Opinion

Historic drilling


As upstate residents, we understand the economic strain faced in the Marcellus Shale region (“Historic Hooey,” Editorial, April 18).

That’s why the Preservation League has spent 40 years making grants and providing assistance to those seeking to rehabilitate historic buildings and revitalize neighborhoods.

Historic downtowns, rural roads and farmsteads help make our communities quality places to live, start a business and visit.

That’s why we believe that whenever natural gas hydro-fracking occurs, its effects on historic resources must be considered and minimized. This is true for the siting of well pads and the location of pipelines, compressor stations and truck routes.

New York has long played a leadership role in technology and industry. We should be committed to implementing them wisely.

Jay A. DiLorenzo, President, Preservation League of New York State, Albany

Business busters

“An Alley Oop$ in Montauk” (April 16) provides a microcosm of the Democratic Party’s war on small business.

For 50 years, the spit of land in question has run right through the motel property and is usable only to the property owner. Over the last 50 years, the Town of East Hampton never exerted its jurisdiction and abandoned its claim.

The $35,000 sale, 10 times the amount received for similar sales, was approved by a town board majority that followed all legal and proper procedures.

Montauk, like many other communities, is desperate for economic development. Small-business owners willing to invest in Montauk’s future during this economic travail should be supported, not thwarted.

East Hampton Democrats, echoing President Obama, ran on an anti-business platform and are now making good on their campaign promises.

C. Campolo, East Hampton

Sticker shock

Bravo and kudos to your informative article highlighting the various hidden taxes and fees in New Yorkers’ utility bills (“Drip, Drip, Drip,” Mary Kaye Linge, PostScript, April 15).

What you omit is that electric and natural-gas customers, mainly businesses, can sign up cost-free with an energy service company (ESCO) that combats these hidden taxes and fees and reduces the entire bill by up to 15%.

Con Edison wholeheartedly supports the enrollment of ESCOs, with over 100 enrolled.

Long Island Power Authority, on the other hand, has built-in structural barriers that limit it to less than 10, yet it openly has the public believe that it’s pro-ESCO.

Until Long Islanders can get the same choice of electric competition, this story is going to mushroom into a huge scandal for the already scandal-ridden LIPA.

Eugene Dunn, Medford

Big ‘rotting’ Apple

Steve Cuozzo is correct in “One False Move,” (PostScript, April 15), except the question is not “if” New York City will get worse, but “when.”

We became the Big Apple only because Rudy Giuliani forced even die-hard liberals to abandon a hopeless Mayor Dinkins and the crime wave that came with his tenure.

Mayoral candidates are already laying the foundation for restricted “stop and frisk,” higher taxes and forced, over-market minimum wages.

The clock is ticking, along with New York City’s future.

John Brindisi, Manhattan