The Commentators

It doesn’t take long for the GOP’s true colors to come out. And even longer to see the true results of the actions of last year’s long session. The message from legislators is: We value the experience of our own employees. We just don’t value your experience in our schools. Last year, state lawmakers removed the longevity bonus pay for veteran teachers and rolled it into their base salary. At the same time, they unveiled a new pay scale that boosted the pay of newer teachers in an attempt to be viewed to balance out the low pay raises of the long term teachers. Others in state government, including state legislative staffers, kept their bonus pay as well as a raise of $1,000, plus five extra vacation days. Lawmakers also raised the pay by 5 to 6 percent for newer members of the Highway Patrol, but they did not take away longevity pay for the troopers, which is the same as what most state employees receive.

Here in North Carolina, one of our most cherished rights is in jeopardy of being denied citizens of our state.

In 20 years of living in South Florida, I was able to witness what overdevelopment does to a community. I saw miles of beautiful beachfront turn into a canyon of high-rise buildings blocking the sun. From the Atlantic Ocean to the Everglades, row upon row of concrete driveways and backyard swimming pools replaced palm trees and open space. And when the space ran out, mountains of sand were dumped to create more land, so we could build farther out into the Everglades.

Recently, ESPN published a heartwarming and extraordinary story about Paul Quinn College. The tiny school, with an enrollment of about 220, serves primarily African-American and Hispanic students in Dallas, Texas. About 5 years ago, the college’s president, Michael Sorrell, encouraged the creation of an organic farm on campus. He was motivated by two factors. The college is located in a 95% minority, low income neighborhood, officially designated a “food desert”, because there is no convenient access to fresh fruits and vegetables and other nutritious foods. Second, he had personally experienced the consequences of working in a food desert by gaining a lot of weight from eating at the fast food restaurants and convenience stores that were accessible to the college.

As you drive or stroll along Franklin and Rosemary streets and crane your neck to view the upper stories of the high-rise buildings that seem to have been transplanted here from Charlotte or Atlanta, you may wonder, why are we doing this?

This is Raleigh Mann. I confess it: I’m a big fan of Carolina sports. Right now, I am very excited as basketball season gets under way. When I was teaching, some student athletes found their way to my courses. They had to work,...

Well, it’s finally out there – the whole dirty story for the entire world to see.

This is Raleigh Mann. In the 36 years the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Y has occupied a building on MLK Boulevard south of Estes Drive, it has grown to serve more than 7 thousand active members. That’s a thousand more than the entire...

A local realtor writes yet another editorial calling on us to make it easier for new real estate projects to get approved. A Town Council member returns from a trip sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce and encourages us to build more meeting spaces. The Town Manager recommends that the taxpayers subsidize road construction for a large new apartment building on Elliot Road. A local real estate developer asserts that adding 1000 new residents to the Town’s population at Obey Creek will not cause our taxes to increase, when it almost certainly will. What’s going on here?