LETTERS: Parks fee increases, 'Better Burb' contest and more

Even with increase, parks are a bargain

The price increase of $2 for our state parks needs to be viewed in the context of fees charged for other leisure activities in our area .

It costs $10 per person to go see a two-hour movie on Long Island. The average price for the cheapest ticket at Citi Field to see a three- to four-hour Mets game is $19 per person, after you pay $19 to park your car. The cheapest ticket at the new Yankee Stadium is $14 per person, after you pay $29 to park your car. So $10 for a full carload of people to spend all day at one of our beautiful state parks is a bargain any day of the week.

Steve Berner

Shoreham

'Better burb' contest will help us dream

How can Lee Koppelman, "Long Island's veteran master planner," say that "mostly what you see is what you've got" in the Island's downtowns? I thought that seeing beyond what we've got is our role as planners.

The "Build a Better Burb" contest by the Long Island Index will stimulate new thinking and, if successful, bring new ideas to a region that sorely needs them. New planning concepts came to Long Island 10 years ago from Vision Long Island in the form of Smart Growth. Those concepts were dismissed then as idealistic, impractical and not possible on Long Island. Today, revitalization of our traditional downtowns and re-envisioning of our commercial corridors has moved beyond talk, and developers are again competing for this year's Smart Growth Awards. Planning is about future successes and not past failures. So let's dream and encourage anyone with a good idea to answer the call for a "Better Burb."

David Berg

Huntington

Editor's note: The writer is a board member of Vision Long Island.

Wage freeze idea is shortsighted

With all due respect to State Sen. John Flanagan, a man who has served his constituency with great integrity for a long time, I just don't understand how a wage freeze on salaries for public employees is the answer to our fiscal problems . The fact is that the Long Island economy and state economy (with the exception of a few areas) have been far too dependent on the speculative schemes concocted on Wall Street over the years. And despite all the rhetoric about Long Island becoming the next Silicon Valley, and all the incentives from local government, it never happened.

Public employees on Long Island are the largest group of taxpayers. How does freezing their salaries help them pay their taxes? It would only make our fiscal problems even worse.

Schools, colleges and libraries are the backbone of the Long Island economy, not the dot-coms and boiler-room operations that are here today and gone tomorrow. It's time that the people of New York demand that their tax dollars be invested in a truly new economy, one that appreciates the value of a great knowledge and learning infrastructure rather than one based on greed and nearsighted politics.

Peter Ward

West Islip

Building trades leaders work on many fronts

The recent op-ed piece about the building trades was a disservice to Long Island's union leadership. It suggests that the union construction trades are one-dimensional in their approach to securing jobs for their members. Nothing could be further from the truth.

They meet with developers, town planners, civic organizations and political leaders. They lobby for jobs in Washington and Albany and appear before town boards. I know how hard they work because the Long Island Federation of Labor, with its 250,000 members, has been with them, side by side. Together, along with allies in the business community, we have argued for housing, better infrastructure, good schools and safe communities.

When you see the "rat" at a job site, it means that a developer or contractor has chosen to undermine wage and benefit standards. It does not represent the single approach the trades have taken to preserve good jobs in our communities.

John R. Durso

Hauppauge

Editor's note: The writer is president of the Long Island Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO.

Carry-on charge is the final straw

So now Spirit Airlines wants to charge up to $45 for carry-ons placed in overhead bins . Should that include my coat? Defining what constitutes a "carry-on" could vary greatly between the airlines. They already exempted diapers. (I can see the commercials now: "Diapers fly free!")

The airline says the fee is needed because people carry too much on, and yes, I would agree that many oversized items are dragged onboard. However, airlines charging fees for checked bags to begin with encouraged more carry-ons. Traveling is no longer fun. They might as well just load us onto a giant sling and toss us to our destination.

Harold May

Melville

Obama moving ahead on many issues

A recent writer claims President Barack Obama has neglected jobs, the economy and foreign affairs while focusing on the health care bill the public didn't want . The Recovery Act had a jobs program in it and I've personally seen it at work. Obama labored and consulted over a plan for Afghanistan, is working with Congress on finance reform law, put through another jobs package in February, has signed a Nuclear Reduction Treaty with Russia, and has been trying to get nations onboard with sanctions on Iran - all in 14 months. During the primaries and campaign of 2008, all I heard about ad nauseam was health care, and Obama won with 53 percent. How do you twist that into "The public doesn't want it?"

Pat DeMaria

South Setauket