Power lines in Bethpage. PSEG is not set up to perform for...

Power lines in Bethpage. PSEG is not set up to perform for Long Island ratepayers. Credit: Newsday/Steve Pfost

To grandparents, bike teachers are a blessing

A reader bashed the notion of paying a professional to teach children to ride a two-wheeler ["Honk if you taught your kids how to bike," Letters, May 23]. He engaged in parent-shaming, implying that today’s generation of parents is “too busy” to do it themselves. As so many boomers of my generation do, he harps back to the “good old days” when our two-parent families taught us to ride, and we drank out of the hose and played in the streets unsupervised.
Is the reader aware that more than 2 million U.S. grandparents are primarily responsible for raising grandchildren today? We are doing the best we can -- homework, Sunday school, Parent Teacher Association. When it came to the bicycle training. my knees said, “Absolutely not -- this is a bridge too far.”
Not everyone is exactly alike. A little observation of the world around us plus a dose of compassion would go a long way toward making this a kinder place.
-- Carla Wanzer, West Hempstead

LIPA government-run isn't a good idea

Should LIPA become a fully public utility is not a new question [“Does LIPA deserve to be in charge? No,” Letters, May 24]. Monopolies require some regulation. Before moving to full municipalization let's consider that municipalization is a fancy way to say government owned and operated.

The Long Island Rail Road's new M9 cars have another new target date. And East Side access was delayed for decades and was billions of dollars over budget.

After millions of dollars and years of delay, the Wollman Rink in Central Park had no ice. So New York City hired a private company (Trump Organization), and in four months, the rink opened.

Are you happy with highway maintenance? I also read about other government mismanagement, and taxes and transit rates keep rising.

President Ronald Reagan said, "Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." And in many cases, we have living proof of that right here on Long Island.

-- Robert Bialer, Glen Cove

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