Letters: Speak out against destruction of park; Rethinking history, systemic racism

Editor’s note: The Centre Daily Times welcomes letters endorsing candidates in the May 18 primary election and will accept letters that are received by May 10. Letters are subject to editing, must be based on facts and should avoid attacks on other candidates.

Speak out against destruction of park

Have you noticed that wherever you drive in State College you can no longer see the mountains because of the many new extensive apartment complexes? Once again, the borough is considering a proposal to build yet another apartment house, this time in a State College Borough park in a residential neighborhood. The trees, swing sets, and green space in Nittany Village Park behind East Whitehall Road and Old Boalsburg Road, which buffers the single family homes from South Atherton street, would be gone. In addition, the developer plans to put in a parking lot touching on the neighboring backyards. Is there no sense of conservation or preservation anywhere in this town?

I urge you to come express your concern about the destruction of this park at a meeting with borough staff at 4 p.m. on Friday, in the Nittany Village Park off Old Boalsburg Road.

Rethinking history, systemic racism

I am writing in response to the letter from Councilwoman Janet Engeman published on April 2. Her letter suggests that history and systemic racism, defined in a narrow academic sense, exist in some external space and exert no influence on the decisions we make and the actions we take collectively and individually.

When considering how we behave, I think it is wiser to conceive of history as each person’s memory and interpretation of past experiences, both collective experiences and individual ones. In my view how we remember and interpret the past has considerable power over how we interpret new situations. I also believe that because of systemic racism many of us who are white have been taught unconsciously (for most of us) a narrative of inferiority about people of color. We have learned implicitly that they are less deserving, less capable, more dangerous, etc. If we think of history and racism in these ways, it seems impossible to me to suggest that they do not impact our actions and decisions.

I concur with Councilwoman Engeman’s desire for a more equitable and just world in which we are all connected, but if we deny our collective and individual histories and the powerful but implicit narrative of racism, there will be no equity, no justice. Undoing the power of racism and history begins by confronting who we are, collectively and individually, whether we like it or not.

Dauler, Filippelli bring experience Borough Council needs

We are fortunate to be able to vote for Cathy Dauler and Ron Filippelli for Borough Council. Each brings tremendous experience in local government. Each has a decadeslong commitment to making sure that the borough efficiently spends taxpayer money to create first class public services and a safe and livable community.

Both are forward looking, too, recognizing that we need to do more to create a just community for people of all races and ethnicities. They support a community police oversight board, which is one step in this process. They also realize that it is time to augment community mental health services. To that end, they are supporting participation in a county-wide mental health network. They also endorse developing procedures and staff so that police emergency responses to mental health and related crises will be augmented with trained social workers.

These will not be the only issues the borough will confront as we work to recover from the pandemic and to make our community more just and livable. Cathy and Ron are the kind of knowledgeable and empathetic leaders we need.