Carpenter Village enhanced
The Carpenter Village Grounds Committee would like to thank the Town of Cary for their support through the Healthy Neighborhood Incentive Program to enhance our lake front trail. With the town’s matching grant, we were able to implement our vision to enhance the trail with plantings around the gazebo, ground cover on steep slopes, buffering of drainage channels, some swaths of daffodils for a punch of color, and pine saplings within natural areas. We believe these landscaping/beautification improvements will provide an added sense of safety, promote outdoor recreation within our community, help improve property values, and increase pride associated with living in Cary.

The Grounds Committee would also like to thank the volunteers who helped prioritize common area improvements, develop the concept plans and coordinate community work days, which involved surrounding homeowners assisting with plantings and spreading pine straw. A special thanks is well deserved for the Y-Guides’ Carpenter Coyote Tribe for their help in digging holes and planting daffodil bulbs. This community service project embodied the values of the program and was a fun outing for a group of dads from the neighborhood and their sons to get a little dirty and give back to the community.

For information on the town’s grant program, contact Will Hartye in the Long Range Planning Department at 380-5991 or via e-mail at Will.Hartye@townofcary.org.

Carpenter Village Grounds Committee

TAC is wonderful resource
Many Cary citizens may remember the town’s plan to build another swimming pool. There was a lot of correspondence in the newspaper pro and con. Fortunately, the idea was dropped, I assume partly because sanity prevailed and partly because the economic situation changed.

TAC is a wonderful resource to Cary, the only affordable indoor pool throughout the year. I do not know Mr. Curran or anybody on his team but I admire their tireless effort to provide a facility that accommodates young and old alike.

I realize that the Town of Cary has budget problems but there must be a way save TAC somehow. Also, shame on the bank for an unreasonable rate increase.

All interested parties are waiting anxiously for the outcome.

Ildiko Trombitas, Cary

Dissapointed by Cary
I was very disappointed to learn that our Cary Town Council members decided against further use of (Instant Runoff Voting), especially since the majority of Cary residents in two different polls voted overwhelmingly in favor of IRV. This voting method also had broad-based support from many local organizations.

In these difficult times of economic stress, IRV was a common-sense solution that could have saved the town of Cary the tens of thousands of dollars required to hold poorly attended runoff elections.

Fortunately for residents of the town of Hendersonville, they do have council members who listen to their constituents. Hendersonville’s forward thinking town council wisely voted to continue to use IRV. May it serve them well.

Carol Everett, Cary

Spend on something that benefits all
This comment is in response to the letter “TAC huge asset” in the May 13 Cary News.

The request for Cary to purchase the TAC is great if you choose to swim or have children who swim.

If not it will simply mean that non-swimmers are funding something you consider important and they do not.

I’d like to see Cary purchase Lochmere Golf course but certainly understand that there are a number of non-golfers who may disagree. Let’s continue to spend money on things that benefit all residents rather than those who have a special interest and would like to have it subsidized by everyone else.

Charles Schroeder, Cary

Money for acquatics
Dear Cary Town Council Members,
With an avid swimmer in the family, we couldn’t help but notice the list of [town] athletic facilities doesn’t include a pool. Fortunately, we already have a world-class aquatic facility in Cary — TAC. Built by funding from private parties, operating successfully with positive earnings, serving thousands of Cary residents, and bringing in millions of dollars to the local economy, TAC is truly an asset to the town.

You have a unique opportunity to do the right thing for Cary by purchasing TAC. These are tough economic times, but this is a chance that may not come again.

While new money is hard to find right now, $10 million from Wake County in hotel and meals taxes and $15 million from a previous Cary budget has already been earmarked for aquatics in Cary. The money is there.

The promise of an aquatic facility has been made to the citizens of Cary; the money has been allocated and is available. Purchasing TAC is the right thing to do for the citizens of Cary.

Dale, Rebecca and Olivia Carter, Cary

No more Chinese-made products
Gee, giving China “favored nation status” as a trading partner really has paid off, hasn’t it?

Lead paint on toys, toxic drywall, contaminated foods, defective medicines, etc.

Wake up, Americans! Quit buying Chinese-made products. They seem cheaper at the cash register, but we are paying dearly for them. Kathy Young, Apex

Protect yourself from identity theft
I have been the victim of identity theft twice. It took more than a year and several thousand dollars to clear it up. I learned.

Protect your Social Security number and birth date. Don’t put either one on anything except required government documents or bank forms.

On Facebook and other Internet forms, use a family member’s birth date or a different month. Be very careful about posting personal information online. Never give out information on the phone to somebody who calls you, no matter who they say they are.

It’s very expensive and a lot of trouble to fight identity theft, which is becoming more and more common.

Mary Bryson, Holly Springs

Stop buying products from China Let’s all quit buying stuff from China! Tyrone Williams, Holly Springs Think longer-term with ‘money-losers’
In the letter in last week’s Cary News “Town budget red, not black,” I found several instances listed of very important programs for Cary residents that were dismissed as “non-essential” and “money losers”: recycling, the C-Tran bus, toilet and lawn buy-back. I suggest that we think about the longer term and not simply take the short-term view of the authors of the letter.

Apparently, the authors do not believe that helping residents be good environmental stewards is the responsibility of a town government. Who will then do this — the private sector? Doubtful, especially if it loses money in the short term. But think of the longer-term benefits. If Cary cuts back on recycling, I assume that the two authors will gladly offer their backyards for the inevitable extra landfill space that will be needed for previously recycled materials. Otherwise, there is an added governmental cost for a “money-loser” landfill.

The toilet and lawn buy-back are investments that can pay back many times over in water and cost savings. We can delay or eliminate new water treatment plants. People and corporations go into short-term debt all the time for investments that have longer term payback.

As for C-Tran, why unfairly single out one mode of transportation over another? Nobody expects roads to pay for themselves. Why should mass transit have to do so? Cary recently started an improvement of Cary Parkway. By the authors’ own criteria, since Cary Parkway is not a toll road, this is a “money-loser” and should be cut from the budget. All those drivers would just deal with the potholes in the future. Ram Athavale, Cary