Sunday, May 19, 2013
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Mary Newsom
May 13, 2013

New name, new money plan for streetcar

Will a new name, a new tie-in to the county’s overall transit plan, and a new funding scheme using no property tax money mean a new outcome that puts an expanded streetcar project into the “yes” column with the Charlotte City Council? New City Manager Ron Carlee, city staff, and the CEO of the Charlotte Area Transit System,

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Melissa Currie
April 09, 2013

Easy access to work? Charlotte’s not atop list

Charlotte ranks near the bottom in a recent study of access to jobs via automobiles in the top 51 U.S. metro areas. Raleigh ranks even lower. The study, Access Across America, by David Levinson, the R.P. Braun/CTS Chair in Transportation Engineering at the University of Minnesota, ranks the Charlotte metro area No. 40, with the Raleigh area next

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Mary Newsom
April 02, 2013

The measure of a metro

Commentary
In January, Charlotte had 1.8 million people. Today it has 2.3 million people. And no, there was no airlift of half a million residents from the Rust Belt or anywhere else. How can a city gain a half-million people almost overnight? How can a metro area vault from No. 33 in population to No. 23? It’s all in how the U.S. government defines

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Melissa Currie
February 28, 2013

HOT lanes: A hot topic at Huntersville meeting

HOT (High Occupancy Toll) lanes proposed on I-77 are a red-hot topic, and residents were vocal about their concerns Wednesday at a public information meeting at Huntersville Town Hall. Jim Trogdon, chief financial officer for the N.C. Department of Transportation, introduced a group of experts to meet with citizens and answer questions. “The

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Mae Israel
February 27, 2013

Neighborhood schools? More city parents are taking a fresh look

In a half-dozen older Charlotte neighborhoods, young professionals are starting to send their kids to nearby, high-poverty schools.
In Charlotte's Madison Park neighborhood, Gretchen Gregg didn't search for a magnet school, a charter school or a private school when her daughter entered kindergarten last fall. She enrolled her at the neighborhood public school, Pinewood Elementary, even though many parents in her middle-income community refuse to send their children

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John Chesser
February 14, 2013

Is the Charlotte region ready for another boom?

Times have been tough in the local economy, but it looks as if we’ve finally turned the corner. If growth is starting to make a comeback, exactly where will it be? Is your county ready?   In the 2000s growth in the Charlotte region was surging, with the Charlotte MSA* the sixth fastest in population growth in the country during that

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Mary Newsom
February 07, 2013

Growth challenge dwarfs the streetcar spat

Commentary
Since Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx gave his State of the City speech Monday, most of the publicity has focused on his remarks about the proposed streetcar, about a proposal in the legislature to remove Charlotte/Douglas International Airport from city control, and his comments about the Charlotte Chamber. Those are important issues. But another

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Mary Newsom
February 07, 2013

What’s the City Council hearing, saying at its retreat?

[View the story "Charlotte City Council retreat" on Storify]

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Corbin Peters
February 06, 2013

Beer: Is it zoned out?

A group of local brewers and beer lovers is working with the city's planning department to make Charlotte a more beer-friendly city in an unusual way: zoning amendments. The group held its second meeting at NoDa Brewing Co. last week, continuing a process craft brewers hope will adjust the city’s zoning ordinance, which currently

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Melissa Currie
February 04, 2013

What’s ahead for Mecklenburg building permits?

New single-family residential building permits in Mecklenburg County have been on a roller coaster ride since 2003. But preliminary numbers show a promising upswing heading into 2013. Using U.S. Census Bureau data1 to examine the previous decade's trends tracking back to 2003, what can we expect for new construction as we move forward in 2013

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HEADLINES

Transportation
New name, new money plan for streetcar
Planning
Jane Jacobs walkers explored Charlotte’s trendy, and not-so-trendy areas
Transportation
Anthony Foxx charlotte mayor secretary transportation
Environment
Resilience: Many cities, many meanings
Planning
Celebrate Jane Jacobs with 2 neighborhood walks

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