Philadelphia Weekly

Arresting Images

To Frank Rubino on last week's cover story:

I'm a police officer here in Philadelphia. Your article on Stella Street reminds me of the days in the 25th District when I would routinely go by there and find dead bodies or druggies shooting up in the homes.

I knew if I wanted to get an easy arrest, I'd get the names of these people, run them, and almost always there were bench or arrest warrants out on them. The strange part was a lot of these people hanging out weren't from Philly.

MITCHELL SPRITZLER
Philadelphia

Pick My Truck

To Tim McGinnis on his recent Field Guide:

I was surprised when reading your lunch truck feature that you didn't mention the Viva Las Vegans truck on Drexel's campus. To the best of my knowledge, it's the only all-vegan truck in Philly, which I think merits a mention.

The food is good and reasonably priced; the service is clean, quick and friendly; and it's right in the neighborhood of several other trucks you mentioned. It's definitely worth a try.

DIANA HARMAN
South Philadelphia

Going Fundamental

To Steven Wells on a recent On the Radar column:

Thank you for another breezy, uninformative rant against religious fundamentalists. We get it: They suck. They're child fuckers. They believe in ghosts. They think the world was created by magic.

I hate those groups, and I still can't stand your weekly diatribe. You never bring anything new to the table, which I'd guess is because you can't summon the intellect to frame an actual argument. Your same take on the world is published on the same page of PW accompanied by the same nauseating illustrations every week.

ANDREW THOMPSON
Fairmount

Addressing the Problem

On David R. Adler's recent cover story about jazz in Philadelphia:

First let me say: well done! As something of a jazz aficionado for most of my adult life, I thought this was the first accurate description I've ever read of the Philadelphia jazz scene. But despite such an accurate portrayal and articulate description of the challenges, I submit that Mr. Adler himself contributed to the problem.

It seems to me that unless you are part of the "in the know" group, you could have no way of not just knowing of the places Mr. Adler noted, but where they're located. It seems Mr. Adler is writing from the perspective that his readers know the places he noted. It's reflective of the attitude in jazz circles that, "true jazz lovers know these places," when there's perhaps an entire untapped audience that would at least come and try to enjoy the art form ... if only they knew where to go ...

My point: Give the information! The article itself would've been a great vehicle to note addresses and club contact information, and that could've been an opportunity to begin to address some of the very challenges he laments.

JOHN A. PETTY II
West Philadelphia