Allentown’s other gateway needs attention

As an Allentown resident, I find the contrast between our city’s “front doors” impossible to ignore.

The new “Downtown Allentown” gateway arch is a beacon of progress. It’s sleek, illuminated and signals a city on the rise. It makes a bold, polished statement to every visitor entering our business district.

However, head south to the Basin Street underpass, and you’ll find a very different welcome. Where the arch offers light, Basin Street offers rusted steel, crumbling concrete and layers of old graffiti. For many, this isn’t just an underpass; it’s their first impression of our city. While the downtown core glows with investment, the South Side’s literal gateways feel abandoned.

We are clearly capable of building beautiful things, but a true “city without limits” shouldn’t just be a tale of two neighborhoods. If we can afford neon-lit landmarks for our business district, we must also prioritize the structural integrity and aesthetic of our neighborhood corridors.

A gateway shouldn’t just be a sign; it should be the standard of care we show for every street that leads people home.

Donald Cease

Allentown

Congress should reject the SAVE Act

Sen. Dave McCormick co-sponsored the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act in the Senate, which aims to require proof of U.S. citizenship for voter registration in federal elections. He expressed support for the bill as a way to strengthen election integrity and ensure only citizens vote. It is already illegal for noncitizens to register and vote in federal or state elections. The SAVE Act would require American citizens to show documents such as a passport or birth certificate to register to vote. The SAVE Act solves nothing. All available evidence, including from the Trump administration itself, indicates that very rarely does anyone who is not an American citizen try to vote. Many communities of eligible voters would be unnecessarily burdened by the requirements of the SAVE Act. Military voters would be required to present documentation every time they reregister to vote when their family moves. Families who have been impacted by natural disasters and have lost necessary documentation, as well as millions of women whose married names aren’t on their birth certificates or passports, would also face extra steps to be eligible to vote. All senators, including McCormick, should reject the SAVE Act.

Gail Preuninger

Bethlehem

Americans disgusted with their government

I finally found something that all Americans have in common and that is a sense of disgust. Disgust at how incompetently our government operates. No matter what you label yourself, Republican or Democrat, both parties have demonstrated that they care more about keeping their jobs and a lot less about the needs of the people. What the American public sees every day is political maneuvering and jockeying for sound bites. Have we ever had a more litigious period in our government’s history? If so, I can’t seem to remember one.

It does beg the question: How can the people’s business be a priority when so many in our government are consumed with winning? Complicit in this is a media that has become nothing more than an outlet for the respective political parties. Too much propaganda and not enough fact. A government for the people and by the people, they say, but from where I sit, it has become anything but. Add to this a feeling in this country that a strong authoritarian is the only answer and you get this gnawing sense that as a country, we have utterly lost the thread.

Martin F. Stockman III

Bethlehem

Trump’s drug website doesn’t offer best deals

President Trump recently claimed that we can start getting prescriptions at most favored nation prices on the new TRUMPRx website that would be among the lowest in the world. For some medicines, this is not even close. At Pharmacychecker.com, Farxiga is available for $110 (delivered) for 98 pills. The TRUMPRx price is $182 for 30 pills and the site doesn’t even indicate if that includes postage.

Bob McInerney

Maxatawny Township

Our republic needs an educated public

Schools used to teach civics — the workings of government; there were even days when students shadowed local elected officials. Sadly, those classes ended up in the dustbin of history much like the American history classes that were taught in days gone by. My class took two years to complete our textbook. Properly taught, American history can be quite interesting. Our republic requires an informed and engaged citizenry to succeed. Sadly the United States is not high on the list when measuring voter participation and unfortunately the election process has become a popularity contest based on money spent not issues and remedies. Our schools should teach critical thinking skills. Students need to be taught how to think and not what to think.

Frank Simek

Upper Macungie Township

Things not normal in the US right now

Neighbors, do you remember when the police in your neighborhood wore masks and carried automatic weapons, and could pull you from a car and arrest you without identifying themselves? I’m 75 years of age and I don’t either. Why are our elected Republican representatives OK with this?

Karl Schwartz

Nazareth

Corruption erodes our democracy

The foreign emoluments clause in the Constitution prohibits any federal officeholder, including the president, from accepting gifts, payments or any other items of value from foreign states or rulers without the consent of Congress.

Since being reelected, Trump has earned at least $1.4 billion in addition to his salary. That is equal to 16,822 times the median U.S. household income of $83,730.

Besides the gift of a $400 million jet from Qatar, Trump has accumulated $23 million from licensing more than 20 overseas projects. Selling cryptocurrency is his largest money maker. One example that was publicly exposed was a plan for a $2 billion deposit by the United Arab Emirates into a Trump firm in return for access to advanced U. S. computer chips.

It is no wonder that younger Americans lose faith in a government that allows such a blatant violation of the Constitution to occur. Corruption erodes the legitimacy of our democracy. Not coincidentally, that erosion is vital to establishing autocratic control.

Richard Israel

Bethlehem

The Morning Call publishes letters from readers online and in print several times a week. Submit a letter to the editor at letters@mcall.com. The views expressed in this piece are those of its individual author(s), and should not be interpreted as reflecting the views of this publication.