Letters: Aftermath of a superstorm
Discarded items damaged by superstorm Sandy sit on Illinois Avenue in Long Beach. City officials released a statement Nov. 14 saying an evacuation order for the area has been rescinded. (Nov. 7, 2012) Credit: Howard Schnapp
Do you really think things will be different after Attorney General Eric Schneiderman issues subpoenas to the Long Island Power Authority ["Sandy: Subpoenas in AG probe of utilities," News, Nov. 15]?
The attorney general will send out his subpoenas, he will have his investigators pore over tons of paper. After the hype and anger have subsided, we will go on with our lives and forget that, once again, LIPA officials will do their song and dance in response to the investigation. Life will go on, and nothing will change.
The top executives will continue to earn salaries over $200,000, and we the consumers will bear the increase in our electric rates for the 14,000 out-of-state workers who weren't effectively dispatched, because, according to LIPA chief operating officer Michael Hervey, "The procedures were not made for that large a workforce. It started to slow down the process."
We will pay for LIPA's inefficiencies once again.
Bob Schiller, Holtsville
About your headline "Nearly half make $100G" [News, Nov. 15]: What's exorbitant about a salary of $100,000? You can't live on Long Island for much less than that.
Regina Henry, East Northport
Instead of being amazed at Long Island's ability to bounce back from the horrific storm that has caused such immense damage to our towns, we berate LIPA for not being able to return things to normal sooner.
I am in disbelief that Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is complaining nonstop about LIPA. How outrageously entitled do Long Islanders think we are? In 14 days, electrical power has been restored to 99 percent of the properties that are able to receive it. Realistically, just how fast do people think this sort of massive reversal of nature's fury should take? A day or two?
Cuomo should take a lesson from New Jersey's Gov. Chris Christie. Be a positive force to New Yorkers. Remind us that although LIPA might need massive updating, the men and women of LIPA have done an outstanding job trying to help us get back to a semblance of normal.
I applaud LIPA and its employees. It must be very, very demoralizing to have to listen to all the naysayers while working tirelessly to help us.
Joanne Urban, Wantagh
Newsday deserves big kudos. How surprised I was, the day after the worst storm to hit Long Island in decades, that there was my newspaper waiting for me.
With no power or phone for a week, my newspaper became a vital source of information. Despite gasoline shortages and downed trees, the newspaper carriers did not miss one day.
Peter Luzynski, Glen Cove
