To My Elected Officials, October 22, 2009
At the bottom of this email to all of you, I will name all of you whom I elected to serve the people. I fully believe that transportation within Suffolk County, NY is key to getting people where they need to go. I am not speaking of cars or other forms of personal transportation, but mass transportation. First due to the economy, many cannot afford to own a vehicle, fill its tanks and pay for the insurance. How are they supposed to get from point A to point B? By bus? I invite all of you to look over the Suffolk County bus schedule and see if there are buses for you to take to your work or those who work for you.
As you will see, NO buses run on Sundays or after dark and people do work on Sundays and after 6 PM throughout the week. So, how are they supposed to get to and from work or shopping for that matter? This is where I wish that politicians would place themselves in our shoes for at least a week to see the burdens we face.
I can attest to the fact that being an epileptic who does not drive for medical reasons, being without personal transportation is akin to being a prisoner in one’s home. I am at the mercy of cabs for the most part and let me tell you as a cashier at Stop and Shop who makes $7.50 per hour the fare to my job costs $8 dollars per fare. Thankfully there is a bus that I can take, but it is not frequent enough and only costs me $1.50 to get there. However, it does take me ten-to-fifteen minutes to walk to my bus-stop and after being on my feet for hours, walking is the last thing I want to do.
If I am scheduled to work on a Sunday or at nights, I am out of luck and I am then at the mercy of Lindy’s Cab Company. How would you like a life like that? I have had friends and family say to me: “Call me if you need a ride” and while I am grateful, it is NOT their responsibility to get me to and from work. It is mine.
Do you finally get it now of the hardships we who do not drive for medical or economic reasons face? This is our world and welcome to it.
As a former political activist who routinely receives emails asking exorbitant amounts of moneys to donate to this campaign or that, it sickens me when I have to plead to all of you to help me get from point A to point B by bus. At times, I feel as if no one is listening to my pleas by only wish money sent to all of you in order to help you get elected or re-elected. Well my wallet is closed shut!
All I am asking or rather pleading for all of you to do is to help me and others like me get to work or shopping and liberate us from our prisons when we have no way of getting to where we want to go. That is what we elected all of you to do. It is time you serve we the people and not the other way around!
Sincerely,
Mary MacElveen
Email sent to:
Congressman, Tim Bishop
County Executive, Steve Levy
County Legislator, Dan Lasquadro
Councilwoman, Jane Bonner
Assemblyman, Marc Alessi
State Senator, Ken LaValle
