DeJoy should be held accountable

I am furious that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy was removing mail-sorting equipment from the U.S. Postal Service and slowing down my mail. Isn’t it still a federal offense to tamper with the mail? Although I say he should be fired, I would rather he be held accountable for the actions that took place last week. DeJoy also started removing mailboxes before being prompted to stop that. I believe the Postal Service is ours, the American people’s, not any one person’s or administration’s to do with as they please.

Elizabeth Gundlach,

Brookhaven

Let’s not mince words. President Donald Trump is holding the Post Office hostage so there is less of a chance he loses the election. I believe Trump Republicans do not know how to govern: from the time he took office, they have hurt the American people by destroying rivers and land that have commercial pollution, giving tax cuts to the wealthy, trying to deny heath care to hundreds of thousands of people — during a pandemic. If mailing in a ballot is denied us, as he wants to do, then civic-minded Americans, people who love this country and don’t want to see it become a banana republic, should put masks on and go to their polling places and vote for the Democratic Party candidates.

James Di Gregorio,

Garden City

We’ve got a failure to communicate

You won’t believe this: After seven hours and the more than 200 phone calls it took to report to PSEG Long Island the severed, downed wires in our backyard after Tropical Storm Isaias on Aug. 4, an assessor finally came four days later, on Saturday [“25,000 on LI still in the dark over 1 week later,” News, Aug. 12]. She put caution tape around the wires and said a crew would arrive to fix it before the weekend was over. A line crew arrived Monday, took one look and told us they couldn’t work because tree trimmers were needed. (Meanwhile, Optimum came the following day and reconnected its wire to the same pole in 15 minutes.) We have constantly been on and off the outage map, which said our restoration was expected at 11 p.m. Wednesday. The tree trimmer arrived at 10:15 a.m. Wednesday, looked at the pole and smiled, saying, “There’s nothing here for me to do.” It’s day eight with no power, having had to spend money on food and cellphone data overages; my daughter cannot work from home; and we’re concerned about our dog’s overheating health condition. The house wind chill was a brisk 85 degrees.

Steve Gross,

Syosset

Here’s what it’s like to fix power

I beg our utility companies to make a video to educate customers, community leaders and politicians, who apparently are ignorant of what it takes to restore electric power after a significant storm [“Seniors went 8 days without electricity,” News, Aug. 13]. Please offer ride-alongs to officials with company employees for a firsthand explanation, detailing the steps required to “safely” accomplish repairs. As a retired utility worker, I sit back and wait for the lights to return because I know what it takes to do so. Maybe the public will do the same if they are made aware, too. Workers labor in 85 degrees plus humidity, are required to wear heavy rubber gloves and sleeves from their fingertips to shoulders. They should be praised for their efforts, not looked down upon.

Vincent Eletto,

Port Jefferson Station

Time is short to train pollsters

While the measures you mentioned in your editorial “Strengthening the vote in NY” [Aug. 17] are all worthwhile, you failed to mention support for increasing personnel at the boards of elections to cope with the increase in mailed-in ballots. The Suffolk County Board of Elections was overwhelmed with primary-election ballots. How will they verify and count all the mailed ballots in a general election? Time is running short to hire and train new workers.

Albert Savoy,

Huntington

Tire barriers could prevent crashes

Yet another person was apparently confused by an entry ramp for the Wantagh Parkway and killed in a wrong-way crash [“One man killed in Wantagh parkway crash,” News, Aug. 14]. Why can’t we finally address this? Can we install the same type of tire puncture barriers used at airport rental parking lots? Cars driven on the wrong direction ramp would have their tires punctured before they get onto the parkway and tragedy strikes. The most recent case involved an older person from out of state who I’ll bet was confused by the exit and entry ramps being so close together. I suspect the cost would be way less than, say, a red-light camera. Let’s redirect profits from those cameras to saving lives with a simple, foolproof, mechanical low-maintenance device.

Marc de Venoge,

Manhasset