I am glad that the Town of Cary decided to make a skate park. I use it often. I go with my friends and practice skateboard tricks. My favorite trick is a Hill Flip over the small pyramid.

Thank you Town of Cary Parks and Rec for providing a great place to hang out!

Mike Porter, Boy Scout Troop 244

Candon condescending

First — kudos to Tim Candon for the most condescending “My View” I’ve ever seen. The reassignments have little to do with actual educational results and more to do with Wake County’s continued effort to massage performance indicators, dilute accountability, disenfranchise parents, and push the kids through the system. Another fine example is the 1-4 grading system now used in elementary schools — the parents didn’t like it and it was implemented anyway. A friend’s fifth grader’s strategy — “Nobody gets a 4, I’ll work just hard enough to get a 3 ...” What’s next? Bumper stickers with “My child is a 3 student at Olive Chapel — whatever that means”? After I couldn't glean much useful information from my child’s report card; all I could think was, “Gee ... six years of college wasted.” Ahhh, yes ... the pursuit of excellence in education. I know many parents once very active at their children’s schools who have stopped giving time and effort and are now more focused on just getting their children through the system. Another Wake County goal met I’m sure. Just look at school rankings four to five years ago versus today. It’s not impressive.

So, still having the lump on my forehead from banging my head against the wall over previous reassignments, etc., I guess Mr. Candon is right; parents should roll over and let the schools do as they please. Find another cause — that is, of course, if you can find someone to watch your kid during trackout. Perhaps the most insulting point is to ignore my child’s needs to volunteer elsewhere, yes I volunteer. So parents, accept mediocrity with the most important social factor in your child’s life and find something else to whine about. Boy, for someone without a “dog in the fight,” Mr. Candon sure has a lot to say. I just wish he knew what he was talking about.

Kevin Nesbitt, Apex

Blow-out loss

Dear Mr. Candon,

I admire you bravery to attempt a social commentary, but if this was one of the sporting events that you report on for The Cary News, it would have been considered a blow-out loss. Congratulations on completely missing the mark! It’s not about low-income kids. It’s not about isolating our children from other groups. It’s about the quality of our kids’ education. Shuffling kids between schools every few years takes its toll: on them, on their families and on their community. There’s no continuity, something that Wake County schools claim is at their core. Instead the system is on a social-economic engineering binge. It’s drunk with some kind of power trip that emphasizes the statistics for each school, and yet dismisses that fact that each of these numbers is built upon the lives of individual kids. They’d rather spend millions on busing than turning that money to something that would truly impact education quality.

Your point that people relocating to the Triangle are most vocal about the changes is dead wrong. My wife and I have lived in the same neighborhood for 15 years. We didn’t feel that we had to research the school system before we decided to start a family. The school was already part of the community. We want Cary to be a place where we raise our kids and where they can begin their own families. In short, a strong community. A community that has roots and stability. One that continues to celebrate its diversity. My kids’ current school is like a United Nations, with children representing 22 other countries, a large number of non-English speakers and children with special learning needs. I have no worries about my kids dealing with college and people from other cultures. I have a bigger problem with them having to deal with close-minded folks who want to force us into statistical solutions without considering real lives, and who pass judgment without understanding their situation.

Simon King, Cary

Get a clue

Mr. Candon,

I am writing concerning your Jan. 16 article “Reassignment: fact of life.”

First of all, you did not need to point out your lack of children. Anyone reading your article would know that you are not a parent. Your ignorance on the matter shone through. Your flip attitude about these parents and children really angered me.

My children, in three different schools — Green Hope High School, Davis Drive Middle School and Davis Drive Elementary, are not in a node targeted for reassignment but a good many of our friends and acquaintances are and will be affected by it.

Do you have any clue as to the number of parent volunteer hours that go into Davis Drive Elementary? I’m sure you do not. The time that DDE parents put in to help their children and this wonderful school would amaze you. Many of these parents have put careers and second incomes on a back burner to be present in their children’s lives — both school and home. It is shameful how you belittled the efforts of these parents.

You recommend we all “get over it” and “focus that energy on a worthwhile cause.” Are our children not the most worthwhile cause? If that is your “view,” Mr. Candon, I hope you never do have any children.

When children within walking distance are being reassigned to even out some economic numbers, that is just wrong. People should not have to feel apologetic or penalized for working hard and being able to afford a nice home near a good school. I do know where of I speak. I have been a “have not.” Some years back, I lived in another county and was zoned for a rather questionable school. Being a divorced mother of three at the time, it wasn’t easy but I never expected the “haves” to move out of their neighborhood school to put my kids in. I managed to find a wonderful charter school and although I had to drive an additional 30 plus miles a day (there was no bus service) it was one of the best decisions I ever made. My children are worth it.

Lynn Beasley, Cary

Not a fact of life

Mr. Candon should have stopped his editorial when he said “I do not have a dog in this fight.” He is absolutely right and the editorial should have ended there. Unless one experiences this mess called Wake County Schools you have no right to preach. And your implied between the words regarding recent relocations (i.e. Yankees) is way off base. Mr. Candon needs to get over it. It is a fact of life there will be many more relocations as Wake County continues to grow at the pace it has.

This mess called Wake County schools is not a fact of life. I have lived in many states and school districts in the U.S. One in particular was as fast growing as Wake County and that was Clark County, Wa. They did not have the mess Wake County has in constantly transferring students. The Wake County School Board is to blame (despite what Mr. Candon says) for being blind and stubborn to other alternatives that are available. They have firmly planted their feet and refuse to look at better alternatives than the current mess.

Reassingment is not a fact of life and yes lots of individuals will continue to push to make it better.

Greg Weekes, Cary

Lipstick on a pig

When Park West was announced last spring, you published a letter with my concerns about its sheer size and density (890,000 square feet commercial and 350 apartments), its location on two-lane Chapel Hill Road and Cary Parkway, traffic cutting through neighborhoods, lack of water supply and many other issues noted last week in a letter by Ms. Chester. After attending numerous town and developer meetings and learning more details, my opposition to it has only increased. Morrisville’s P&Z voted against the project, yet last week the mayor offered town resources to the developer so their public relations people could host a meeting tonight in Town Hall. The spin doctors call this “putting lipstick on a pig” and because Park West is so massive and overwhelming, it fits perfectly. This meeting should be approached with a critical eye. Morrisville and Cary are known for family-friendly neighborhoods of single-family homes with a small-town feel. Many residents are employees of national and international corporations who choose to live and work in this area specifically because of the availability of these “bedroom suburbs.” Residents value family neighborhoods, good schools, adequate infrastructure, tree-lined streets, uncongested roadways and the resulting attractive quality of life. We support “balanced growth” where priority is given to the residential community. Growth, such as infrastructure, diverse and affordable housing, office and industrial, and retail, must be managed to enhance, not destroy, the overall residential quality of life. There is strong and growing citizen opposition to development that is out of scale with our residential communities — development that is massive, overwhelming, exploitative and destructive to the investment citizens have made in their homes and communities.

Park West is indeed out of scale with the neighborhood and will be destructive to area property values. Please add your name to the long list of citizens and community business leaders (450-plus) who are opposed to this project.

Online petition requesting Morrisville’s Board of Commissioners deny Park West: ipetitions.com/petition/NoParkWest/index.html.

Janet Young, Cary

Park West too much

On Jan. 28, we will know if the town commissioners truly represent Morrisville’s citizens. Will they respond to the significant concerns of the overwhelming majority and vote against Park West? Will the mayor and commissioners remember why they were elected? Will Morrisville be preserved as a small homeownership town, or changed to the “place for discount shopping and apartments”? Will the board be alleviating our major traffic congestion or adding a high-traffic generating commercial development to it?

A smaller, reasonably sized shopping center with true “high-end” stores and restaurants would be ideal. Why the “big box” discount outlets (at least four), five-story 140-room hotel, 325 apartments, 3,000-seat movie theater, commercial offices, multistory parking garage and 4,200 parking spaces on nearly 100 acres of mostly impervious surface? With the already approved Super Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club at N.C. 54 and 540, Morrisville will have at least six big box stores — currently there are none. That’s one super discount outlet every 1.6 square miles! The character and quality of life in Morrisville will be changed forever.

The developer reports 20,000 auto trips added daily to N.C. 54, Cary and Morrisville parkways. Route 54 will still be two lanes after Weston Parkway and beyond Food Lion. Because of this limited road capacity, Park West’s designation as a Regional Activity Center probably would not pass legal challenge.

The town estimates tax revenue from Park West. However, Cary has found that such massive shopping complexes are a huge expense. Will Morrisville’s commissioners listen to its citizens, neighbors and reason? Find out at Town Hall on Monday, Jan 28. Send e-mail: MayorandCommissioners@ci.mor risville.nc.us.

Stephen A. Diehl, Morrisville resident