South Philly Review

To the Editor:

I ask the City of Philadelphia: Who took the liberty of canceling the annual parade that celebrates Christopher Columbus, a man who is not only the discoverer of this great country, but also symbolizes the many contributions the Italian people have given the world?

Let us not forget the Italian people and, through them this country, have been enriched for thousands of years of culture. We are the hand of the masons and artists. Our thoughts have been recorded by the poetry of Virgil, the writings of Dante Alighieri and the philosophy of Benedetto Croce.

And so I ask again: Who did not think it was necessary to apply for $30,000 and a grant to pay for this parade without using taxpayer dollars? Who thought this money could not have been easily raised by Italian-Americans living in Philadelphia and South Jersey? This could have easily been done.

I also want to know why no one notified the Italian Consulate of the cancellation of the Columbus Day Parade, which we consider such a great tragedy.

My Italian-language students and my friends, colleagues and I are outraged this has happened.

I remember my first experiences at the Columbus Day Parade. I was born and raised near Naples in a town called Montella. My family had so many personal reasons for coming here, to America.

My first trip to America was in September of 1955. I will always remember the first time we walked in the parade together. It was on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and many people had gathered with Italian and American flags and there were two large flags carried by two people. There also was a band. And then the marching began.

In solidarity with each other, we joined arms with children, adults, elderly people with their canes and babies on their fathers' shoulders. We needed no bleachers. We needed no stands. We needed just the same common belief in our heritage symbolized by Christopher Columbus.

I realize he has become controversial in some segments of society. However, throughout history the private lives of the great have remained separate from the contributions they made to humankind. Let's not forget he was the only one at the time who was courageous enough to give up his country and family to prove the world was, in fact, round. While others around him supported this theory, no one took the risks he did. And the world benefited. For without his courage, it would not have been possible for anyone to travel to the New World safely.

I welcome any responses and I pray my plea is not ignored for our past immigrants who suffered too long to give us what we have today. It is an honor to contribute to America all that we are and all that we have been.

Nosing around

An Open Letter to Residents:

Beware! The Streets Department has "trash-snoopers" picking through our trash bags. If the snoop finds anything believed to be a recyclable item, the resident receives a fine of $50. My neighbor caught one such snoop at the ungodly hour of 5 a.m. Do they receive premium pay for such an early shift?

These men go through the recycle cans late at night or early in the morning before the trash is collected. The other day, I saw a man with a cart that held six huge lawn bags filled to their tops with empty aluminum cans. He was on his way to sell these cans at the junkyard. Why don't City leaders know this is going on? Why doesn't the Streets Department or Mayor Nutter issue a warning to the owners at the junkyard not to buy from regular citizens since the City is losing out on the money?