Articles
The following is an excerpt from Chuck McShane’s new book, A History of Lake Norman: Fish Camps to Ferraris, published by the History Press. Twenty miles south of the Cowan’s Ford Dam, Charlotte was booming in the 1980s. After deregulation of the interstate banking industry, locally headquartered North Carolina National Bank and First Union battled […]
What should be the end goal of K-12 education? To prepare students for college, the workforce, military, trade school, life? I support Common Core standards because I believe including rigorous standards that require higher-order thinking skills prepare all students for a variety of career and educational paths. The Common Core is a set of standards […]
Recently the site FiveThirtyEight.com reported that of the largest U.S. metros, only Charlotte’s median income, “experienced a statistically significant decline” in 2013. What’s going on? That statement may signal to the casual reader that wages are sinking in the Charlotte region. In reality, however, that “statistically significant decline” appears to be the result of a […]
Even though late summer brings the promise of cooler weather to the Piedmont, we still have the sultry presence of two old-fashioned and fragrant Southern favorites in our gardens – the ginger lily and the tuberose. Everything about the ginger lily (Hedychium coronarium) speaks of its origins in the tropical regions of Asia. This lush, […]
Talk of the Towns is a PlanCharlotte series visiting planners from the 14-county Charlotte region. This installment takes us to Iredell County. This county of 162,708 people covers a lot of ground – from Charlotte suburbs on Lake Norman shores, to an older industrial county seat of Statesville, to rural communities in the northern part […]
Charlotte area residents have a vision for their region’s growth. By 2050, they want to see more farms and rural areas preserved, less suburban development and more development that blends housing, stores and offices. Those are the key takeaways from nearly two years of public meetings, surveys, and work sessions, all part of the “CONNECT […]
What would happen if Tryon Street in uptown Charlotte sprouted a series of small parklets? You can find out on Friday. Friday is international PARK(ing) Day, a do-it-yourself initiative taking place around the globe where people take places built for cars – parking places – and turn them into temporary parks. Although Charlotte urban designer […]
In August, 34 officials and community leaders from nine Knight communities traveled to Copenhagen, Denmark, and Malmo, Sweden, to study how to make their cities more livable. The trip was organized by 8-80 Cities and sponsored by Knight Foundation. The Charlotte team members who traveled to Scandinavia had a range of experience on bicycles; they […]
An economic meltdown threatens America’s middle class. UNC Charlotte sociologist Scott Fitzgerald’s most recent book, Middle Class Meltdown in America: Causes, Consequences and Remedies, co-authored with Kevin T. Leicht, examines the political, economic and cultural changes that have created today’s situation. Fitzgerald will discuss the issues at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 18, in a free […]
These days it seems as if there is an app for everything. Besides a whole host of social media options including Facebook and Instagram, and nearly every game you can imagine, you can monitor your diet, map your run, track your finances, read a book, and even find the closest – and cleanest – public […]
It was an attention-getting moment Monday night: The Charlotte City Council voted 7-4 to apply for a $75 million* federal grant for the second phase of its controversial streetcar project. As is typical, council members said why they supported or opposed the project. Council member Michael Barnes, for example, said, “I don’t think it’s in […]
Envision a small town Main Street, and a town hall or courthouse square probably comes to mind. But in the Charlotte region, that image may need updating. Several local governments around the N.C. Piedmont are considering moving offices out of older downtown buildings to outlying areas with underused retail and office space. Those proposals worry […]