LETTERS: Nassau budget, Dunewood concerns, a place for Jews, more

Nassau is engaged in budget trickery

Regarding "Towns to take on more costs" [News, Oct. 31]: Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano is a man of his word. When he says he won't raise property taxes, you'd better believe it.

Instead, he's shifting $80 million in tax certioraris from the county to school districts, which should not be misconstrued as raising taxes. Nor is a new sewage fee on publicly owned and nonprofit entities raising property taxes. Nor is borrowing $50 million.

How about a $15 processing fee, even when the traffic ticket is dismissed? Or a 67 percent increase in fees for county-run summer programs? It's OK because it won't raise property taxes, right? I could go on.

Mangano shouldn't tell the public he's holding the line on property taxes and yet raise fees, shift costs, borrow and perform a host of other trickery. Whether I pay from my left pocket or my right, I am paying.

Michael Weinick

Merrick

Neighbors could grab Dunewood's perks

Newsday's editorial "Merger makes sense" [Oct. 29] calls for the merger of the Dunewood community into the Fair Harbor Fire District on Fire Island. Unfortunately, Newsday neglected to give the reason for Dunewood's reluctance.

Fire protection is not the issue. Dunewood has a 25-year contract with the Fair Harbor District for that purpose. The issue is potential condemnation of private property.

Fire districts have great powers of condemnation within their borders. Dunewood, a planned community, has superb facilities, such as tennis courts and extensive boat docking and sailing areas. Dunewood homeowners paid for these facilities and the value of Dunewood's homes reflect their investment. Fair Harbor and Lonelyville have no comparable community facilities.

Dunewood fears that these community assets would be an almost irresistible target for condemnation. Dunewood has asked Fair Harbor if it would relinquish condemnation powers in the event of a merger. Fair Harbor replied that it would not. After all, why wouldn't Fair Harbor and Lonelyville homeowners relish acquiring facilities that their own communities fail to provide?

Dunewood homeowners have a rational, well-based concern, which Newsday should respect.

Maurice Barbash

Babylon

Editor's note: The writer is the builder of the Dunewood community.

Eruv's an important community addition

Your story ["Nonprofit gets eruv," News, Nov. 1] quoted a woman saying, "If you're Orthodox, know that not every place in the world is for you." I know that full well.

In 1394, France wasn't the place for me. In 1492, Spain wasn't the place for me. In 1648, Ukraine wasn't the place for me. In 1918, Russia wasn't the place for me. In 1939, Germany wasn't the place for me. This is 2010. This is America.

Yocheved T. Kolchin

West Hempstead

Public schools are not making widgets

The editorial "Reform is a test for teachers" [Oct. 27], failed to address a key factor in reporting true accountability - that is, a student's class changes, and along with change, the unpredictable results.

The rating system mentioned in the editorial refers to the prior year's results, then measures how much the student exceeded or fell short of that level after a year. In theory, it sounds very creditable. If we manufactured cogs and compared last year's production to this year's, then it might be easy to pass judgment as to which year was more fruitful. And that is assuming the same number of workers and an equal time on task.

But in teaching, the classroom chemistry changes each year as the student progresses through school. This year's class of 25-plus students is not the same as last year's class, in behavioral problems, learning channels, reading and writing skills, parent participation, testing modification, and so much more.

In some cases, the school population is transient, thus creating an additional unknown factor. Just one student can alter the complexity and dynamics of any given class. In these stressful financial times, family problems can arise at any moment, again altering students' academic performance.

The results obtained from this approach are meaningless. Blocking the release of these results, was purely logical, even for "slow learners."

Salvatore Lentini

Medford

Election message: Fix what's broken

Now that the elections are over and life begins to get back to normal, let's hope that our elected officials in Washington start to work together to resolve the various issues we face in this country. Creating jobs and opportunities for the American people by creating a more "business-friendly" environment, crafting tax rates that are fair and equitable for all, encouraging entrepreneurial investment and business expansion, and resolving the health care dilemma are some of the challenges that must be addressed by this next session of Congress.

Republicans and Democrats must work together to find solutions to the challenges we face and spend less time blaming one another or previous administrations. Whenever I hear the former speaker of the house (D) or incoming speaker (R) talk about how "the other side" is being obstructionist, I understand why nothing ever gets done. The only way anything will ever get done down there is if these folks put aside their egos, their partisan biases and start to compromise with one another.

The American people want politicians out of our wallets and out of our bedrooms and spending their time focusing on getting our economic engine rolling once again. Let's hope this incoming Congress keeps that in mind when members begin their terms in January. Our future depends on it.

Frank J. Stalzer

Huntington