Let’s join forces to save the NBA All-Star game

Let’s join forces for All-Star game

Could citizens here in the Charlotte area not join forces, begging the NBA to allow the All-Star game to take place here as scheduled? Perhaps we could sway Mr. Silver by explaining that our city is being punished when in fact we voted in support of the LGBT ordinance.

Surely our LGBT citizens would make a major impact on the NBA by thanking them for their support, but also asking that they keep the game here given that the entire city benefits from it.

‘Free’ streetcar is going to cost us

Democrats love to say the streetcar is free. Well, nothing is free, as those of us who pay taxes understand.

While riding the light rail a few weeks ago I saw a number of people get on with out paying for tickets. An employee of the system he said “This is more of an honor system.”

Let’s keep building these projects that are “free” and see how fast taxes will need to be raised again.

There is poverty, but also opportunity

Gene Nichols and his colleagues’ characterization of Charlotte as a “potent landscape of economic apartheid” is inexcusable. That poverty exists doesn’t mean that businesses and governments go out of their way to dash dreams.

Chances to grab Charlotte’s brass ring are abundant. If missed once, twice … a hundred times; they never vanish. That isn’t apartheid, or even false hope.

Look to root causes of poverty

We reap what we sow. This was predicted years ago by James Coleman, a sociologist who wrote, “the best predictor of a school’s outcomes was the quality of the children’s families.” and Patrick Moynihan who wrote about the breakdown of the Black family.

Kids don’t have families. Schools don’t teach. They feed and discipline. Culture starts at home with tough love. And there is no home. Poverty will grow.

Duke should bury more power lines

In the early morning of Sept. 22, 1989, Hurricane Hugo pounded Charlotte, causing massive power outages and damage to trees and homes.

Since that night, Duke Energy has done nothing to bury power lines, which has caused several recent power outages in the Charlotte area. If Duke had started in uptown and buried lines at a rate of one-half mile per year since then, most of Mecklenburg County would now have greatly increased protection from power outages.

A county of this size should not be subject to frequent and massive power outages from relatively minor storms.

Trump article asks wrong questions

This article illustrates absurd bias and ignorance of taxes and economic development. Who has a home with tax valuation that is not below its market value? Who would not appeal a tax value nearly five times a property’s purchase price? What was the economic impact on Iredell County, of rescuing the ailing Point Lake & Golf Club and investing $10 million in it?

The article is an extreme misrepresentation of the economic picture it purports to present.

President endorsed Clinton too quickly

I am appalled that a sitting president would endorse one candidate over another before the sitting delegates have had a chance to vote at convention. He has blatantly used the weight of his office and position to sway the convention outcome.

A prayer for our choices this year

What do we want? A Law and Order ticket? An Evangelical ticket? Pro-Choice ticket? Anti-Abortion ticket? You name it and the Trump/Pence ticket is there for you!

And Hillary continues to rally constituents by touting failed ‘accomplishments’ by the current administration. They both have the purported know-all, fix-all for all of this great nation’s ills.

As Archie Bunker would say: Help us, Lord!

This story was originally published July 18, 2016 at 7:11 PM with the headline "Let’s join forces to save the NBA All-Star game."