Letters to the Editor: Lynbrook/East Rockaway

Approaching government as a business

To the Editor:
I am an East Rockaway resident and am responding to an article in your paper that I feel was very biased against the mayor (“Library responds to Pride Party accusations,” Feb. 23-29). 
I work for a large company in New York City that has laid off over 50,000 people in the last five years. I started getting an MBA that was fully funded when I began, but I have now had to take over $60,000 in loans as that benefit was cut. I used to go on award trips every year but they have all but been eliminated. Raises have been 1 to 3 precent, if at all, and I am doing the work that would have been split between two or three people a few years ago — for the same pay. 
East Rockaway is one of the few municipalities that has actually cut taxes, and the mayor plans to do it again. This can only be done by approaching government like many businesses have had to, and asking where we can makes cuts and still provide the services our citizens need. Nothing should be sacred, and no one should feel entitled to government largess anymore. The library was one of many departments that was being asked to do more with less, as is common across American society today.
  I feel you should give the mayor some credit for his leadership and his efforts to think outside the box which many other leaders fail to do. He constantly asks where we can save money for the overtaxed citizens of East Rockaway.
 
Rich Bilello
East Rockaway

Making good on promises

To the Editor:
If there’s anyone East Rockaway can count on to fix the library’s abuse of taxpayer money, it’s Mayor Fran Lenahan and Trustee Richard Gogarty.
Fran and Rich know that giving gold-plated perks to part-time government staffers, like the library did, is not only ridiculously disgraceful, it’s also just plain wrong.