Long Island Rail Road trains' on-time performance fell for the...

Long Island Rail Road trains' on-time performance fell for the fourth straight year, to 91.6 percent in 2015 from 92 percent in 2014. Credit: Howard Schnapp

Just another day at Jamaica Station, waiting for the train to Ronkonkoma to pull in. As is the norm, the last two cars don’t make the platform.

This means the Long Island Rail Road employees open the doors to the accessible cars and board the train first. Paying customers are forced to work their way back to the last two cars to find a seat.

Tom McCormick, Yaphank

 

Will GOP candidates avoid Donald Trump?

In September 1964, I was a 16-year-old senior at Mineola High School, and I couldn’t wait for the presidential campaign to start. Back then, campaigns started in earnest after Labor Day.

I was thrilled to work as a volunteer for the Republican Party at an office in Williston Park. I thought Barry Goldwater would be our next president, and I wanted to do anything I could to help, even though I was too young to vote.

When I asked why there weren’t many Goldwater buttons or bumper stickers, I was told the party was concentrating on local candidates. I was assigned to the re-election campaign of Rep. Steven Derounian. He strongly supported Goldwater, but most of the New York party seemed to think Goldwater was poison.

Kenneth Keating was running for re-election to the U.S. Senate against Democrat Robert Kennedy. Keating announced he was running an “independent” race, independent of Goldwater. Both Keating and Derounian lost their seats.

Today, I read that some people think Donald Trump is poison, and I wonder how many politicians will opt for that independent route this year.

Ed Ryan, Coram

 

NY laws force up cost of liability insurance

I started working in my father-in-law’s masonry business 35 years ago. Over the last few years, our general liability insurance has increased about 500 percent.

This is not because of any claims on our part, but because New York requires insurance companies to pay for a broader field of claims than other states allow. For example, general liability insurance covers employees who get hurt on the job, without limits and without adjusting for how the employee might have contributed to the injury.

People say that former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver prevented any changes that would affect personal injury lawyers. With the increased costs that have been passed on to consumers, a lot of money could be saved if the law were less lawyer-friendly.

Andrew Feldman, Bellmore

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