I’m blind. We need to get scooters off Raleigh’s sidewalks.

As a legally blind person, I travel the sidewalks of downtown Raleigh with the use of a white cane on a daily basis. The cane alerts persons approaching me that I am blind, and it also serves to keep me safe. Lately, however, being and feeling safe has gotten much harder.

I am aware that bicyclists, joggers and skateboarders make use of sidewalks. There is no comparison though with the Bird scooters. The scooters pose a major safety problem because they do not make a sound and they move much faster. Their speed and lack of sound have caused me to experience several near misses.

For the safety of myself and others, as president of the Wake Federation of the blind, I call for the restriction of the use of Bird scooters on city sidewalks and that they be equipped with sound.

Rev. Robert Parrish

Raleigh

Weaponized humanitarianism

Mr. Trump said he didn’t expect the burst of laughter from his very well informed international audience at the United Nations (“Laughter at Trump among a long line of shocking UN moments,” Sept 25). The outburst came after he boasted about how he had done more, faster than almost any U.S. administration in history.

But that knowing laughter was little consolation to those of us outraged by the arrogant speech that followed. Of the many egregious points Trump raised, the saddest to me was his edict that the U.S. would give aid only to our friends (not necessarily those in need), those who have American interests in mind.

He has weaponized human rights and humanitarianism, just as he has done with trade. This does not make this vastly wealthy country “great.”

Flooding preparations

Our president and our governor were kind enough to visit the devastated areas of flooding. Neither offered any solutions to the problem. Neither had the sense to gather a group of engineers and flood specialist to join them in the survey and offer a plan to prevent this from happening again.

All that happened was a giant photo op for both. We didn’t need a photo op. We needed answers. I would have expected a more dramatic response from our two most important leaders. Instead all we got was lip action about sending money to repair. Nothing about fixing.



“60 Minutes” recently aired a story about flooding. It seems that a city in the Netherlands was almost washed off the map from flooding waters from the North Sea. Their engineers got together, and that city is now virtually flood proof, thanks to their efforts. If they can do it, the technology must be there. Why can’t we? They swore that they would not let the flooding happen again and they have done that. We can not repeat and repeat the same mistakes over and over.

HC Austin

Raleigh

Hiring concerns

Let’s say you are the manager of a branch of a bank, and you need a new teller. Are you going to hire a man or a woman? You know that almost all Democrats and a lot of other people are saying that if a woman alleges that a man has made an improper or unwanted sexual advance, she has to be believed, unless he can prove it never happened, which is usually impossible.

So who are you going to hire? The guy, of course, unless you are stupid and reckless, so you won’t have to sweat what she will say about you at her next job evaluation. After all, she is ambitious, and she may want your job.

Thomas Henderson

Pittsboro

End DACA

DACA is just a program designed to kick the can down the road. Even in its very name, that is suggested (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). No, the children didn’t have any say in the matter, but rest assured their parents knew exactly what they were doing.

They wanted to jump the line and get their kids a head-start to a better life. You can’t blame the parents either, as what they did, and continue to do, is basic human nature — improving the lot of one’s own family members. But the U. S. as a sovereign country should send these people back to the country of their origin, so that they can apply for citizenship correctly. Everyone desiring citizenship should go through the same process.

Robert Peele

Rocky Mount

This story was originally published September 26, 2018 at 2:33 PM.