Long Beach Letters

He smells a rat

To the Editor:

The Indiana firehouse in the West End has been under construction for over a year. The City of Long Beach originally estimated a cost for the project at about $2 million, but that has since skyrocketed to $4.2 million. The commissioner of the Department of Public Works expects $500,000 in additional change orders, or a subtotal of $4.75 million. It could be more.

The city is obligated to select the lowest responsible bidder when undertaking these projects. Years ago, the City Council passed a resolution to select only companies that employed union labor when performing city-contracted work. So why was the inflatable union rat at the Indiana firehouse on Jan. 18?

Larry Benowitz

Long Beach

Broadway brought to LBMS

To the Editor:

I would like to congratulate the Long Beach High School Theater Department for their sensational presentation of “Bye-Bye Birdie” (LBHS says hello to ‘Bye-Bye Birdie,’” Feb. 11-17). Hats off to the entire cast, crew and pit orchestra, who brought a nostalgic slice of Broadway to Long Beach with their professional directing, acting, vocals, music, dance numbers, staging, sound and lights.

And I extend my thanks to the many local businesses, family and friends who took ads in the program. Your generous contributions helped offset the production costs of each show.

Dr. Dale Johanson

Director of comprehensive arts, Long Beach Public Schools

D’Amato should disclose more

To the Editor:

Regarding Al D’Amato’s column "Our children don't deserve to be sold out" (Jan. 28-Feb. 3): I was startled by D'Amato's tirade against the lobbying efforts of the New York State teachers union. As a school administrator and a non-union employee, I am sometimes concerned by the positions that the teachers union takes. However, overall I believe that most of the union's stances are both pro-teacher and pro-student, and that its efforts help protect education in New York and defend against those who might hurt our educational system.

D'Amato should understand the importance of lobbying for one's causes, as he co-founded a large lobbying firm himself, Park Strategies, and is chairman of the Poker Players Alliance, which I assume spends money to influence legislators. I also must assume D'Amato only objects to lobbyists whose interests are different than his. In the future, he should disclose his efforts at influencing legislators before taking pot shots at others.

Saul Lerner

Woodmere

‘Disgusted’ by town raises

To the Editor:

As a taxpaying homeowner on Long Island, how would you feel if elected local leaders raised their salaries without your knowledge and with no true public disclosure in the middle of some of the worst economic times in American history?

Now, how would you feel if that same group of politicians had just been elected to new terms this past November and would not be subject to re-election and, thus, your voting disapproval for two to four years? Add to that the fact that the leaders' new salaries were not included in the municipal budget for 2010, so that the funds for the raises would have to come from youth or senior services, parks programs, road repairs or some other category of the budget. Finally, consider the fact that they have used almost this exact same kind of methodology to raise their salaries every other year for at least three cycles.

You would be disgusted, appalled and annoyed if this happened in your community, wouldn't you? This is exactly what recently occurred in the Town of Hempstead. Supervisor Kate Murray, Town Clerk Mark Bonilla and all the members of the Town Board were awarded raises of up to $10,000 based on their own personal votes! Wouldn't you like to vote yourself a nice raise at your job, assuming you have one, so you could pay for your Hempstead Town politicians? There should be a law against this kind of political self-gratification in the Town of Hempstead.

Bob Young

Merrick