Long Beach letters

Rumors obscure facts in Long Beach

To the Editor:
I'd be remiss if I did not answer some incorrect information in a letter to the editor by Barbara DuBow Bernardino about the City of Long Beach’s 2010-11 budget (“City budget hits our wallets,” May 20-26).
Ms. Bernardino asks why the city has hired 400 new employees. That would be more than a 100 percent increase in personnel. That’s ridiculous and she should get her facts straight.

How can any of the so-called facts in Ms. Bernardino's letter be taken as solid information when she states that the city has more than doubled its work force?
The budget will raise taxes between 1.9 percent and 3 percent, depending on the shameful rascals in the New York State Legislature, who have left the state without a budget, hurting municipalities and school districts.
The city’s budget for the coming fiscal years looks like a responsible and taut financial sheet. But here in Long Beach there are so many rumors and so little fact-checking.
Eleanor Reap
Long Beach

Unions are the problem?

To the Editor:
Re Al D'Amato's column "When will the unions wake Up?" (May 20-26): Unions have sacrificed nothing? I'm a union member, as are most of the members of my family. I have struggled to put children through school, pay taxes, pay my mortgage, homeowner's insurance, flood insurance, auto insurance, life insurance, health insurance and utilities. Real wages for union members have gone down for years and our purchasing power is at an all-time low. It's insulting to us to keep accepting wage freezes while our tax dollars bail everyone out.
The elected officials in Albany walked out of sessions multiple times over the past year and still got paid. The governor's assistants got raises. Mismanagement of corporations, banks and Wall Street seems to get overlooked. These folks make more in bonus money than union workers make in salaries. Credit card interest, which is mostly through the banking industry, is at percentages that nobody can afford.
It's time to put the blame where it belongs. All we union workers ask is a fair day's work for a fair day's pay. We aren't sleeping — it's others who are in need of waking up. Did the banking industry's problems develop overnight? As I recall, Mr. D'Amato used to be the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. If he has any friends who are union members, he should ask them if they feel they're getting a fair shake.
Dennis Moran
Long Beach


L.B. businesses had no representation

To the Editor:
On May 18 and 25, the Long Beach City Council met to discuss the city's next budget. Why wasn't any Long Beach Chamber of Commerce representative at the budget hearing to protest the city’s request to the state to enact special legislation that increases taxes on all commercial properties? Their noticeable absence will have a negative impact on all small businesses in our community, resulting in higher prices charged to the public and possibly the loss of jobs and business closings. This state law will also cause most residential renters in our city to see increased rents. Where were the tenants’ rights groups?
Rather than cut spending the last two years, the city’s administration chose to balance the budget on the backs of those who could least afford it. Less time needs to be spent at photo ops with politicians and more time needs to be spent representing their members’ rights.
Larry Benowitz
Long Beach