Recycling, veterans housing, Nassau cricket stadium, COVID relief funds

Reduce packaging that contains toxins

One thing that environmentalists and industry agree on is that bottled water is merely one packaging product in an ever-expanding ambition to package food and beverage products in plastic containers “ ‘Nanoplastics’ and health: What to know,” News, Jan. 14]. More than half of all plastics ever produced have been made since 2000.

Common sense tells us that this is neither needed, sustainable, nor healthy. All we need to do is look around us to know that we cannot recycle our way out of this problem.

The New York Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act is the visionary legislation that we must pass to get a handle on our inexorable toxic waste.

It will reduce plastic packaging by 50% gradually over 12 years. The bill prohibits certain toxic chemicals commonly found in packaging: the forever class of chemicals known as PFAS, lead, mercury, formaldehyde, bisphenols and toluene.

And it will save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars because companies will be required to pay for the management and recycling of their packaging waste.

Because industry is fighting hard to defeat this bill, we need the same bipartisan, informed moral courage that our legislators have demonstrated when they stood tall to protect our families and our future in the past.

— Guy Jacob, Freeport

The writer is the conservation co-chair of the South Shore Audubon Society.

Keep fearmongers off of vet housing

I had such hopes that Long Island was finally moving forward on a project to directly benefit those who need housing the most. I’m sad to see that, once again, the powers that be caved to the fearmongers [“Let vet housing move forward,” Editorial, Jan. 16].

When I first read about the project months ago, I thought that, finally, it’s real affordable housing, not the “fake” affordable housing where a developer tacks on five “affordable” units onto a 300-unit complex of $700,000 homes. The bogeyman scares children. He isn’t supposed to scare adults, but apparently, he grabs the NIMBY folks almost every time.

I grew up in Hauppauge when the Suffolk County youth detention facility was here, but expensive homes were still built in Hauppauge. My children grew up here when what’s now Phoenix House first opened amid claims that drug abusers and pushers would crowd our streets, but that didn’t happen, and property values continued rising.

Hauppauge has remained a school district that people seek for its high quality of education. Stop listening to the scare stories and look where Concern Housing has already built residences. That’s the story, not the fevered imaginings of some minds.

— Barbara Haynes, Hauppauge

Planned stadium already making mark

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman has created a mess at the finest park on Long Island. After he approved a 34,000-seat temporary stadium for a cricket tournament at Eisenhower Park, fences are already up in January for matches in June [“A look at cricket venue,” News, Jan. 19].

Two softball fields have been dismantled, as well as a running track and a parking field. This is for a sport that is not popular in the United States. Is this just another attempt by Blakeman to get his name on another sign?

— Kevin Byrne, East Meadow

Better ways to spend $10M in Nassau

Bruce Blakeman is using the $10 million in federal coronavirus relief aid to celebrate Nassau County’s 125th anniversary [“Nassau panel OKs aid plan,” News, Jan. 9].

Here’s an idea: How about repairing the county buildings crumbling before our eyes?

A car crashed into the Nassau County Court building in Hempstead a few years ago, and the county has not replaced one brick. Same with the loading ramp at the Nassau Family Court.

Too expensive to fix? Come on.

— Peter A. Piciulo, Carle Place

The writer is the president of Court Officers Benevolent Association of Nassau County.

Instead of spending $10 million to “celebrate” events marking our county’s anniversary, let’s put this money toward fixing the only public pool on the North Shore — in Christopher Morley Park. Our parks and beaches are the jewel of Nassau County. Allowing this beautiful Olympic-size pool to deteriorate is sinful. We could invest in our parks and beaches, and it would benefit us for years to come.

— Elizabeth Cohn, Sea Cliff

So, Bruce Blakeman is planning to spend big bucks for an anniversary gala. Many of our seniors are struggling to make ends meet. Why not be a stand-up guy and give these funds to seniors who have a hard time paying their taxes?

— Jack Taylor, West Hempstead