speed limit signs as reminders? Should we stand at the corners with our own stop signs? Can we ask the police to wait at our corners to ticket violators?

Perhaps we can work together as a concerned, united community to address the traffic on Ardleigh Street.

S. Wolfinger
Chestnut Hill

Parallel universe

To the Editor:

For weeks, we've watched (and read of) the continuing effects of this season's hurricanes from a more personal perspective. Massive destruction of property, dangerous rescues, loss of gas and electricity, polluted water, floating houses and propane tanks have been visited upon our nearby neighbors in New Hope and Medford Lakes (who also know a thing or two about "attractive" communities).

It was against this background that I read in Saturday's Philadelphia Inquirer (9/18) about the tragedy of Cresheim Valley Drive described by Maxine Dornemann as "the best route to Lincoln Drive." With its repair schedule in question, Ms. Dornemann is quoted as saying, "It's been a terrible inconvenience, and it's unattractive!"

It was no shock to see Susan Biemiller weighing in with the dire predictions for “commerce.”

Oddly, the " how-to-get-to" directions posted on Chestnut Hill-related Web sites makes not a single reference to Cresheim Valley Drive. 

More oddly still is the disconnect between our intrepid cheerleaders and the real world. The key, I suppose, is a comment reported in the Local of 8/26/04 by Ms. Dornemann. "We don't want a cupcake newspaper or one that writes about what is happening in Iraq or on the stock market. We want to be faithful to who we are."

As the Irish say, "Catch yerselves on."

Martha Ni h'Uailaighe
Chestnut Hill

Is popular support wise policy?

There's a cautionary tale in the tragedy of Russia and the breakaway Chechen republic. The recent schoolhouse massacre is only the latest chapter. President Vladimir Putin's tough-guy rhetoric, and Russian government deceptions, are not new. Nor is Chechen nationalism.

In 1994, the pro-independence candidate won the Chechen elections. Russia didn't accept the results, claiming fraud. Later, Putin used Russian nationalism against Chechnya in his own election campaign, winning by a large margin.

But does popular support always equal wise policy? Putin's intransigence, together with the extremism of Chechen militants, led to the current impasse, and the death of many hundreds of schoolchildren and civilians who tried to save them.

We don't yet know, but we may soon see an election where if President Bush is re-elected, it's not for limited domestic achievement, but for being perceived as "tough on terror in Iraq."

But is popular support enough to call policy wise? Surely Russia is very different. But the caution is the same: Might does not make right. Military power, without diplomacy, without looking to the civilians' needs, has never won the peace, even where it has won many battles.

We should caution Mr. Putin to temper power with mercy. And we should not repeat his mistakes. There are many more civilian nationalists in Iraq than there are terrorists; peace can be made with the nationalists, and must be, if we are to succeed in an exit strategy, not be stuck in a decade-long nationalist struggle.

Edward A. Aguilar

Bush the right choice

The tragedy of 9/11 did not change the world, but did tragically demonstrate how it had changed radically over our lifetimes. Many events prior to and subsequent to that date have amply shown that the power to destroy has become a threat to the civilized world. Small groups in rogue or captured countries have, can, and want to terrorize others. This is not an Omaha Beach, but a serious continuing challenge on many fronts, particularly to Americans, because uniquely we have the capacity to lead doing something about it. Fortunately for us and the rest of the planet, we have demonstrated the leadership. It’s not easy and there are and will be many more opportunities for bumps in the road, but it is a necessary effort becoming more clear by the week.

There are some countries with whom we can work because they recognize similar dangers. Others are dangers themselves. And some have split positions, supporting our effort by some segments of their societies, and opposing us and our basic concepts by others. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are examples. Variations abound all over the globe.

On 9/11 and subsequent thereto, Bush recognized and dealt with the threat. It behooves us to consider in the alternative what hostile actions over the last three years with high probably and degree of severity would not have occurred without the U.S. response. We can thank our lucky stars that we were not caught with the same paucity of capacity as at Pearl Harbor, that our military executed better than at any other time in our history, and our leadership was willing to make the tough decisions. Our own defense budgetary effort today requires about four percent of our gross domestic product contrasted with six percent at Pearl Harbor and 35 percent by V-Day of 1945.

Having withstood both the aftermath of a small depression as well as the nationwide effects of 9/11, promulgated a constructive tax program, and addressed in a major way educational, health, and other domestic affairs, our economy is demonstrably on the mend. Not everything is rosy, but when the effort we have put in continues, it will be a source of pride and relief. We are in World War IV and the first three were no pushovers.

W.W. Keen Butcher
Chestnut Hill

Déjà vu all over again

It was very interesting and somewhat ironic that Gerald Samkofsky chose a Lincoln quote to support his personal feeling of what is happening in the United States today, Lincoln being a Republican president during an often-unpopular war. However before he used the quote he should have checked Urban Legends Reference Pages - "Questionable Lincoln Quotes" - from which I quote, "Claim: Abraham Lincoln issued a prophetic warning about the tyranny of capitalism. False!

The above quote (read Samkofsky’s letter), attributed to President Abraham Lincoln, has been periodically dusted off and presented to the public as a prophetic warning about the destruction of America through the usurpation of power and concentration of wealth by capitalist tyrants for over a century now, undergoing a renewed burst of popularity whenever wartime exigencies stir public debate over governmental policies. These words did not originate with Abraham Lincoln, they appear in none of his collected writings or speeches, and they did not surface until more than 20 years after his death (and were immediately denounced as a "bold, unflushing forgery" by John Nicolay, Lincoln's private secretary). This spurious Lincoln warning gained currency during the 1896 presidential election season (when economic policy, particularly the USA's adherence to the gold standard, was the major campaign issue), and ever since then it has been cited and quoted by innumerable journalists, clergymen, congressmen, and compilers of encyclopedias.

Pedigree for this quote is often asserted by pointing to the 1950 Lincoln Encyclopedia, compiled by Archer H. Shaw, which "authenticates" the quote by citing a purported 1864 letter from Lincoln to one Col. William F. Elkins found in Emanuel Hertz's 1931 book, Abraham Lincoln: A New Portrait. However, this source is fraudulent: Hertz was taken in by a forgery, and Shaw, a sloppy compiler, added the bogus letter to his encyclopedia (along with several other pieces of Lincoln apocrypha) without verifying its authenticity …"

As for my personal feeling about the current happenings I choose a non-fraudulent much shorter Lincoln quote. "Freedom is the last, best hope of earth."

Frank Dutch
Plymouth Meeting

Lost character

In the days of Michael Korn, the Bach Festival of Philadelphia had character and dignity. After his death in 1991, the festival lost both those qualities, and indeed it has since seemed quite devoid of shape or purpose. Len Lear’s article in the Sept. 9 Local, with its extensive quotes from the festival’s recently appointed executive director, Guido Houben, does not raise high hopes for the “return to past glory” promised in its headline.

First of all, the whole emphasis on Mr. Houben — complete with a surely unnecessary picture of him at the age of three — seems an unwarranted exercise in personality cult. There is a quote alleged to come from Jonathan Sternberg, the distinguished conductor and local resident who recently agreed to serve as the festival’s artistic director. When I called him to check, and read him his supposed words, he told me, “I’m hearing this for the first time.” This reinforces the impression produced by the festival’s new flyer. Knowing Maestro Sternberg as a highly intelligent and articulate person, I can not believe, once again, that he actually wrote the paragraphs of illiterate nonsense that appear above his signature.

As described in both the Local article and the flyer, the festival seems, in its evident superficiality of conception, unlikely to reflect credit either on Bach or on the music-lovers of Chestnut Hill and Philadelphia generally. And while I do not know whether the words put in Jonathan Sternberg’s mouth in your article come from Mr. Lear or Mr. Houben, the persons currently seeking to revive the festival ought to have the sense and integrity to make sure that statements publicly attributed to their artistic director do actually come from him.

Bernard Jacobson
Chestnut Hill

Editor’s Note: The quote attributed to Jonathan Sternberg was taken from a letter signed by the artistic director and posted at the Web site of the Bach festival of Philadelphia: www.Bach-Fest.org. Sternberg was touring Europe while the article was being written and could not be contacted directly.

Trail management misguided

I read with amusement the latest news about the Wissahickon trail system in the Local (9/2/04) and, having put off writing several times before, now feel compelled to write.

I moved to Chestnut Hill in 1983 and, while familiar with Fairmount Park ever since moving to Philadelphia in 1971, now had easy walking access to the myriad trails in the park. That first year I was startled to see an older gentleman in shorts smoking an enormous cigar and carrying a can of orange paint and paintbrush emerge from the trail east of Rex Avenue. This was my introduction to the bureaucracy of the Wissahickon, painting trees with orange, white, green and red paint to mark trails. How could one get lost?

In 1998 I moved into a new development in New Jersey and immediately discovered a charming creek with hardwood forest right down the hill behind where we live. On my first walk I was thunderstruck with the difference between this near pristine tract and the Wissahickon: nothing was “managed.” One simply walked and enjoyed the peacefulness; yea, sections even reminded me of trails I knew in the Wissahickon. Another treat: at least a dozen large-caliper trees lying at odd angles across the path and no marks of mountain bikes, since a bike would require stopping and portaging over many of the trees. Indeed I had to climb over several of them. Sadly, the understory had that bare look brought on by browsing deer, which I have since seen.

My amusement is this: Nature seems to do a good job of management all by herself — and doesn’t require a budget. Here was no Fairmount Park Commission, no Trails and Structures committee, no Mountain Bike committee. The result: an extensive woodland park that takes about an hour to walk but is unfriendly to joggers, equestrians and cyclists, the unholy triumvirate wanting so desperately to control the Wissahickon.

Just this spring I saw bike tracks that went as far as the first fallen tree, then stopped. I certainly won’t reveal where these woods are. I realize the Wissahickon has over a million potential users and so serves a larger public than my place, but I live in a densely populated area of New Jersey. What should the Wissahickon do? Realizing the problems are systemic (not systematic) in nature, they should pull back and completely stop managing for one full year, then do an assessment. One doesn’t golf on water, nor should one attempt to reconcile the inherent compatibility differences among walkers, joggers, equestrians and cyclists.

Joseph Troxell
New Jersey

Don’t be cell-centered

Since school has resumed, it is a good time to examine our driving habits, most specifically the indiscriminate use of cell phones in the car. In the past two hours, I have seen some very reckless driving by people while using cell phones.

At the corner of Hartwell and Germantown Avenue, a driver passed a SEPTA bus on the right hand side as passengers disembarked. No thinking driver would pass a bus on the right, but his cell phone distracted this driver. He put three passengers in grave danger.

Next, I parked at the Chestnut Hill Market where an individual in a Passat station wagon missed her parking spot because she was drinking coffee and talking on the phone while steering. Having missed the spot, she attempted a modified K-turn, but never put down the beverage or phone. Not even stunt drivers can do that!

I am a mother and know that cell phones are invaluable for emergencies. Quick phone calls while stopped are one thing, but lengthy dialogues while driving are different. I would hate to see Pennsylvania adopt a restrictive cell phone ban such as New Jersey’s, but it is inevitable if we don’t voluntarily limit our cell phone use while driving.

Juli Hittner Vitello
Lafayette Hill