There’s Already Enough Development
Dear Editor,
Your opinion pieces sometimes leave me wondering if you’re one of the Hammers who lived in the box my Uncle Joe always told me I was as dumb as.
In your Thanksgiving issue you attacked the City Council for opposing an annexation and rezoning request by a commercial developer hoping to build on Lake Brandt Road, just south of the lake and the protected area surrounding it.
It’s no surprise you’d favor, unquestioning, commercial development just about anywhere since your paper is published by a commercial developer. But you shouldn’t expect the City Council to do the same.
Councilmembers didn’t fail the city by asking questions, listening to the long-established residents who will have to contend with whatever the developer chooses to build, and ultimately deciding they would not grant him the annexation and the zoning changes he requested. They did their jobs. Enough of them concluded the development as proposed at that particular site would create problems for more than just the “50 angry people” you huffed about.
Maybe you can’t see the issue as clearly too – beyond being professionally blinkered – because of the dust kicked up by the projects already under way heading north of the city. Lawndale’s got a commercial in-fill project, and a patio home project, and crews are clearing land for the approaching northern beltway. North Elm’s got a big new apartment complex nearly complete, as well as expansion of a strip center just south of Pisgah Church Road. Bass Chapel and Air Harbor roads are hosting new housing developments. Plus, the developer in question has a housing project in the works just down the street from where he hoped to build his strip center.
There’s already a lot happening.
It’s wise not to allow that factor alone to compel even more development. It’s wise to consider each project on its merits. And that’s what the City Council did with this one. A majority found it wanting, and not just because some trees would be felled.
You’ve written about your enjoyment of the trails and protected areas surrounding Lake Brandt. The proposed development site is right alongside. Anyone like you, county- or city-dweller had a right to be wary, and seek assurance a commercial development would not detract from the allure. The developer’s plan provided little such assurance. Maybe he’ll get it right next go-round.
David Mudd
Tax Cuts Hurt … Politicians
Dear Editor,
With Trump about to take the oath of office and Republicans holding onto the Congress, there is work going on to get legislation ready that has been on the shelf for a while. One of the big ones is tax reform.
Reducing the business tax, repealing the estate tax, reducing the number of tax brackets, etc., are getting great attention. And as this is happening you are going to start hearing things like “would cost an estimated $200 billion over 10 years.” Cost? What cost? Since when did a tax cut “cost” taxpayers anything?
The answer, of course, is it doesn’t, or at least it doesn’t cost the taxpayer anything. It will cost politicians, however. The cost to them is the amount of money you and I would normally be shaken down for that they would no longer have to buy votes and give themselves raises and more benefits.
Another statement made in reference to proposed tax cuts is, “How are we going to pay for it?” The answer is simple and needs to be presented to them in a loud and forceful manner: Quit spending so much. Make a budget. Better yet, make a realistic budget. Quit giving money away like you’re the Greensboro City Council (not sure who is copying who there).
The best answer is a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced federal budget. One that has serious teeth. And make sure it includes a provision making mandatory a vote of the people before the lords and ladies can get a raise or increased benefits. And if you want to talk about cuts, start there first, then work your way through the rest of the bureaucracy. Then cut off anyone here illegally, providing only the bare minimum until they can be deported. Reform welfare and institute work for welfare for those that are able bodied. “Foreign aid” is an area ripe for cuts. If you didn’t put into Social Security you don’t get to draw it unless you are truly handicapped or disabled.
Finally, these need to be true tax cuts. Not the hocus pocus of “reduced spending,” but actual cuts with reduction in spending. A debt of $20 trillion (and climbing) is not sustainable. At this rate we will end up like Venezuela. And remember, we are letting it happen through apathy.
We the people have the power. Use it.
Go Galt and save the republic
Alan Marshall
Treat People Like Corporations
Dear Editor,
President-elect Trump says that he wants to repeal two corporate regulations for every one created.
Many conservative Republicans want to get rid of corporate regulations, but for some reason they don’t want to get rid of regulations on individual American citizens. Why is that? Many politicians say that corporations are people but they don’t think that people should be treated like corporations.
Donald Trump and the Republican Congress can really change the status quo by creating one law. We should have a national law or constitutional amendment that states that all laws, taxes and regulations are temporary. If these regulations work, and are supported by the people, they can be renewed. If they don’t work, or aren’t supported by the people, they can go away. Imagine if all government was temporary.
Chuck Mann
US Fingerprints
Dear Editor,
The peaceful transfer of power has been the constitutional fingerprint of this nation since its birth. Herein, we acknowledge the separation of its states but unity of its people.
Any time theoretical and assumptive powers are given to others we often become slaves to their determinations. Case in point involves how LBJ falsely assumed our Navy was under attack and the Vietnam War followed, or how George W. Bush assumed the intelligence of the CIA was correct and we’ve spent $6 trillion, for what? Our current concern is with the “Electoral College,” if and/or when it usurps its powers and leads us into a civil war.
The following, found on a Zippo lighter belonging to a dead soldier in Vietnam, speaks for itself: “We the unwilling – led by the unqualified – to kill the unfortunate – die for the ungrateful.”
Ray Hylton
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