Novel solution to landfills and housing, speeding, animal cruelty, politics today

Erosion, housing, trash: A jolly fix!

Long Island has three problems, all of which can be fixed with one solution “Face the threat of water, wind,” Editorial, Jan. 21].

The Army Corps of Engineers takes a dim view of filling in bodies of water to make more land; this anachronistic rule makes no sense today.

Other countries, most notably China, have no qualms about filling the sea with billions of cubic feet of dirt. If China wants an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the government just builds it.

On Long Island, two major problems are not enough housing and the erosion and flooding of our shoreline. We don’t have enough housing because land is expensive. Erosion and flooding may be caused by climate change, but few local politicians will admit that.

We can start to fill in the South Shore bays and North Shore marine areas where we’d like to build. We can even start filling in the Atlantic Ocean.

Our local landfills, which never seem to close and are our third problem, can just haul trash to the bays and dump it.

So we solve three problems just by filling the bays, Long Island Sound and ocean with garbage. More land will make housing less expensive, and there’s less chance of flooding and beach erosion.

Voila!

— Bill Olson, Westhampton

Nobody gets more attention than the homeowners living atop the dunes on Fire Island [“Sand is not the forever answer,” Editorial, Jan. 17]. When the breakers get too close, they run to every politician they can find to get pushback against the waves.

The shoreline changes drastically every year because of the westerly sweep of the tides and waves. Jetties have been tried, but while they stabilize one area, a neighbor may lose his beach. So, sand seems to be the only solution.

Sand comes from two sources: dredging the inlets and removing the dunes from the north shore of Fire Island. At the West end, many dunes have disappeared. Any solution should rule out removing the existing dunes.

— Lawrence Donohue, West Islip

The street in front of my house gets flooded almost every time it rains [“Eroding feelings over sand issues,” Letters, Jan. 21]. This water does not drain, even with low tide. I have complained to the highway department, but nothing gets done. The storm drains need to be cleaned out. Osprey Park is one block from my home. I cannot even walk there.

— Marilyn Topper, Mastic Beach

Exiting the HOV lane: Dangerous maneuver

A reader questions the lack of patrol cars on the Long Island Expressway [“Where are the LIE highway patrol cars?”, Letters, Jan. 21].

Traveling on this dangerous road is eye-opening. You see speed demons in the HOV lane, tailgating at 70 to 80 miles per hour.

It’s the same with the other lanes, too. Try exiting from an HOV lane across the other lanes to get to your exit. It’s like becoming a kamikaze driver.

The last 14 trips I’ve made, I observed no enforcement cars from the eastern end of the LIE to Exit 32, Little Neck Parkway — in either direction.

When the sheriff’s deputies were doing enforcement, it was a safer road to travel. Now, anxiety over one’s safety becomes part of each trip.

— Arthur French, Wainscott

On LI, animals roam on a two-way street

I was thrilled that abused animals were rescued from a vacant Long Island ranch “Bulls, steer rescued in Riverhead,” News, Jan. 24]. I was sickened to read how these animals suffered at this “unlicensed slaughterhouse” but also happy to learn that the surviving cows, piglets, chickens, sheep, goats and rabbits will live out their remaining years loved and well taken care of at various sanctuaries.

But I wonder how many readers who cheered the outcome of this story still dined on steak, pork or nuggets hours later, unaware of the hypocrisy.

Do they believe the animals on their plates suffered any less abuse at the factory farm where they were raised or were slaughtered any more humanely than the animals that were rescued? Is it disingenuous finding comfort in saving some animals while ignoring the abuse of others because they “taste good”?

— Paul Schaefer, Smithtown

Politics simply isn’t what it used to be

When will it all end? Politics is supposed to highlight individual accomplishments and ideas if a candidate is elected. This is no longer the norm “Closer to 2020 rematch,” News, Jan. 25].

Now, it has become name-calling, false rhetoric and threats of retaliation. What happened to discussions about our homeless, the exploitation of the middle class and the lack of assistance to seniors?

I feel for the undocumented immigrants arriving here, but spending billions of dollars to take care of them is using money that could help people born here. I’m ashamed of what our country has become.

— Roseanne Schreuder, Holtsville