Mr. Jensen’s predictions from his column in the Jan. 2 issue of The Cary News are hardly surprising: He is a liberal, he runs a company, Public Policy Polling, catering to liberal organizations and he is in all likelihood even now working under contract to the N.C. Democratic Party in an effort to influence the elections this fall. Nothing is wrong with any of this; that’s what political consultants are paid to do. However trends in recent years in North Carolina run counter to his contentions. In the past three House elections, Republican candidates on the whole have received more votes than have Democratic candidates, and the margin is increasing. The fact that Democrats remain in control of the House is a result of Democrat-led gerrymandering a few years ago and political arm-twisting, resulting last year in one spectacular instance: a jail sentence for former House Speaker Democrat Jim Black. Another telling trend is the result of a poll of North Carolina college students last year, wherby 60 percent identified themselves as conservative, and this despite over 80 percent of all faculty members admitting to being liberals. To me, Mr. Jensen appears to be whistling in the dark in the face of an electorate that is becoming more conservative.

Kent Misegades, Cary

Holly Springs unique

The article “Council Divided on Residential Growth” and the Holly Springs’ staff report on the growth moratorium shows councilmen DeBenedetto and Womble are out of touch with the issue. Although growth is a serious and ongoing issue, Holly Springs’ growth pattern is unique to its history and cannot be compared to surrounding towns that have growth concerns.

For you newcomers, the Town of Holly Springs up until recently has been treated as a minority crossroads whose infrastructure and struggling economy was routinely neglected by past county and state politicians. Holly Springs’ economy and tax base must stabilize, but not by stopping growth now. Stopping growth now is like the basketball player who gets under the goal with a clear shot and then throws the ball to his opponents.

That being said, it is OK for councilmen DeBenedetto and Womble to voice their opinion on growth, but it is wise that the council trust the expertise of the town staff and not pass Womble and DeBenedetto the ball.

Linda Hunt Williams, Holly Springs

Thank you shoppers

I want to thank all those who helped make the Friends Feeding Friends Food Drive such a success. This food drive is sponsored by the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina and provides a significant portion of food intake for local affiliated food pantries for the year. When you purchased a bag of food from a participating grocery store, you helped feed our neighbors who are going through tough financial times.

The food pantry at Christian Community in Action served more than 2,200 people in the Cary-Morrisville area last year. Customers shopping at the Lowes Foods stores at Cary Parkway and Tryon Road, and Cary Parkway and High House Road bought more than 7,000 pounds of food that will be distributed throughout the coming months. Many times, someone experiencing temporary financial crisis will have to choose between buying food and paying the electric bill, the rent, or buying necessary medicines. Your generosity will directly help many people to stretch a tight budget a little further.

Many thanks also to the CCA volunteers and Boy Scout Troop 231 of the Oconeechee Council who helped us collect and sort the incoming food. It’s so inspiring to see how caring people working together can make a difference in the lives of those in need. May you and yours be blessed in the coming year.

Jill Wissing, Christian Community in Action, Crisis ministry manager

Deny Park West

The Morrisville Board of Commissioners should follow the recommendation of their Planning and Zoning Board and deny the request for rezoning for the Park West Village project.

This project will increase the traffic on one of the most congested roads in the area — Chapel Hill Road (N.C. 54). According to the traffic data prepared by a consultant for the developer, the time to drive through the Cary Parkway/N.C. 54 intersection (morning westbound) will take four times as long as it would without the project and related improvements. Also, according to that report, the amount of traffic on N.C. 54 through the heart of Morrisville and the traffic on Cary Parkway will increase. This increase is not due to other growth; it is a comparison of traffic with and without the project and the improvements to the nearby intersections.

There are better places in Morrisville for additional shopping, such as near I-40. This project is in the wrong place. The request should be denied.

John Shaw, Cary

Chatham Square

What a great article about Chatham Square or what I like to call International Square. I really think it should be renamed that because not only does it have Indian fare but Korean, Mexican, Japanese and Thai. The area is a real value to Cary. We frequent the restaurants regularly. The International Festival at the Fairgrounds could be duplicated there.

Kelley Dennings, Cary

Kids deserve better

WCPSS current reassignment plan is once again moving thousands of kids. There are so many problems with the current plan. First of all, they want to increase our F&R. Translation: They want to spend lots of money on busing to say it will help these children. Fact: Studies prove, as do test scores, that this damages the F&R children. I ask for the WCPSS BOE to present us with facts disproving this. Do the F&R children not deserve community schools with extra support put into place to help them actually get a quality education and not spend two hours on a bus every day? Don’t they deserve to have their parents close enough so they can volunteer in their school? Second, I would like for all the WCPSS BOE members to drive to each node that they are sending to Laurel Park and Green Hope and tell me why their numbers are so out of line with the actually homes they will see and homes that will be finished by year’s end. Why are you setting the kids up to be moved yet again because you don’t plan ahead? Why does the WCPSS want to continue to damage children and their educational experience? Don’t all kids matter? I think they do.

Kids deserve better. Listen to the kids and the facts.

Karen Carter, Cary

BOE not listening

I attended the Board of Education meeting yesterday. What I heard was Mr. Burns tell us was, “Focusing upon results supports our purposeful change into a learning organization for the current century.” What I heard was Mr. Dulaney present a plan that increased the number of children that are reassigned. What I heard was Ms. Gill try to schedule work sessions on the plan prior to the conclusion of the public comment period.

What I took away from this meeting is that the board and staff are really not interested in hearing from parents. There were 1,500 comments submitted by parents with viable alternatives to fill our new schools, evidence that there are inconsistencies in information that Growth Management has regarding node populations, solutions to the “domino-ing” of children from school to school to fill vacancies. What I didn’t take away was a sense that these people were listening to a word we were saying.

I would urge parents and non-parents in this community to stand up and say enough! We are tired of our children being assigned to schools far from our homes and communities. We are the advocates for our children and we want our school system back. We challenge the board to be strong enough to look for solutions at the school level, with programs that support the needs of our children. Every talented, dedicated professional principal in our country knows the needs of the children at their school provide them the resources to support those children.

Ask the state to allow us the latitude to use the $40 million currently spent on transporting our children in a way that actually impacts their education. Provide those funds at the school level so that our gifted educators can implement the programs needed in their school for their children.

Lisa Phillips, Cary

Park West concerns

The vote by Morrisville’s Board of Commissioners on Park West Village is fast approaching. After Jan. 28 chances are citizens of both Cary and Morrisville will be living with that decision for a long time to come.

Morrisville does not have an Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance and they do not have legislative authority to impose or collect impact fees. Without additional improvements not provided by the developer, the limited-capacity roadways within a short distance of the proposed Park West will likely become gridlocked. Of significant concern: area intersections without signals, two-lane sections of N.C. 54 and the intersection of Cary Parkway and High House Road.

There are concerns regarding:

• Lack of access to a major highway or interstate • Traffic cutting through residential neighborhoods, both in Cary and Morrisville • Size and density of the proposal • Big box discount anchor of 180,000-plus square feet • Effect on area small businesses with associated potential for vacant stores and offices • Stormwater runoff and handling capacity of infrastructure, especially regarding undersized stormwater culverts and flooding currently experienced in low-lying areas • Lack of clear document on the proposed development’s impact on Cary in terms of Cary’s provision of infrastructure services (i.e., water management) • Lack of a hydrology study clearly identifying combined community and/or regional issues and necessary infrastructure compensations • Bookending/branding of Morrisville by big box discount retail • Impact of 321-350 apartments on schools and Morrisville’s residential mix • Negative overall fiscal impact on the town • Potential negative effect on surrounding residential property values • Potential negative impacts on the combined communities and neighborhoods in terms of the destructive effects on quality of life

Now let’s consider the positive impact this development will have the community:

More shopping in redundant retail and more dining in chain restaurants.

Seems to me, the negatives far outweigh the positives on this project.

Lindsey Chester, Cary