NY reparation funds, Suffolk County sewage system

Reparation funds can be better used

Gov. Kathy Hochul has good intentions in addressing slavery reparations “Commission created to study slavery reparations,” News, Dec. 20]. The impact that slavery has had on the generations that followed emancipation is well-known, and we should do everything in our power to eliminate all boundaries, hardships, discrimination, cycles of poverty and disadvantages that were created because of slavery.

But wouldn’t our resources be better spent in addressing current racism? In educating the young? In building community organizations and empowering them to prevent discrimination?

Studying the impact of slavery relative to compensation for the past likely will only further incite the haters. It may bring real and emotional comfort to the descendants of slaves, but it will not alter the experiences of the next generations of those descendants unless we work on the underlying hatred that feeds the same core beliefs that the slave owners had.

— Nancy Costo, Long Beach

Sewer infrastructure key to LI’s needs

A well-intentioned and optimistic editorial regarding the nexus between the region’s housing needs and revitalization of downtown business districts failed to acknowledge that the lack of sewer infrastructure is a potentially insurmountable obstacle to transit-oriented development in some of the communities mentioned “Steps forward on LI housing,” Opinion, Dec. 20].

The starkest example of that hard reality is downtown Smithtown, where a long-awaited plan to provide sewers for the business district is broadly supported by the community and shovel-ready for construction but cannot move forward unless a source of funding is established to make the project affordable for property owners.

Worse yet, if no solution is identified, $34 million in grant funding already secured to sewer downtown Smithtown will likely be lost forever and diverted for use on another project. The same situation exists with respect to revitalization efforts in Mastic Beach, Port Jefferson Station and other downtown business districts that have no sewers.

Simply put, housing needs cannot be met without sewers, which makes the presentation of Suffolk County’s long-term plan for wastewater infrastructure to the voters a critical first step toward meeting the region’s sewer and housing needs.

— Peter A. Scully, Hauppauge

The writer is Suffolk County deputy executive for water quality.