Red Line study wastes tax dollars

In response to “Red Line survives effort to stop study. What’s next for Lake Norman train?” (March 28):

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The Red Line is not moving forward to Lake Norman.

The tracks are still not available from Norfolk Southern. Nothing has changed.

The only thing going forward is your taxpayer dollars – being used to pay for another useless $3.2 “study” under the guise of it being a feasible option.

The study and publicity fuels the public thirst so CATS can provide Lake Norman more bus service and Charlotte more trains – again.

Michelle Ferlauto, Cornelius

Low-income schools need top teachers

In response to “Affordable housing is key to integration” (March 27 Forum):

I wholeheartedly agree with Forum writer Bill Herrington that the ridiculous amount of money spent busing children all over the city should be put toward teacher salaries.

However, social engineering is not the solution. Just look at Venezuela to see how socialism is failing the poor.

The best thing we can do for underprivileged neighborhood schools is recruit top-talent teachers with higher paying salaries and give the teachers the power to discipline and create an environment where learning thrives.

Traci Cockerham, Charlotte

A fourth fundamental in education

Op-ed columnist Frank Martin pointed out three fundamental reasons for the success of charter schools. (“These NC charter schools show how to succeed with low-income students,” March 26 Opinion)

However, there is a fourth! Parents who are involved and take responsibility for their child’s education. Without that, the other three are hindered.

Dave Smith, Fort Mill

Schools, teachers can’t solve it all

Frank Martin’s assertion that “education, broadly understood, can end poverty...” gives me pause. All schools need and deserve the advantages Sugar Creek Charter School has.

All students also need families and communities where adequate housing, health care access, more jobs and higher wages are available, and where structural barriers that promote inequality are reduced.

Schools and teachers alone can’t solve our challenges. Too often we place that burden on them, to our children’s disadvantage.

Pat McCoy, Charlotte

I’d rather be bibically correct, not politically

In response to “Transgender military ban is disgraceful” (March 29 Forum):

God our Heavenly Father created male and female. He did not create the transgender.

There is right and there is wrong, and God’s word is the only standard with which to determine right from wrong. Would we rather be biblically correct or do we have to be politically wrong?

Don Ledbetter, Statesville

East side loses another grocery store

In response to “6 area Bi-Lo, Harveys stores set to close” (March 23):

I was extremely disappointed to hear that Bi-Lo is closing its Harveys store on Albemarle Road.

The store is in a low-income neighborhood, but in a good location. East-side residents depend on this store. A lot of them do not drive and you see them with their pushcarts going to the store to shop.

Now, they will have to go to Walmart off Harris Boulevard. At least Walmart is looking out for them.

Kathy Smith, Charlotte

Fix the eyesore at Bearden Park

Spring is here, but what hasn’t sprung is the grass at Romare Bearden Park. It’s completely dead from the Christmas market.

When will this eyesore be fixed?

Joanne Welch, Charlotte

Jackie Robinson, my dad, and me

In response to Peter St. Onge “On Opening Day, a world in common” (March 29 Opinion):

Peter St. Onge’s column jogged a lot of memories for me. I saw my first baseball game in 1947 between the Pirates and Dodgers in Pittsburgh. I was 10 and my dad had driven us 130 miles to the game.

Jackie Robinson had just come into the league and played for the Dodgers. He stole three bases, but the Pirates won on a late inning home run. I have been a die-hard Pirates fan for 71 years and await Opening Day with anticipation every year.

Thanks Peter, for such a timely story.

William Speicher, Davidson