The Triangle did not lose anything with Amazon’s decision
The Triangle did not “lose” Amazon. Washington, DC, and New York City “won” Amazon. And here’s why. Amazon is looking to head off anti-trust action.
Where is all the power, money and political influence in the United States? DC and NYC. And what is Amazon’s goal? To drive Walmart and as many brick-and-mortar entities out of business as possible. What will be the feds’ ultimate response? Stopping Amazon! Breaking up Amazon! Putting the brakes on Amazon!
It’s painful to read all the moaning, conjecture and speculation about how and why the Triangle “lost.” You cannot possibly make a case that NYC and DC are superior environments, from a standpoint of business or livability.
The Triangle didn’t lose anything. By avoiding this disaster that is waiting to happen, the Triangle was done a favor.
Doug Bell
Raleigh
Assault on values
The president and the Republican Party are continuing to degrade our democracy and its essential institutions. Partisan gerrymandering and voter suppression are antithetical to our shared values.
The president continues to make untrue allegations about the electoral system and to attack the free press. . Now he refuses to hold a ruler accountable for the brutal murder of a journalist. This is not putting America first. Rather it is a direct assault on the values that have always made America great.
It is particularly shocking that another of our historically great institutions, the Republican Party — and this state’s Republican party — is standing right by his side.
Peter Balint-Kurti
Raleigh
Wake County fools
I’m glad my daughter is in a charter school. Her education is putting her far ahead of her peers in Wake schools. And just to dispel a liberal lie about charter schools. They are indeed public and report directly to the state of North Carolina.
And to think that I keep hearing there is not enough money being spent in the classroom. Did you know that charter schools get less money per student than the liberally run Wake County schools? Yep.
But Wake County schools have lost their minds — spending over $500,000 for an Office of Equity Affairs while crying poverty over not enough money being spent in the classroom. All the while the fools of Wake County vote Democrats right back into power.
Paul Terrell
Fuquay-Varina
Bad behavior
The epitome of hypocrisy is when a president of the United States disparages our country’s military war heroes when he avoided serving in the military due to his infamous bone spurs. All citizens and voters should be outraged at such cowardly behavior. Is this the kind of role model we want our children and grandchildren to follow?
This is never OK and I challenge our GOP Senators Burr and Tillis to tell the president that his behavior is a disgrace to all the men and women serving in the military to protect our freedom around the world. God bless our military.
Don Haines
Fuquay-Varina
Mandarin magnet
In the Chapel Hill-Carrboro community, there has been heated debate about the Board of Education’s Sept. 20th decision to expand the district’s Mandarin Dual Language (MDL) Program into a full magnet elementary school (“As this school’s Mandarin language efforts expand, some other families feel pushed out,” Oct. 8). We want to set the record straight.
Because dual language classrooms are exempt from the K-3 class size mandate enacted by the state legislature, expanding the MDL program will ultimately save the district money. While most of our elementary schools will require extra classrooms and teachers by 2020, the overall number of teachers and classrooms at an MDL magnet will not need to increase, representing an annual savings of $350,000 in additional teacher salaries.
Dual language programs promote multiculturalism and provide dignity for minorities — and not only those who speak the target language. Such dignity cannot be measured in dollars, particularly now, as diversity and cultural difference have come under attack.
Other districts have realized the immense benefits of dual language education and are scrambling to add it, not take it away: Wake County opened its own Mandarin magnet school in 2015. In Chapel Hill-Carrboro, expanding to an MDL magnet will save the district money while ensuring that our exemplary school system remains competitive with neighboring districts.
Ian and Michelle King
Chapel Hill
This letter was signed by 12 others.