Editorial to appear Monday

I just got a call from the Philadelphia Inquirer editorial department and they are going to publish a letter about the route 15 trolley that I sent to them. It will be slightly edited to keep it to a certain amount of words but I'm curious if it gets any responses. The person that called had no idea about the situation with route 15 so there are probably plenty more out there as well. At least this might get some public attention in the Inquirer.

Can you post your letter here?

I hope it works, and i'll look forward to reading it. I sent in an editorial about SEPTA in general that should be published tomorrow. Hopefully between the two we'll get some more people to take notice .

Guys, let's make a distinction between an editorial, which is the [usually unsigned] opinion of a newspaper's editorial board, and an op-ed (literally "opposite editorial--referring to the page it is traditionally printed on) or a letter to the editor. The latter are published with an eye towards publishing a representative sample of letters received, or publishing dissenting opinions, or in this case, commenting on issues the editorial board hasn't commented on.

It's great though that R8's letter is going to get published, because not enough attention is getting paid to this fiasco.

Matt Mitchell
(writer of ten years' worth of editorials)

I doubt it will have any effect. As I mentioned before in another thread, I got the Daily News to do a feature on the 15 fiasco and it didnt seem to have any effect.

Maybe we need to flood Nutter's office with mail and phone calls.

PARailWiz wrote:I hope it works, and i'll look forward to reading it. I sent in an editorial about SEPTA in general that should be published tomorrow. Hopefully between the two we'll get some more people to take notice .

That was a really nice article, to the point and very thorough. It was the first thing I looked for today when I got the paper. Mine is a letter to the editor that they had to edit for space. It is only about route 15, not the entire situation with SEPTA. Maybe if enough people read these articles it'll have some sort of effect. Or maybe it will take some sort of demonstration in front of 2733 to get some attention to the route 15 mess. You'd think that after reading the Daily News article that the riders would demand some action.

There is also a pointed and well-written letter in the Suburban/Local section of today's Inquirer:

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news ... 746862.htm

I hope the writer is both a DVARP member and a participant on this board.

Also, Matt, I thought that "op-ed" was the abbreviation for opinion/editorial - ??

JeffK wrote:There is also a pointed and well-written letter in the Suburban/Local section of today's Inquirer:
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news ... 746862.htm

Great letter indeed.

Also, Matt, I thought that "op-ed" was the abbreviation for opinion/editorial - ??

Common misconception--the original term was "opposite-editorial" (referring to the page location--not to dissenting views) though some papers head those pages "Opinion-Editorial," so I can understand why so many people assume that's what op-ed means. But the key use of the term is to describe content: the opinion-editorial pages contain editorials, maybe an editorial cartoon, op-eds (including regular columnists and guest op-eds), and letters to the editor.

BTW, papers typically limit letters to 200 words (and you've gotta have a topic or view of real interest to the editorial page editor to get that much), and op-eds are usually in the 700 word range. Don't expect to get more, and if you do write more, expect the editors to cut it for you, so you're better off cutting it yourself.

Thanks for all the kind words, guys. The positive responses I've gotten have been really great, although I doubt it converted very many people. And yes, technically it was an op-ed, I didn't realize there was really a meaningful difference.

I read your opinion and, I concur. I thought your statement was "on the money". Maybe the paper would hire you as a reporter for a dedicated column on mass transit in the region?

R8: I picked up the Inquirer today, didn't see your letter. Could you post your letter here?

I saw it, it was in the Local News section. I thought it was very well put and clearly shows how badly this situation was handled. If anything could prove to the general public that SEPTA's problems aren't just funding related, that's it.

TuckertonRR wrote:R8: I picked up the Inquirer today, didn't see your letter. Could you post your letter here?

Here is the letter as it appeared in the Inquirer after editing for space:
I agree with the editorial concerning SEPTA's poor planning being the cause of their financial problems. Another perfect example is the current situation with route 15.
In 2001 the SEPTA board voted to convert the route 15 back to trolley to provide more frequent service. This is an excellent idea but after spending $60 million to bring existing trolleys to modern standards, refurbish tracks and wires etc. the trolleys sit in storage at Callowhill depot in West Philadelphia. Why? Because SEPTA wainted until the trolleys were ready to enter service to inform the neighbors that they need to change North 59th Street back to a one-way street, which the neighbors are against. So after an intial start-up date of June 13th, there is no progress being made on this issue and no date in site to begin using these state-of-the art trolleys. The return of the trolleys is part of the revitalization of Girard Avenue and expected to provide better service for passengers of route 15, but due to SEPTA's poor planning, $60 million worth of trolleys and improvements sit unused. It's time for SEPTA's passengers to demand a solution to this situation.
Even though it was edited, it managed to get the message out about route 15.