Having spent time in both cities, Raleigh could learn a thing or two from Boulder

Boulder vs Raleigh

Having spent considerable time in Boulder, I have experienced differences between Raleigh and Boulder that put our area far down the list. (July 15 Opinion)

Boulder residents support healthy living. Many residents ride bicycles and walk to their destinations. They are safe doing so because drivers do not speed through their streets. They obey all safe driving rules — unlike we experience in our fair city.

Boulderites like living in a clean city so they don’t litter. Throwing trash on the streets and in parks seems acceptable to too many Raleigh residents.

Boulder likes its older homes and has tight restrictions regarding tearing down older homes. Remodeled homes must blend into the neighborhood. Also, Boulder has long valued public art and protects its trees.

I think Raleigh could learn a lot from Boulder.

Marsha Presnell-Jennette, Raleigh

War in Afghanistan

Former President George W. Bush says that leaving Afghanistan is “unbelievably bad,” but it seems that the United States did not help their country. The U.S. sent troops there for about 20 years, lost hundreds of thousands of soldiers, and spent nearly $2 trillion. The Taliban are still there killing people and destroying the country.. Meanwhile we do not have enough money to fix many things in our country.

Claus Wolf, Cary

Athlete protests

Marc Thiessen’s “US athletes’ flag protests play right into China’s hands,” (July 11 Opinion) is overblown. There is a robust history of athletes, and Americans generally, using flag ceremonies and sports events as protest venues.

If Thiessen is really concerned about Americans handing the Chinese government a propaganda weapon he should write about Donald Trump, some Republicans, and some Trump voters.

Trump has publicly stated, for four years, that fraud denied him votes in 2016 and that the 2020 election was stolen.

A substantial number of his supporters indicate in polls that the last election was stolen. Others in the same group ignominiously stormed our nation’s capital. They have seriously damaged our country and embarrassed us.

Randolph Rodgers, Raleigh

State employees

The past year has shown that many state jobs can be done on a fully remote basis, and done well. At a time when the state is pulling workers back to the office while arguing about a minimal raise, the state should consider the larger economic benefits to allowing more state positions to transition to remote work.

Employees who are currently suffering from high rents, mortgages and taxes could afford to buy homes outside the urban cores on state incomes, providing a huge economic stimulus to the state’s economically distressed small towns and rural communities.

This would not replace the need to better compensate state workers, especially those whose jobs require them to work in person, but it would be the largest financial benefit the state has provided to its workers in many years.

William Davis, Durham

Billionaires

Congratulations to Richard Branson for his trip to space, and similar praise will soon be due to Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. I ask these billionaires to refocus their energy and resources on removing carbon from the atmosphere. Our existence may depend on it. Simply cutting emissions will not be enough. (Are we even making any progress with this?) Find new ways to capture and store CO2 or ramp up existing capabilities. Someone needs to take the initiative. Hopefully they will.

Gregory Lawless, Raleigh

‘Stop the Steal’

I would like to offer the following advice to Republican politicians and supporters of “Stop the Steal:” It may serve them better to care less about what Donald Trump thinks of them now and more about how history will judge them later.

Margaret Magnani, Raleigh

U.S. Congress

I read “Senators help pay Burr’s legal bills after DOJ investigation,” (July 12) for valuable insight as to why the U.S. Congress, especially the Senate, is such an ineffective mess. They have built in measures to make them unaccountable.

James Murphy, Wake Forest