Review Gold Line streetcar costs before spending billions more on transportation

By Staff

Updated December 17, 2020 3:45 PM

The Hawthorne Lane bridge is being rebuilt as part of the $150 million Gold Line streetcar extension project. The bridge closed in mid-2017 for what was supposed to less than two years of work, but remains closed to cars to date due to delays. Alex Cason CHARLOTTEFIVE

Sales tax hike

Regarding “‘Not a slam dunk’: Some Mecklenburg commissioners skeptical of new transit sales tax,” (Dec. 16):

Any proposal for a large tax increase for transportation should be accompanied by an in-depth analysis of the Gold Line streetcar project. We know it is over one year behind schedule. How is the project performing versus the budget approved for it? The taxpayers have a right to understand just how well that $150 million has been managed before agreeing to hand over billions more to the same planners and managers.

Nelson Furman, Charlotte

EOC testing

High school kids across North Carolina are returning to school to participate in state testing. I oppose in-person final exams because it suggests that testing and reporting to NCDPI at the end of the semester is more important than the learning environment for kids throughout the year.

As an Academy of Engineering student at Mallard Creek High School, I would love to be in school to use advanced technology and complete labs. Instead, I am locked out of the building, forced to learn through online lectures and workbooks. Now that testing is here, the doors are open, and I have to go to school. This seems so arbitrary!

Standardized tests serve a purpose, but they should not be the first and only thing we open schools for.

Casey Crawford, Charlotte

Sen. Steinburg

Jim Morrill has been a political reporter in North Carolina for nearly 40 years, yet he completely buried the lead in his Dec. 16 article about Republican state Sen. Bob Steinburg. The headline said “’Liberals are going nuts’: NC senator says he’d support suspension of civil liberties.” It should have read “NC senator begins publicity campaign for his new podcast.”

Steinburg is the political equivalent of a chair-throwing professional wrestler ranting at the camera to juice attendance at his next event. Show business, folks.

Ned Gardner, Apex

Playing with fire

We don’t let children play with fire; they may burn the house down. Too many Trump supporters are playing with fire and don’t know they may be burning our democracy down.

Greg Finnican, Charlotte

Voter suppression

Regarding “How a blue wave turned into a blue ripple in 2020,” (Dec 15 Opinion):

What Desiree Zapata Miller’s op-ed fails to mention is the lengths the Republican legislature in North Carolina has gone to over the past 10 years to close polling places in minority and student areas, gerrymandered districts, confused the electorate whether they needed an ID to vote, and played dirty tricks with misleading phone calls and mailings.

Linda J. Brooks, Charlotte

So nonchalant

Forty years ago, I was invited in my parochial school to kneel and pray for the U.S. citizens being held hostage in Tehran. I carefully counted the strokes of the carillon until it reached the correct number; in first grade we knew there were 52 hostages.

In 2002, I was part of a group that took turns reading aloud the names of those who had died on Sept. 11, 2001.

Such was our concern, then, about citizens of this country whose lives were threatened or who had perished. What does it say about us now that we are so nonchalant about the millions who are threatened, or the 308,000 who’ve died in this pandemic?

Christopher Cudabac, Charlotte

Arrogant criticism

I found the Dec. 15 op-ed by two Heritage Foundation members about teaching the Bill of Rights to be hypocritical. They praised efforts to help students think deeply about different points of view and debate them “with integrity and with grace toward those who disagree.”

But the authors then do the opposite, writing disparagingly about the 1619 Project, which they say “pretends” that America’s basic story is as much about slavery and discrimination as it is about equality and freedom. This is a distraction, they believe, “from what citizens need to learn most.”

Their criticism is arrogant, dismissive and offensive.

Elizabeth Chaplin, Charlotte

BEHIND THE STORY

How do I get a letter published?

The Charlotte Observer publishes letters to the editor on Sunday most weeks. Letters must be 150 words or less, and they will be edited for brevity, clarity, civility, grammar and accuracy. To submit a letter, write to opinion@charlotteobserver.com or visit our letters submission page.

What are you seeking when you choose letters?

We’re seeking a variety of viewpoints from a diverse group of writers.

What must I include?

You must include your first and last name, city or town where you live, email and phone number. We never print anonymous letters. If you’d like for us to consider publishing your photo, please include one.

How often can I have a letter published?

Every 30 days. But you can write as often as you’d like.

This story was originally published December 17, 2020 at 3:36 PM.