Opinion
TECHNICIAN
PAGE 6 • MONDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2018
NC shouldn’t wait for congress to invest in infrastructure In his State of the Union address, President Trump called upon Congress for “a bill that generates at least $1.5 trillion” in infrastructure spending, in a throwNoah back to one of his campaign Jabusch promises. However, his reStaff Columnist quest failed to inspire much confidence for me. Despite the high dollar amount, Trump failed to offer any specific proposals on how to raise or spend the money. Also, seeing as the Capitol has been unable to fund itself recently, it seems unlikely that such a large spending package will appear anytime soon. To maintain the health of our state’s economy, North Carolina should act now to fund infrastructure repair and development. Especially in the Triangle region, investment in transportation, higher education and technological infrastructure could greatly improve the economy, providing jobs for NC State graduates and other North Carolinians. In a recent news article, Technician cor-
respondent Georgia Burgess reported on NC State’s plans to upgrade several facilities starting in 2018. The construction, funded by the sale of government bonds, includes a new engineering building on Centennial Campus, the installation of a Student Services center in Harris Hall and improvements to Carmichael Gym. Projects like these are important to the student body because they ensure that our facilities are actively meeting our needs and improving ease of use. Spending on infrastructure can stimulate the economy in excess of the amount of dollars used, but only when targeted to weak or underfunded areas, according to the Brookings Institute. So we cannot merely build miles of new roads, except where such construction will actively improve driving conditions. For instance, Project Fortify, a project scheduled to finish this spring which has repaired sections of I-40 around Raleigh, is an example of impactful spending. This highway services 120,000 commuters each day and had degraded considerably, threatening driver safety. Although the past five
years of traffic congestion have been painful at times, the new roads will probably ease the daily commute for thousands of workers for a long time to come. At its heart, good infrastructure spending aims to combat real issues and grease the gears of the economy. Regardless of whether Congress manages to pass a substantial infrastructure deal, North Carolina must commit to improving its infrastructure, in order to ensure that we remain a center for economic growth in the 21st century. Raleigh has been chosen as a finalist for the new Amazon headquarters, but as the News & Observer notes, our “anemic transportation system” is a major shortfall in our city’s bid for the headquarters. Although our state has offered tax incentives to attract Amazon’s attention, some of that money might be better devoted to improving our roads and mass transit. In addition, NC State students would directly benefit from improved bus service to Raleigh and other cities in the area. The article does describe key strengths of the Triangle region, including the proximity
to major universities and the existing tech environment of RTP. Preserving these advantages should also motivate the General Assembly to boost investment in higher education and technology start-ups. In the information economy, reliable electricity access is crucial to productivity. North Carolina has become a leader in solar energy production. However, as the News & Observer notes, incentives by the state legislature to encourage both Duke Energy and energy consumers to add renewable capacity would pave the way to a cleaner energy future, as well as boosting our profile across the nation. In his speech, Trump failed to mention the grave dangers posed by climate change to the American people. By taking infrastructure into its own hands, North Carolina can grow the economy in a way consistent with our needs and goals. As adults poised to enter the job market, we must support infrastructure spending by speaking out in favor of economically focused investment, both at the polls and between elections, to safeguard our economic future.
Talley’s improvements have not gone unnoticed With the new semester has come new changes to Talley. In the past month there have been two important changes in the Pavilions, both improving the area in their own way. The Joseph Rivenbark first change is the addition of a Tapingo display screen Correspondent outside of Tuffy’s Diner and the second being the implementation of compostable cups to the area. Admittedly, both of these changes have been small changes to how we as students each order and eat our food. But the effect that both of them have on the student body and the dining experience at Talley as whole certainly shouldn’t go unnoticed. These two changes alone are great steps in the right direction for the future of Talley. The new screen at Tuffy’s is a clear example of the effort Talley is making to provide a
better experience and the services that Tapingo is willing to provide to make their process more efficient. I’ve had my critiques of Tapingo in the past. Tapingo’s system of ordering food increased demand to a point of backlog during rush times (lunch and dinner) and it also punishes those who don’t want to order using the service by increasing their wait times. However, their addition of a screen works to counteract what I see as the largest problems stemming from the nature of how the company views ordering food. The screen at Tuffy’s addresses the rush times by visually showing customers what is in store for them if they place an order during that time. Imagine a scenario where you walk up to Tuffy’s and the screen shows that most orders haven’t even been started yet, you would be much more likely to just eat somewhere else or during some other time. Furthermore, the visual queue helps
show to customers who place their orders in-person the wait that they have in front of them. Previously, the only way for these individuals to know how many people had placed a Tapingo order ahead of them was to have the app themselves, which in-person customers would likely not have. In short, this screen provides a visual representation of a virtual line; that’s helpful information. Combined, these two effects help make sure that food is ordered and prepared in a way that doesn’t so severely backlog the orders which is something that neither the customers nor the employees want to deal with. With more of these screens around Talley, the effects could be increased even more, benefitting both all parties involved. The second change happens to have even less of an impact on how you eat, but an even larger impact on NC State as a whole. The introduction of compostable cups in Talley Pavilions is likewise something that should
not go unnoticed by the student body. The cups require little participation for each individual and, according to reporting by Marco Valencia, are estimated to reduce the waste created by Talley Student Union by 15 percent. This is by no measure a small impact; the addition of these cups show NC State’s push to become more environmentally friendly and demonstrate Talley’s willingness to be part of the movement. Combined with the visual queue, this could mean that an increased number of students use more environmentally friendly methods of eating food. These two changes combined will help make sure that Talley moves in a more efficient and environmentally friendly direction. It’s because of this that these changes should not go unnoticed. These are steps by the NC State administration to provide a better place for students, and they work.
