We shouldn't be ones replacing trees

Readers recently suggested tree removal to prevent utility-line problems [“Want power to stay? Cut roadside trees,” Letters, Aug. 27].

I would love to remove the tree at our curb. I live on a Nassau County-owned street. The tree is in their right-of-way, though my responsibility. Falling trees will take the utility lines down and break the sidewalk. I believe trees trimmed to a giant Y by PSEG Long Island are of little help because they still will hit the lines. The roots lift and break the sidewalk, and we have already had to pay to replace the sidewalk in front of our house, and it’s needed again. This is true along the length of my street. Permission from Nassau County is needed to replace the tree at my cost, and I must fix my sidewalk at my cost plus a $735 permit fee. I cannot afford this.

Something needs to be done about curbside trees in the municipal right-of-way. Replacing them with dwarf trees paid for by the county, towns or villages would be a great idea. We need trees for the oxygen, they are alive and lovely, but we need to keep them below the height of the utility lines.

Mary Johnson,

Bellmore

New USPS mailboxes just fine

Unlike a reader, I believe the new mailboxes are a great improvement in making them tamper proof and that our Postal Service overall is good and a bargain compared to other countries [“Post Service boxing us in with changes,” Letters, Aug. 28]. I live on a corner and used to have a mailbox across the street. That box was removed, and I was annoyed by the loss of convenience, but that was 25 years ago. I happily learned that I could put any outgoing mail — or small packages that did not need additional postage — into my own mailbox, and my mail carrier would pick it up.

Al Grusell,

East Meadow

Disagreeing with reader on 2020 vote

After reading Tom Focone’s letter, I see we agree on one thing he wrote [“Views about party conventions,” Sept. 1]: “I don’t like President Donald Trump and think he may be the worst president ever.” But that’s where it stops. Focone will still vote for Trump based on his desire to ask one question with the expectation of having Roe v. Wade overturned. I am pro-choice myself and respect Focone’s belief in the sanctity of life. But I do not respect what I see as his inconsistency and hypocrisy. I have my own questions. Is it OK that Trump says nothing about Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly paying a bounty to the Taliban to kill American soldiers? Is it OK that Americans like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Atatiana Jefferson are killed at the hands of police? And is it OK that more than 185,000 Americans have died in just 6 months from what I see as Trump’s mismanagement of COVID-19? The answers to my questions impact actual, living people and affect their families and those that are empathetic to loss of life.

Keith Rossein,

Malverne

I found a letter by one of my fellow Newsday readers extremely disturbing [“Views about party conventions,” Sept. 1]. He wrote: “I don’t like President Donald Trump and think he may the worst president ever.” He then wrote that he will probably vote for him anyway on the chance that Trump may nominate at least one more conservative Supreme Court justice and that Roe v. Wade will “finally” be overturned. Does this person understand that Trump may not get a chance to nominate another Supreme Court justice? Or that if he does, this nominee might not be approved? Based on his own opinion, this person is going to vote for “the worst president ever” so there might be a chance that a 47-year-old Supreme Court ruling might be overturned? Especially in the face of the current movement for more civil rights?

Michael Seewald,

Manorville

I read with disgust the letter from Tom Focone. He wants Roe v. Wade to be overturned and will vote for an unfit candidate to ensure women have no choice about their pregnancies. I would love to pose a couple of questions to the writer: When were you pregnant and forced to give birth? Will you be financially responsible for these children? Easy to cast a vote to stop someone else’s rights, isn’t it?

Carol Galati,

Ridge

The letters about the Republican and Democratic national conventions point out the vast schism engulfing our country [“Views about party conventions,” Letters, Sept. 1]. To Tom Focone, I ask him: Do you care about children once they are born? Approximately 11 million children live in poverty in the richest country on earth. Children were taken from their parents and put in cages in our Southern border.

Susan Masone,

Huntington

That’s quite an expensive dog

How in the world did the Town of Oyster Bay run a tab on a dog to be put down to the point of $31,000 [“Town sets $31G bond for rescuer to save dog,” News, Aug. 20]. I’ve had dogs for 30-plus years, and I don’t see how it is possible to spend that kind of money on a dog. Somehow, Oyster Bay managed to do it in two years. No wonder it costs an arm and a leg just to survive on Long Island. Stop wasting taxpayer dollars.

Anthony Tanzi,

Mastic Beach