Former Wake Commissioner: This development will be a boon for Raleigh | Opinion

I’ve spent an entire career building and advocating for parks and greenways and understand the importance of how these natural spaces, with good design and place making, integrate into the community to create a more livable, flourishing city.

I want to express my appreciation and support for the West at Peace development as an integrated, mixed-use space that will provide needed housing, jobs and retail, and be integrated into the new Smoky Hollow Park, now a decade in the making.

The park will continue the vibrant core of the Smoky Hollow project as it heads north along Capital Blvd., extending our growing urban center with a greenway along Pigeon House Branch Creek. This will create the exact type of development that supports walkable communities, active lifestyles, transits and all the natural amenities we love and cherish.

Together, we strive for a downtown that works for everyone. The West at Peace project, along with a new park, a greenway and a new transit line brings us one step closer to that goal.

Sig Hutchinson, former Wake County Commissioner, Raleigh

NC losing

Plaudits to state health leadership for publishing the Medicaid service reductions that will occur if legislators maintains a $319 million appropriations shortfall. Because of losing federal matching, the loss to NC will exceed $1.1 billion. Virtually all Medicaid providers and its three million NC beneficiaries will be effected, with disproportionate burdens on rural areas.

Legislators likely did not understand the $319 million shortfall’s effects. Now they know. In the coming weeks, they could resolve the problem by appropriating necessary Medicaid funding to provide critical health care to vulnerable residents. We are watching. We pray our legislators do the right thing.

Tom Vitaglione, Cary

Aviation safety

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act provides important investment in aviation safety and modernization. As a pilot with diverse aviation experience, I support the law’s $12.5 billion investment in air traffic control (ATC).

However, I’m concerned about discussions around privatizing ATC. Having witnessed the importance of consistent federal oversight, I believe privatization could undermine safety standards and public accountability, which make our aviation system work. Privatizing ATC could shift resources toward major metropolitan hubs while degrading service for smaller airports serving rural communities.

We should focus on implementing the improvements President Donald Trump signed into law: better staffing, modernized infrastructure, enhanced safety systems. This investment provides resources to strengthen our aviation system while maintaining the federal oversight that ensures safety and equitable access.

John Shearer, Chapel Hill

Woodcrest lawsuit

The developer’s lawsuit to extinguish the Woodcrest subdivision’s covenants should never have happened. I understand the city of Raleigh does not like to enforce residential covenants, but they should not be ignored in development permitting. Ignoring covenants creates legal and financial problems for neighborhood residents. By ignoring covenants, the city is subtly encouraging their violation.

Neighborhoods should not be put through the legal grinder. The city should ask on the development application if any covenants exists. If covenants exist, the city should direct the developer to speak with the neighbors before proceeding any further in the process.

Fortunately, the Woodcrest neighbors prevailed in the lawsuit. If they had not, any neighborhood covenants would be threatened. This would have set damaging legal precedent.

Robert Mulder, Raleigh

Gaza

As a Jew, I condemn Israel’s genocide in Gaza. In starving and killing civilians — many children — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing cabinet are guilty of war crimes and rightfully condemned by international communities.

The rabbis’ open letter wrongfully accuses the NC Democratic Party of anti-Semitism because it called to end U.S. military aid to Israel. Being against an immoral war is not anti-Semitism, but a moral imperative. By the same token, I condemn Hamas’s raid in Israel that killed or kidnapped civilians.

When Israel ends the genocide, we should support it in a Middle East largely hostile to its survival.

Al Winters, Cary

It’s cheating

After the 2020 election, there was a lot of uproar (Stop the Steal!) about unfair elections. The elections were stolen, but not on Election Day. They were stolen by state legislatures that authorized gerrymandering of districts. Some voters were denied a fair opportunity to elect candidates. We need to call gerrymandering by its appropriate descriptor: cheating.

Bob Williams, Fuquay-Varina

This story was originally published August 24, 2025 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Former Wake Commissioner: This development will be a boon for Raleigh | Opinion."