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Displaying 1 through 10 of 90 records found.
Disband the MTA
From the time that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority was formed decades ago, it has run into major financial difficulties. In an effort to maintain as low a subway and bus fare as possible for what they perceived as a working class forced to take mass transportation, they have siphoned off bridge and tunnel tolls and Long Island Rail Road fares plus utilized many other "hidden" revenue alternatives, e.g. telephone and cell phone taxes, etc.
In that same time, we have seen bridge and tunnel tolls go from 25 cents as late as 1972 to $5.50 today, plus LIRR tickets cost hundreds of dollars a month for Island commuters to travel to the city and a payroll tax on outer county businesses whose employees may not even use the system was recently instituted. Meanwhile, MTA members have routinely received very generous salaries plus fabulous benefits and perks, totally ignoring the monetary plight of their employer or the overtaxed public.
If the MTA were to separate into individual entities, each relying on the revenues they solely received, bus and subway fares would surely rise to more than double, or $5 a ride. But even at that, their monthly commuter fare, currently $90, would not exceed the $200 a month paid by the allegedly wealthier LIRR commuter, or the $220 a month paid for bridge and tunnel users. By implementing this split, bridge and tunnel tolls could stabilize plus the LIRR would again operate as a separate railroad, keeping all revenues in-house.
The expectation of requiring the supposedly more affluent LIRR commuters and the driving pubic to permanently subsidize the subway and bus fares of the lower income residents of NYC must end. Just remember, billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg routinely uses city mass transit. Should we the people subsidize his rides?
Ron Gendron
Smithtown
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March 11, 2010
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Town practices make mockery of open gov’t
Could a new problematic situation be the result of returning Town Board members to office in 2009 with little voter resistance, despite the fact that the tally for all the votes to elect was about 15 percent of the populace?
Or is it that the members themselves have a sense of being impervious to what is right, what is legal, what is expected by the citizenry? Whatever the motivation, the fact of the matter is that, without a horn sounding an alarm, the concept of transparency is being shuttered again, against the eyes and ears of many interested and concerned citizens. In the year 2010, in this technological age, Smithtown's communication is directed at shutting the community out.
No longer are Town Board work sessions shown for public viewing on the government cable stations. Nor are they available for public viewing on the town website alongside the disingenuous board meetings. Nor are they scheduled regularly on a calendar for public notification.
More and more actions are being taken to avoid public scrutiny. What happened to transparency? It was possible to make the sessions available. It was being done. Who would no longer want it done when the public was benefitting?
Furthermore, the issue of FOIL remains on the shelf unresolved. Consider for yourself that it is years that I have been passionately pursuing a correction to the town's interpretations of the New York state Freedom of Information Law, a law meant to be upheld by the Town of Smithtown, yet my efforts are flagrantly ignored. On one issue in particular, where one word has to be changed in the Ethics Code regarding financial disclosure securing a correct meaning to the law — a safeguard for the public — months and months pass while the town attorney shakes her head at me and feigns surprise that so much time has passed.
In the fall of 2009 at a board meeting, after my last request for compliance, the supervisor passed me off to the town attorney to discuss the problem. And as of that time, the town attorney has used her authority, in what should be the people's honorable office of justice, to brandish a sword of defiance in my face. What is it that they are hiding, that prevents them from upholding the law?
If these issues are left unchecked, the probability of the corruption arrow points to GO; and the community is the loser. Make your voice heard sooner than later. One person writing letters is never enough. Point the arrow to OPEN GOVERNMENT.
This list could go on but I am going to take small steps. You will hear more.
Lenore Cernitz
St. James
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March 11, 2010
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Heroin demands united response
The nightmare of heroin use on Long Island continues unabated, with at least one young person per week dying due to an overdose. Families, lives and dreams are being destroyed every day through the ongoing addiction. Horrifically, there seems to be a continuous flow of new users of this terrible drug.
Parents, entire families, teachers, law enforcement, prosecutors, probation officers, judges and defense attorneys alike are all exasperated with the issue. No one seems to be able to get it under control, putting innocent youths, as well as the safety of our homes, at immediate risk. Those that are already addicted have a relentless battle, possibly even a lifelong battle, to get free.
Our best hope is to prevent these naïve young people from starting in the first place. This shall require a massive effort by parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, older siblings, religious leaders, teachers, etc. — i.e. the entire community — to speak out against trying or experimenting with heroin.
It is a mistake to think that any family is safe, or that heroin use fits a particular stereotype. Please communicate with your families and be aware of this dire problem at hand.
It is easy to get caught up saying or thinking: "Not me, not my family, not my grandson/nephew/sister." However, the reality is that there are many parents and families, right here in our own communities, that have lost their child or a loved one to heroin and are wishing they had known better, or wishing they had done something to stop it.
I am writing this letter to tell you that you can do something: Reach out to them. Talk to them. Communicate the severity and importance of this issue at hand.
We must take every precautionary measure and step to ensure that those who have not tried it, will not.
Rudolph Migliore
Commack
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February 25, 2010
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Bearing crime into United States
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has recently announced that he must reduce the prison population by 20,000 inmates. He is suggesting that this be done by sending that many Mexican nationals, currently in the state's prisons, back to their homeland to finish their sentences, with California footing the bill for their incarceration. But, he failed to mention just how many undocumented migrants are in California's system totally.
This exemplifies a major problem existing in nearly all 50 states. With a total of 2 million persons incarcerated in America and an estimated 30 percent of them here illegally, it's time for our government officials to finally admit that not all of the 20-plus million unauthorized persons in the U.S. are just here, as sympathetic politicians say, to just do the jobs that Americans won't do.
Also, don't forget that these aforementioned criminals are only the ones that have been caught so far, because most have no fingerprints or DNA on record in this country to help identify them. Since most have entered the U.S. illegally, there is no way to separate them from the honest laborer types just looking for work.
Career criminals continue their illegal activities here, including drug trafficking — and, I predict, they may soon begin serial kidnapping, a veritable cottage-industry in their homelands — to produce revenue for their other nefarious activities. Having had already established criminal organizations back home, there would be few problems in setting up satellite branches in and around the United States.
Given the bloody history of drug cartels from Mexico and other nations in Latin America, with their heavily armed members who have no fear of local law enforcement, it is only a matter of time until these individuals will start to appear, en masse, in America.
When this occurs and crime rates skyrocket, the once safe atmosphere of the U.S. will disappear forever, as we become just another country under the domination of the world's criminal element.
Ron Gendron
Smithtown
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February 11, 2010
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Too many criminals
Having approximately two million persons in our nation's prisons, more than any other country, and millions more that have or will "serve time" in the future, America should realize that it can no longer exclude that many people for life from numerous working positions, simply because of what may be as little as one illegal act.
With the introduction of late 20th- and early 21st-century technology, many thousands of people are currently being convicted of unlawful activities that weren't even "on the books" as crimes a decade or two ago. Additionally, certain vehicle and traffic laws have now been elevated from high misdemeanors to low-level felonies, meaning that one conviction could eliminate someone from eligibility for all positions in civil service, politics, the legal profession and most jobs requiring any type of license, for life.
When our nation's federal, state and local legal systems were formed, approximately 225 years ago, they were mainly based on the British system already in place, but added a few new laws pertaining to particular regions. Through the last two centuries, though, lawmakers on all levels have sought to justify their existence by continuing to "pile on" new legal statutes, making it that much easier for the average citizen to "cross the line" into criminality.
Additionally, the U.S. and more specifically New York State, which has extremely stiff drug laws including mandatory jail sentences, have many thousands incarcerated simply because of their addiction to a banned product. Imagine if Prohibition had never been repealed in the 1930s. Would we now have millions of our citizens "doing time" because they were caught drinking a beer or a glass of wine? Sounds silly, yes, but alcohol was just as illegal to possess between 1920 and 1933 as marijuana or cocaine is today. In fact, even the latter were not considered illegal until about 1910, so this shows the mores of our society can and do change, more often than we think.
It's time for the U.S. Criminal Justice System to be revamped, substituting far more alternative forms of punishment for many of its victimless crimes; instituting more work-release programs; drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers; community service; cash reimbursement liens on perpetrators to repay aggrieved victims, etc.; and the elimination of those offenses from possible jail terms. Our criminal justice system is breaking down under the weight of a country with too many laws that seems hellbent on not stopping until every citizen has some kind of a criminal record.
Ronald Gendron
Smithtown
The writer is a retired State University of New York police officer.
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January 14, 2010
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Overwhelming response to need of neighbors
Nov. 1 saw the Smithtown Emergency Food Pantry with shelves only one-third full. Our basement storage room was empty — not even one box or can. Every week we received donations but they could not keep up with the demand. By then we had experienced a 75 percent increase in the number of families requesting assistance.
The message that we needed help went out into the community and once again the people of Smithtown rallied to provide for neighbors in need. Food drives were held, people stood in front of stores and handed out flyers, funds were collected. Assistance came from all areas of our town, individuals who kept calling and asking what we needed, children who walked from house to house collecting from their neighbors, businesses and their employees, business organizations, fraternal and social organizations, the school district offices and the schools and clubs. Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, sports clubs, town employees, hospital employees and many local churches were very supportive.
Our shelves are now well-stocked. The week of Thanksgiving we could barely walk through our storage area. We provided 87 families with Thanksgiving dinners.
The food and funds donated will provide needed assistance for the coming winter months.
I thank all who have provided support; your generosity and compassion is greatly valued. I am privileged to work with dedicated members of the seven covenant churches, who not only provide year-round donations but staff and maintain the food pantry. [Editor's note: Those churches are the Byzantine Church of the Resurrection, First Presbyterian Church of Smithtown, Smithtown United Methodist Church, St. Andrews Lutheran Church, St. James Episcopal Church, St. Thomas of Canterbury Episcopal Church and St. James Lutheran Church.] Every month one of the churches is responsible to provide the volunteers needed to keep the pantry open Monday through Friday from 9 am until noon. This is a minimum of 140 volunteer hours every month. During November at least double that amount was volunteered.
Let us not become weary in doing good.
Pat Westlake
Executive Coordinator
Smithtown Township Emergency Food Pantry
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December 17, 2009
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Make Medicare optional
Since Medicare was instituted a scant 44 years ago to provide medical care to those that would presumably need it the most, the elderly, the percentage of persons living to its eligible age of 65 has exploded in size. Now, with the vanguard of the baby boom generation reaching that age in less than two years, one questions why they should be required to go on this governmental health care plan if they were on an acceptable one already.
Like myself, many older taxpaying Americans have paid into Medicare since its inception in 1966, even though millions already had private health care coverage from our employers. Previously, our private plans would continue into retirement until our deaths.
Then, when these companies saw a chance to shed their obligations, they used this new governmental system as an excuse to "bail out" of their responsibilities to their now nonproductive retirees.
Since the president has reassured the country that all those that already have private health care will be allowed to remain in their plans if national health care is adopted, why not also allow the millions of unionized workers in private industry plus most governmental workers to remain with their plans for life, without having to ever enroll in Medicare or the new national system, thereby relieving those systems of billions of dollars of unnecessary medical debt? The monies that were collected from those individuals for future Medicare could be slowly repaid by giving them a yearly tax credit, which would continue until it was fully refunded or the recipient died, whichever came first, at which time any unpaid monies would be lost.
Like Social Security, which was the first U.S. socialized system, Medicare has always been a crapshoot as to whether one would actually live to see a benefit on their contributions. To many Americans who were not fortunate enough to have supplemented health care during their working lifetimes, it was a blessing in their golden years. To those that did have that benefit, Medicare could be seen as an unnecessary infringement on their already established medical plans.
President Obama should seek to pass a law requiring all existing health care insurance providers to return to the pre-Medicare-days policy of insuring their recipients for life, thereby eliminating this program for those presently insured from other sources.
Ronald Gendron
Smithtown
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December 10, 2009
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Support is appreciated
I want to thank you for your support during the recent re-election for Town Clerk.
It's been an honor to serve you during my first four-year term. I am proud of the accomplishments made in the Town Clerk's office; however, I could not have made such great strides without the support of my dedicated staff, Supervisor Pat Vecchio and the Town Board.
I truly appreciate your confidence in me and look forward to continuing to serve our community.
Again, thank you for your vote of trust and as always my door is open to you for comments, suggestions or just to say "hello."
Vincent Puleo
Smithtown Town Clerk
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November 24, 2009
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Tournament in Lesser's honor
The Ken Lesser Memorial Takedown Tournament will be held this Saturday, Nov. 21 at 1 pm at Hauppauge High School.
Ken Lesser — husband, father, friend and fan — nobody loved the sport more than Ken.
"There's nothing I'd rather do on a day off, than go to a wrestling tournament" - Ken Lesser
On Aug. 18, Hauppauge Wrestling lost its most dedicated member, fan and friend, Ken Lesser. Ken was a great man and most of all a great fan of the sport and Hauppauge School District. We will miss Ken dearly and our thoughts are with the Lesser family.
We are holding the Ken Lesser Memorial Tournament in honor of a dear friend and a wonderful person, whose love for Hauppauge wrestling was so obvious by the dedication he gave. He spent countless hours and touched so many lives of our young people.
We need your help and are asking for volunteers to help the day of the tournament and are asking all families if they can donate items to be sold at the concession stand. Some ideas are: Food: heros, wraps salads, hot dogs, hot dog rolls, etc.; Drinks: water, Gatorade, etc.; Fruit: bananas, oranges etc.; Snacks: cases of chips, candy, donuts; Paper goods: paper plates, paper bowls.
Please email to dcazzrdh@aol.com so that we can keep a list of volunteers and items donated. Please bring nonperishable items to the high school from 7 to 8:30pm on Wednesday night during our youth practice.
We are selling lunch items at noon with all proceeds to the Hauppauge Wrestling Program in memory of Ken Lesser. For those that are unable to attend but would like to donate to this worthy cause, donations in memory of Ken Lesser will be accepted payable to "Hauppauge Wrestling Club" and send to the Hauppauge Wrestling Club, 336 Forest Lane, Smithtown, NY 11787.
Thank you all, our program would not be what it is today without the help of individuals such as Ken, our families and community members.
Coach Chris Messina and the Hauppauge Wrestling Staff
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November 19, 2009
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Criticism was uninformed
As president of the Kings Park Civic Association, I was completely disheartened by a Smithtown newspaper's Nov. 5 editorial regarding the Kings Park Meet the Candidates night.
I, along with the other officers of the Kings Park Civic Association, work tirelessly to make a positive difference in the place in which we live. The KPCA is the vehicle for which all members voice their concerns and hopes for the future of the Kings Park community. The KPCA is nonpartisan and will remain a neutral entity. None of the representatives use this organization to further a personal agenda, as was insinuated.
The forum, hosted by the KPCA and the San Remo Civic Associations did what it was intended to do — give the citizens of our community an opportunity to question candidates on issues important to them and to their families. The questions were not meant to railroad or embarrass any candidate or political party, nor were they meant to further the agenda of any one organization member. They were taken directly from our member's "lists of concerns" that are part of our membership form, from emails and from the audience.
The paper's editorial was riddled with false information, grossly exaggerated statements and inflammatory adjectives. First, the moderator is not and has never been a member of the KPCA. Second, the KPCA is in favor of what Society of St. Johnland is proposing but would like our elected officials to take a lead in trying to encourage a land exchange between the state and St. Johnland. To date, it has only been our state representatives who have made a serious effort to engage in this process and we commend them for it. The Town of Smithtown, which is the ultimate arbiter on the issue of zoning, must also take a lead role. A video of the event is posted for all to see on the KPCA website, www.kingsparkcivic.org.
Why attack the civic associations now, three weeks later and after the election? Why did the paper not seek me or San Remo Civic president Lorna Paine out to verify any information?
Since when is asking questions about real issues, from members of our community, a bad thing? The answer: It is never a bad thing. This is America!
Sean Lehmann, president
Kings Park Civic Association
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November 19, 2009
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