Former mayor: Charlotte made a colossal mistake in rejecting I-77 tolls | Opinion
The author, a Republican, was mayor of Charlotte from 1991-95.
Our City Council recently made a colossal mistake when they rejected $600 million in federal and state “highway funding” to improve I-77 South from our Center City to the NC-SC border. Those funds will now be happily retrieved by other metropolitan areas in our state that also need improved transportation corridors, but none of the magnitude of our own jammed I-77 South. I don’t know whether it’s too late now to right this wrong but sure hope someone in our city government will exert the necessary leadership to reverse this decision ASAP. Trust me – this was a very, very bad decision!
Richard Vinroot, Charlotte
Iryna’s law consequences
The author is a former Mecklenburg commissioner.
Iryna’s law has created severe overcrowding in county jails. Geez, who would have thunk it. Now, the Republican majority in the General Assembly wants to put on the ballot in November a constitutional amendment that would limit or restrict a county’s ability to raise property taxes, their principal source of revenue to fund, among a myriad of services, the Sheriff’s budget.
So, how do those wise lawmakers expect counties to fund the Sheriffs’ requests for additional space and staff to deal with the overcrowding? My guess is these legislators are either unwilling to consider the consequences of their actions or, worse, they really don’t care. I wonder if the NC Association of County Commissioners has the guts to stand up to them.
Dumont Clarke, Fairview
Feminine hygiene products in schools
As a female high school student in North Carolina, I have spent the last three years navigating it all: AP classes, outreach clubs, sports teams. But thousands of my peers in Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools are forced to worry about something far more fundamental and preventable: the lack of basic menstrual products.
The Feminine Hygiene Products Grant Program administered by NC DPI is extremely faulty. This first-come, first-served funding caps each CMS school out at $5,000. This unrealistic solution simply puts a Band-Aid over a bullet wound rather than analyzing a positive and effective solution.
Major school districts across the country have mandated the implementation of accessible period supplies, further reporting increased school attendance and improved confidence among student bodies. The solution is attainable, impactful, and extremely important. It’s time for CMS to stock our bathrooms to ensure no student must ever have to miss a class because of their period.
Macy Drennen, Huntersville
Supreme Court
The Democrats gain control of both houses of Congress by means of the upcoming November election. They then pass legislation - overriding the President’s veto - to increase the size of the Supreme Court in order to appoint additional Justices so that the majority of the Justices no longer favor the religious, cultural, and racially skewed agenda of the Heritage Fund’s Project 2025. The Republicans then challenge the new law in federal court. That case makes its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Consider: Defendants, the supporters of the new law, representing the majority view of our Country as a multicultural Constitutional representative democracy, would be asking the current Court majority, to render an opinion divesting the current majority of the long sought after power they have enjoyed for some time, and to render the opinion while under the watchful eye of the current revenge obsessed President. What then?
Alexander Levy, Charlotte
Protecting dialysis patients
My sister and I have polycystic kidney disease and shared the same dialysis schedule for years. I’ve been on dialysis nearly 15 years, surviving heart surgery and breast cancer before receiving a kidney transplant last October. My sister was not so lucky.
After losing private insurance through divorce, she refused disability, believing she couldn’t survive on those benefits. Our family paid out of pocket to keep her on dialysis. By the time she got coverage, she had already started to give up. Her transplant failed. She passed away two years ago.
When dialysis patients feel abandoned by the system, they lose hope and stop fighting.
A recent Supreme Court ruling allows insurers to cut dialysis patients off before the traditional 30-month protection period ends. The Restore Protections for Dialysis Patients Act would fix this. I urge Rep. Alma Adams and Sens. Thom Tillis and Ted Budd to support it. Dialysis patients deserve protection.
Denise Tatum, Charlotte
This story was originally published June 14, 2026 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Former mayor: Charlotte made a colossal mistake in rejecting I-77 tolls | Opinion."