LETTERS: NY voters, school financing, Plum Island and more

New York voters get the gov't we deserve

The only conclusion to be drawn after reviewing the results of the recent poll of New York voters is that the problem lies not with the politicians, but with the electorate "Voters in a state of discontent," News, May 20]. Quite simply, we get the government we deserve. Voters claim that they are angry and want to fix Albany, but in truth, they are unwilling to allow it to be fixed.

It is striking that, in the face of a gaping deficit and mounting debt, there is no popular support for a fix to the financial crisis. There is not sufficient support for either a tax increase or a reduction in services. Given these facts, it is apparent that New York State is ungovernable, because the voters refuse to accept that they must think (and, more to the point, vote) like rational adults.

Is it any wonder then that politicians in Albany behave as they do? After all, they are trying to get elected, or re-elected, and therefore must promise to deliver what the voters desire. What is desired, however, is undeliverable, and a recipe for financial chaos.

Matthew Witten

Great Neck

School financing needs radical overhaul

I would like to say thank you to the residents of the William Floyd School District who approved our budget, even though the State Legislature did not treat our gerrymandered community fairly. However, as Martin Cantor, director of Dowling College's Long Island Economic and Social Policy Institute, points out, we need to "Find a fairer way to finance schools" . Relying on local property tax wealth in low-income school districts, praying for adequate state aid, and putting the burden on homeowners to make up the difference when it's not there, is a system that is simply unsustainable.

One example Cantor points out is Kentucky, where reforms address low-wealth/ high-need schools. Now, with the 2010 Census complete, will incumbents draw legislative districts around their party majorities, or will an independent commission draw lines around actual communities?

Maybe then a new legislature may actually change our archaic school-funding system, perhaps to a statewide income tax to be distributed fairly, allowing local schools the flexibility to spend money where it's most needed.

Matthew Leone

East Northport

Editor's note: The writer is a teacher in the William Floyd School District.

Selling Plum Island doesn't make sense. . .

"What's next for Plum Island?" sounds like another big government idea to spend our tax dollars to build a better mousetrap. We own Plum Island and have been working on animal diseases there for years. It makes no sense whatsoever to put this project in the middle of the country, where a leak could infect our cattle industry or maybe our grain supply. But, some political dealings will get someone re-elected in Kansas because he got $650 million in tax money spent on a new facility (when it's estimated we'll only make $80 million for selling Plum Island).

Oh yes! It will be safe, a leak could never happen. The public is not at risk. Just cows. Maybe someone should tell it to BP? If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

John Witthohn

West Babylon

. . . but island could house sex offenders

In regard to what to do with Plum Island Research Center if it is sold, why not make this a place where sex offenders can live separately from the general population? Granted, the view is probably beautiful, but who cares?

If some governing agency at the federal, state or local level can agree to provide residences for sex offenders, I believe we would all be better off. Add this to the ballot for parents and see how they vote.

What good is it shuttling offenders from trailers to hotel rooms , or if they do have residences to have constant letters going out to neighborhoods that a sexual offender lives nearby?

Isn't the point to have them live somewhere where they can live out their lives away from children who are a constant temptation?

Pamela Sanford

Huntington Station

. . . or windmills

I have an idea for Plum Island that's a win-win: How about putting those windmills we've been debating about on the island? It's got to be cheaper than putting them 10 miles out to sea, won't disturb the marine habitat, is easily accessible for repairs and maintenance, and any boater can tell you that there is always wind blowing.

The NIMBYs can't complain about the use, as it's certainly better than testing for animal diseases, and LIPA saves money in construction and delivery costs. How about it people? This is something we can finally all agree on.

Robert Buetti

Bay Shore

Teen jobs filled by illegal immigrants

You don't need a PhD in economics to figure out why teens can't find jobs . What were most of the jobs teenagers used to fill? They were dishwashers, busboys, fast-food restaurant cooks and counter help. They mowed lawns, were construction laborers or stock boys. There are plenty of those jobs out there. The problem is these jobs are filled - not by older, experienced workers but by mostly illegal immigrants. These are the jobs "nobody" wants to do.

For some reason, our government advisers didn't even bring up this issue. They gave us two politically correct reasons for the phenomenon, neither of which has any bearing on the problem. The problems in the economy and in society in general cannot be solved when the problem-solvers keep telling us we need to see a foot doctor when we have a brain tumor.

Chuck Fox

Smithtown

Send teens to help clean up the Gulf

If young people are unemployed and face a summer of doing nothing, may I suggest that youth and outreach centers mobilize teams of volunteers to go to the Gulf of Mexico? Volunteers are needed by the Sierra Club, National Wildlife Federation, Save our Seabirds and many other organizations. Those of us who are bound by our jobs and families but who are feeling helpless outrage would certainly volunteer to help defray costs. Let's hold some fundraisers - and let's ask BP to be the first to donate.

Lisa Eicher

East Northport

Arrogance left us ill-prepared for spill

I, for one, am not at all surprised that efforts to completely stop the oil gushing from the Deepwater Horizon disaster failed for weeks . That's because there never was any plan devised to solve such a possibility. Simply put, no one believed this could happen. But it did happen, and 11 people's lives were lost and the entire ecological system of the Gulf is endangered.

To me, this is a prime example of human arrogance, the same arrogance that left the "unsinkable" Titanic without enough lifeboats - and we all know how that turned out.

Henry M. Javora

Westbury