Readers sound off on Suffolk County politics, Medicare Advantage and loud sirens

Smithtown, L.I.: I am writing to express my profound concern regarding the recent expulsion of Suffolk County Legislator Robert Trotta from the legislature’s public safety committee. The decision to terminate Trotta’s service on the committee is tantamount to censorship and reflects the deep-seated corruption pervasive within the Suffolk Police Benevolent Association.

Trotta has served as an indispensable voice on the committee, offering invaluable insights and advocating for policies that prioritize the safety and justice of all Suffolk County residents. With more than 25 years of experience in law enforcement, he acquired an exceptional depth of knowledge and experience in the field. Trotta’s unparalleled expertise renders him uniquely qualified to serve on that committee. He has demonstrated a resolute commitment to public safety, an indispensable quality. Trotta’s distinguished record and unique skill set make him a vital asset to the committee. It is deeply disconcerting that his removal came at the behest of the county’s largest municipal workers union and its most prominent police union.

Presiding Officer Kevin McCaffrey has shown a complete lack of leadership and integrity by removing Trotta. He has succumbed to the pressure and influence of the police union, which has long tried to discredit and silence Trotta for exposing its corruption. He has betrayed his oath of office and duty to serve Suffolk County’s people. He has violated the principles of democracy and transparency essential for good governance and demonstrated that he is unfit to preside over the legislature or represent his district. He should resign from his position immediately or face a vote of no confidence from his colleagues. Todd Lagliotta

Manhattan: Apparently, to save the city money and get raises for their members, DC37 and the United Federation of Teachers, the two biggest municipal labor unions, voted Thursday to switch 260,000 city retirees over from traditional Medicare to an inferior Medicare Advantage plan. Twenty-six unions voted against it. Nevertheless, the measure passed by a vote of 941 to 253. This is because of a weighted voting system in which each union got one vote for every 250 members. The 260,000 city retirees directly and immediately affected by the switch did not get to vote. Their voices apparently don’t matter. How is any of this fair? Chana Schwartz

Manhattan: The UFT leadership along with other public sector union bosses are forcing New York City public retirees to change their health care from traditional Medicare to a Medicare Advantage plan. While I personally wish to keep my Medicare and GHI Senior Plan, there is a bigger issue here that I wish to address: We were public employees and union members during our working lives. My union, the UFT, has always supported government programs, not private ones. The replacement of traditional Medicare with Medicare Advantage is just like the issue of replacing public schools with corporate for-profit charter schools, something the UFT has fought against for years. That is privatization of education, and Medicare Advantage is the privatization of health care. This is completely the wrong direction for the union to take. Gale Ellice Lichter

Brooklyn: Yesterday marked the 20th anniversary of the brutal slayings of two courageous NYPD detectives, James Nemorin and Rodney “Jay” Andrews, during an undercover buy-and-bust operation to remove illegal guns from our streets. I hope their families know that many of us New Yorkers will always remember their heroic sacrifice with the utmost respect and gratitude. Pam Rafford

Staten Island: Let’s take things moment by moment. Take a deep breath and start again each day. I know there are moments of rejection, redemption and everything in between but sometimes, don’t be too deep, just be positive. Things work out! One step at a time. Eva Tortora

Brooklyn: To Voicer Aydin Torun: Everyone agrees the LIRR East Side Access is a good thing and should have been available many years ago. The complaints are in regard to service scheduling. It almost seems that those in charge arbitrarily set up the schedule without enough thought. I wonder if commuters had been surveyed. For several months before Grand Central Madison opened, there should have been a simple questionnaire for daily riders asking whether they would use Penn Station or Grand Central. Trains would have been scheduled with this info and most problems could have been avoided. L. Veneroni

Brooklyn: The very loud, high-pitched alarms that EMS and private ambulances use are harmful to all New Yorkers as well as the drivers. Holding one’s ears as they pass is necessary to protect your eardrums from the uncomfortable sound that you can hear from 10 blocks away. Perhaps the sound of the French ambulances would be music to our ears. Let’s try the French horn. Jack Dougherty

Rockaway: To Voicer Joseph McCluskey: In the late 1960s, I asked my college history professor why there was little mention in books about African-Americans that included the story of slavery. His response was that the history of America had always been taught from a European perspective. Thanks to my parents’ understanding of the importance of being knowledgeable of the total history of our country, I was well aware of the good and the bad. Your premise that young people will be traumatized if they are educated about the darkest times in American history is wrong. If all children understand what happened during slavery and the Jim Crow South, it will aid in our being a more tolerant society. Shielding children from the truth does us all a disservice. I am proud to say that I was a part of a group of students who were able to convince my university to add Black history courses. Anthony Johnson

Springfield, N.J.: I read the Daily News every day. On Sunday, I enjoy doing the Sunday Crossword II puzzle. All of a sudden, this large Sunday puzzle has a jumble component added to it. Please go back to the regular crossword format. The jumble feature within the puzzle ruins the whole thing. Ellen Robb

San Mateo, Calif.: The plumber ate my homework! Yes, that’s what we are expected to believe by our intelligence community when it comes to the Nord Stream Pipeline being blown up. Yep, the Ukrainians must have done it, although they have no coastline on the Baltic Sea. Google Seymour Hersh or Jeffrey Sachs and “Nord Stream Pipeline destruction” and you’ll find plenty of good material on the event, which was an overt act of war against both Germany and Russia, as well as an act of ecocide against the planet’s chances of remaining habitable to humans. The gas released is 30 times more dangerous than carbon dioxide and will set back efforts to maintain the Earth’s climate. Please jog your memory when President Biden stated, “We know how to end it,” etc. Definitely a job for the International Criminal Court — and a good plumber. Mike Caggiano

Danbury, Conn.: Kevin McCarthy has achieved the “transparency” he desires — we see right through you, Kevin! You lying, hypocritical sellout. Next up for his video club buddy Tucker Carlson: Tune in tonight for footage of Paris in 1942, showing Parisians smoking Gauloises near the Eiffel Tower, having coffees al fresco at sidewalk cafes and bicycling through the streets of the City of Lights with baskets full of baguettes and brie — “proof positive” that Hitler and his Nazis never invaded France. Michael Eddy

Rosedale: In response to Voicer Frederick R. Bedell Jr.: I couldn’t disagree more. My first thought is the fact that many a war has been fought over religious differences, which is why our forefathers insisted on the separation of church and state in the Constitution. Here’s a perfect reason why: Which prayer would it be? Christian, Muslim, Jewish? I sincerely doubt it would be all of the above. As far as the notion that when prayer left schools, guns came in: As a lifelong New Yorker who never had school prayer and graduated high school in 1982, it seems the amount of violence (not only guns) we encounter has only been for the last 20 or so years, not 60. Shirley Jordan