Long Beach letters

Stop slapping our faces

To the Editor:
At the City Council budget hearing on May 25, Councilman Mike Fagen announced specific plans, such as freezing salaries or rolling back proposed increases for employees working out of position.The CSEA’S executive vice president ranted, "Cuts on the back of labor!” He is myopic; he sees only one side of the issue.
Who does he think pays the taxes that are required to run this city? Labor, people like my neighbors, one a utility worker, one a federal employee, another a school teacher and another an employee of a local university, that’s who. These are all people in their 40s with one or two children working very hard to make ends meet. Raising water rates doesn't ease their plight; doubling sanitation fees doesn't, either.

We can’t afford to be good citizens

To the Editor:
Once again a school board election is behind us, and I owe a debt of gratitude to the voters of our school district for their support and encouragement.
I applaud those that took the time to come out to vote but wonder what we can do to increase that turnout. When less than 10 percent of our eligible voters come out to exercise the most precious gift our country gives us, I have to wonder why so few respond. Do people feel so disenfranchised that they feel their vote won’t make a difference? Or has life become so complicated that even the little time it takes to vote becomes an insurmountable burden?
I would like to open up this debate and find the answers. As the federal and state governments become increasingly less functional, public input becomes more essential. In every election throughout the nation, special-interest groups always vote and always vote for their own benefits. It is easy to see how that sort of vote might not benefit the vast majority.
However, if over 90 percent stay home on Election Day, there is no question that a very small percentage will determine your financial future with regard to public expenditures. I am sure that is not the path most of us want to follow.
Ask your friends, neighbors or perhaps yourself if you didn’t vote: Why? Tell your elected officials what can be done to encourage turnout. As someone once wrote many years ago, “Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote.” In this day and age we just can’t afford to let ourselves become those “good citizens.”
Roy Lester
Board of Education trustee-elect

LNG has no place in Long Beach

To the Editor:
Your article "LNG terminal not forgotten" (May 20-26) failed to mention some very real problems related to liquefied natural gas facilities. LNG is an extremely polluting fossil fuel, approaching coal in its negative environmental impacts.
Liquefied natural gas must be cooled from a gas to a liquid at -260 degrees Fahrenheit, transported overseas, heated again to a gaseous state and then piped onshore. This whole complicated process creates greenhouse gases, 40 percent more than domestic natural gas. Long Island, and especially the Long Beach barrier island, is extremely susceptible to one very important result of greenhouse gas emission and climate change — sea level rise. All those who love our beach, and beaches everywhere, should strongly oppose these projects pushed by the petroleum industry.
LNG and other fossil fuel technologies must be replaced — the sooner the better —with alternative energy sources such as solar and wind. Energy conservation must also be pursued aggressively. Further investment in LNG technology makes no sense. Building these facilities off our coastline only distracts us from the critical need to abandon fossil fuel technologies.
Fortunately the governor of New Jersey has voiced his opposition to LNG facilities in the Atlantic. He has veto power over the Atlantic Sea Island Group project and may eventually have veto power over other projects in the works. The use of liquefied natural gas appears in New York state's current energy plan, despite the fact that Gov. Paterson quashed the Broadwater project, an ill-advised LNG facility planned for the Long Island Sound.
Gov. Paterson should join with Gov. Christie and declare unequivocally that LNG has no place in our state's energy future — our endangered planet demands no less.
Jim Brown
Long Beach


All parades should end at City Hall

To the Editor:
As I marched past the reviewing stand in front of Long Beach City Hall during the Memorial Day parade, participating with many Long Beach residents in this very impressive community event, I thought of our other two annual parades — the parade in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Irish Day parade. These parades are also important Long Beach community events. Why don’t they end at City Hall?
Since the city grants the parade permits, it can stipulate where parades terminate. Let the parade organizers determine the starting point and the route. Both parades would benefit from this change. The city’s Republican administration would not have been able to ignore the MLK parade if it had ended at City Hall, with other elected representatives present on the reviewing stand. The Irish Day parade, often seen as a West End-only event, needs to encompass the entire city. Ending this parade in the center of the city would also eliminate the daytime shutdown of West Beech Street, reduce police and sanitation overtime and allow businesses that now close to remain open. Vendors of Irish goods could set up in Kennedy Plaza, along with the games and rides for children.
Having all Long Beach parades march past a reviewing stand in front of City Hall would better honor the universal themes of the parades and foster a unified community spirit.
Joseph P. Marron
Long Beach