Raleigh isn’t Mayberry anymore. Traffic during concerts and NC State Fair needs a fix | Opinion
Tuesday night I spent nearly an hour and half in my car going from Highwoods Boulevard to the NCSU University Club because of construction and the Chris Brown concert. It was also due to poor traffic management. It reminded me of the 2005 one inch snow storm that tied up Raleigh for hours on end. Who’s idea was it to schedule concerts during the NC State Fair?
Raleigh is no longer Mayberry and is a wealthy city and should be able to manage traffic better than this. It looks like to me that the all the parties concerned need to get together and find a way to avoid the traffic snarls like this one.
Henry Jarrett, Raleigh
Independents vote
If North Carolina gerrymanders districts to gain more Republican representatives, consider that the fastest growing political affiliation are independents. President Donald Trump’s call to Texas is a dishonest way to get votes. California’s response is hardly better.
If North Carolina redistricts to boost Republicans, most independents will not vote for Republicans, including state Sen. Phil Berger, who has been in office far too long. Governments work better when new, younger, less corrupt voices are given a chance to solve problems rather than create more through dishonest means.
Liz Kiszely, Raleigh
Discomfort, despair
No question things are uncomfortable for Gene Nichol these days with his assertion we are in the middle of a constitutional crisis. For conservative voters, the last four years were lived in this level of discomfort and despair. Nichol’s over the top positions are part and parcel of the see-saw political landscape that has consistently elected poor leadership.
More energy should be put into promoting better candidates. We need better choices on both sides of the aisle, and we need better thought out opinion pieces to assist everyone in navigating the issues this great country faces.
J. D. Howard, Raleigh
Durham elections
In the four races included in Durham’s non-partisan primary on Oct. 7, two candidates received more than 50% of the votes, yet they are required to go through another election a month later against the second place finishers. This doesn’t make sense.
Durham should simply have a municipal election in November and hold run-offs only for races where no candidate receives a majority of the votes. With our democracy imperiled, it’s important that democracy be efficient.
Tom Heath, Durham
Healthcare deserts
At COVID’s beginning, my son moved to NC with family and got a job at a grocery store working nights, risking his health to stock the store for daytime buyers. He was past the age to be on our insurance, so we couldn’t carry him on our health insurance. The cost for his policy through state government was a week’s pay. He was only given 30 hours a week of work, so he couldn’t get employer insurance.
That’s a micro picture. A macro picture is what happens in rural areas when the local residents have no insurance. There are no funds to pay the local hospital. The hospital closes down. In NC, 20% of our counties lack hospitals. They are healthcare deserts. How many more hospitals will close when citizens can no longer pay for healthcare? How many counties will lose a good employer?
Janice Woychik, Chapel Hill
History’s right side
I applaud Ned Barnett’s calling out the NC Republicans telling a whopper of a lie to justify redrawing districts. I would go on to say gerrymandering is plain old cheating. Second, I actually agreed with many of the things Matt Wylie said in his column “Republicans are sitting on a live grenade in shutdown.”
I have to disagree with his statement, “A shutdown exposes Democrats for what they are: weak, uninspired and leaderless.” Let me get this straight, the Republican Party controls Congress and the presidency, and they can’t avoid a government shutdown. Meanwhile, Speaker Mike Johnson elects to hold Congress missing in action.
The Republican Party is inefficient, ineffective, incompetent and incredibly inept. I think my perspective will be on the right side of history.
John P. Sorge, Raleigh
This story was originally published October 19, 2025 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Raleigh isn’t Mayberry anymore. Traffic during concerts and NC State Fair needs a fix | Opinion."