Letter: Emergency Response by State, County, Town Questioned

To the Editor:

In Long Island, Suffolk County this snowstorm hit hard, and thousands of people are stranded in their vehicles out on the road and they have nowhere to go and no one to turn to.

The local politicians including town and roadway supervisors, Congressman, and Governor Cuomo didn’t initiate any emergency plan to help citizens because they have intended to use citizens to bargain for more FEMA funding. No civil government officials should be using citizens hostage for their personal-political gain. Their political maneuver is not only hurting local citizens, it is also affecting countless businesses, and this is going to put a tremendous amount of financial burden on local people and businesses.

The politicians strategizing that they can get more funding from FEMA and Obama Administration, if they do not clear up the road and let the situation run as a “state of emergency.”

Another strategy politicians are proposing is to delay the cleaning of roads and delay assisting citizens so these politicians can bargain for a tax increase. They are intending to propose tax increase and they plan to say “we don’t have enough funding for an emergency plan to assist in clearing roads so we have to increase taxes on everyone including local citizens, and businesses."

Shaun Uddin
Three Village resident