‘Single-family’ neighborhoods? Find a new term. That one is dated, loaded with bias.

‘Single family’?

The writer is a consultant planner and former Director of Facilities Planning at UNCC.

The editorial board’s July 9 support for “missing-middle” housing in so-called “single family” neighborhoods cites Black and Latino needs for affordable housing. Yes, that’s a good thing. But the same holds true for the elderly who might be living on fixed or limited incomes, and young singles or couples moving up the economic ladder.

Family size is shrinking, and only one in four “households” in today’s America actually has any children. Shouldn’t our public planners do away with the misleading moniker “single family,” a misleading term loaded with cultural and class bias, and substitute the more neutral option — “single lot” or “single-parcel”? I think so.

Martin Zimmerman, Charlotte

Renaissance West

When Lowe’s made a $3 million donation in May, it could not have selected a tougher place than the Renaissance West neighborhood area to invest millions to improve economic mobility.

Five years ago Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools built a new school there, Renaissance West STEAM Academy. For its efforts, the charter-modeled school produced performance grades of “F” and growth “not met” in the pre-Covid years of 2018 and 2019, according to state report cards.

I hope Lowes’ effort will give CMS a much needed competitive kick in the butt to boost its efforts at Renaissance West STEAM Academy.

Bolyn McClung, Pineville

GOP power grab

Yet another Republican power grab — a bill to remove the North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s authority to administer high school sports. (July 21)

The political party I supported for over 40 years continues to disappoint me with false allegations and unprecedented power grabs.

Republican legislative leaders seem to rule with an iron fist when it comes to the UNC Board of Trustees. High school sports is next on their agenda. Rather than tweaking the NCHSAA, they prefer a wrecking ball. Civility and compromise no longer exists in the political arena and this hatred of others’ ideas has spread too far beyond the political arena.

Patrick Walters, Charlotte

Texas Democrats

Democratic state legislators left the state of Texas to prevent the presence of a quorum and thereby forestall passage of state voting legislation that is supported by the Republican majority.

The Democratic solution is for the U.S. Senate to abolish the filibuster so it can pass federal voting legislation that would override state voting laws. Leaving aside the merits of the state or federal bills, do the Democratic legislators not appreciate the irony of the situation?

They are exercising their rights as a minority in the Texas legislature to oppose the will of the majority, but they want the U.S. Senate to prevent the minority from opposing the will of the majority. I guess majority rule is sacrosanct, as long as your side is in the majority.

Steven P. Nesbit, Charlotte

Teaching CRT

Rather than dress the gaping wound of racism in America, laid bare by the 1619 Project, those who fear exposure by the project’s content have rebranded its truths as theory. In so doing, they’ve succeeded in turning discussion surrounding the project into a binary choice between the project’s merits and whether acknowledging and teaching its truths is teaching self-hatred.

Charles Darwin presented a theory of evolution which is, as yet, unproven. There is nothing unproven, hypothetical, conjectural or speculative about the dual realities and consequences of America’s race-based system of preference and privilege. Truth will prevail.

Renard Burris, Charlotte

Mike Pence

Regarding “Mike Pence’s sad dilemma: He just can’t get any respect,” (July 23 Opinion):

Mike Pence’s big crime was that he fulfilled his constitutional duty on Jan. 6, a role that was largely ceremonial. He has been victimized by one of Donald Trump’s many lies, which was the absurd suggestion that Pence had the power to overturn the 2020 presidential election result.

Deep down in the GOP rabbit hole, the man who is responsible for the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol continues to receive adulation while the man who followed federal law on that day is now the outcast. “We’re all mad here” said the Cheshire Cat.

Arnie Grieves, Charlotte

Exploiting a crisis

Never underestimate the government’s willingness to exploit a crisis to advance its agenda.

After 9-11, the Bush administration waged a deliberate misinformation campaign to invade Iraq and convince Congress to enact the Patriot Act, which granted the government unprecedented surveillance powers.

More recently, local, state and federal governments used the COVID pandemic to unilaterally expand their power through state of emergency declarations which deprived individuals and businesses of liberty and property without due process of law.

And now, N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has declared a gun violence state of emergency to pursue his long-standing gun control agenda.

Whether you agree with the ends in these examples, the means should scare you.

Jason Huber, Charlotte

This story was originally published July 23, 2021 at 4:03 PM.