Articles
The event Tuesday afternoon was billed as Mayor Anthony Foxx hosting a “roundtable discussion on Regionalism & Reinvention” but it was, at heart, a dignified pep rally for consolidation. Head cheerleader was Kentucky Lt. Gov. Jerry Abramson, formerly mayor of the unconsolidated Louisville and then of the consolidated Louisville-Jefferson County, Ky. Abramson described the years […]
Welcome, Democrats! You have received loads of material on restaurants, sights and the strange habits of the locals. Here is a primer quick enough for you to digest while you spoon through your breakfast grits. First and most important, Charlotte is not some other city. It is not by the sea (that’s Charleston), it does […]
Amy Hawn Nelson, a Mecklenburg County educator with a strong record in improving the academic outcomes for at-risk students, has been named director of UNC Charlotte’s Institute for Social Capital. She replaces Sharon Portwood, the first director, who stepped down in December 2011 to return to full-time teaching at the university. The Institute for Social […]
Developer Daniel Levine – who with his father, Al Levine, and uncle Leon Levine together own some 23 acres of prime First Ward Property – has become a key player for the future of uptown development. Until now, he hasn’t developed much, keeping the land as parking lots. But that’s changing. Levine has partnered with […]
Hiking the ridgelines and hillsides of the Uwharries, you pass through forests dominated by hickory, oak and sourwood. There are large patches of knee-high blueberry bushes, and the herbaceous layer is sparse. On occasion, an attentive and adventurous outdoor enthusiast might also run across natural areas that change abruptly and appear remarkably different from this […]
While walking on my grandparents’ property last week, I was fortunate to stumble upon one of the most common and understated orchids in bloom – the Crane-fly orchid (Tipularia discolor). We typically think of orchids as something rare and eye-catching, with vibrant colors that stand out vividly from a woodland backdrop. The Crane-fly orchid, however, […]
Green walls in downtown Charlotte? Almost any visitor to the Charlotte area will remark about one key feature that I think all of us who live here are proud of – how green the area is. But if you’ve lived here any length of time you’re also probably aware that the greenery – particularly our […]
Charlotte city officials are pushing two groups with competing visions for the future of the Carolina Theatre to work together to help save the history-rich venue that’s been vacant, on a prominent uptown corner, for more than 30 years. The two groups on Thursday pitched differing proposals for the city-owned facility to a Charlotte City […]
It was a hot night in a hot city the day after the hottest month ever recorded in the United States. By 7 the temperature had slid from the 90s to the high 80s, as I pulled up in front of a 1960s split-level on a half-acre lot in a vast subdivision of 2,450 single-family […]
It’s no secret that I love to be outside. Woods, farms, fields, trails, creeks, streams, rivers – if it’s outdoors, you name it and I’m there. Some of my favorite places to explore are the most pristine ones – dark, emerald green forests where rays of sunlight glint through towering spruce, where there’s a distinct […]
The Handy Sanitary District offered its plan to bring wastewater treatment service to the Badin Lake area more than a decade ago. Given concerns about leaking septic tanks, few disputed the need, but when people learned the proposal included a discharge into the Uwharrie River, the community rallied to oppose it. Scores attended community meetings, […]
Although some folks find snakes incredibly fascinating, and others shriek in terror and run from them, most people are somewhere in the middle – either casually interested or coolly indifferent. If I see a snake in the woods, I’ll likely get close enough to take a picture and identify it, and then carry on my […]