Articles

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Try the ‘bucket of doom’ to eliminate mosquitoes without harmful pesticides
   July 15, 2022
Ruth Ann Grissom

Bucket of Doom. A slasher movie from the 1970s? The latest season of Fortnite? No, but for many homeowners, it might be something equally thrilling – an effective, inexpensive and safe way to control mosquitos. 

Five-gallon buckets are often a source of standing water where mosquitos can breed. This simple idea turns that around so the humble bucket becomes your ally in the fight for...

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Charlotte plans bus service cuts amidst staffing problems
   July 11, 2022
Ely Portillo

As the Charlotte Area Transit System continues struggling to fill bus driver positions, the agency could soon implement bus service cuts to deal with the shortage and create a more reliable schedule.

For months, CATS has been dealing with a flood of unscheduled sick days, which the transit agency has blamed on a “loophole” in its contract with drivers allowing them to take up to 40...

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Introducing the Charlotte Regional Data Trust
   July 11, 2022
Lori Thomas, Ph.D.

Dr. Lori Thomas

Our community’s challenges extend past any one silo, organization or jurisdictional line. Public education systems address hunger, health,...

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Corporate landlords include exclusionary language in rental housing listings
   July 7, 2022
Ely Portillo

A new study of online rental housing advertisements in Charlotte found that corporate landlords are more likely to include potentially exclusionary language in their listings, and those listings are largely concentrated in minority communities. 

That’s one of the key results from a study by UNC Charlotte scholars Providence Adu, a PhD Student in the Department of Geography and Earth...

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Building some 'there' there: Transforming University City
   June 29, 2022
Ely Portillo

One of Charlotte's quintessential suburban communities has big plans to transform itself into a dense, walkable, mixed-use center. Greenways, sidewalks, protected bike lanes and transit would replace the car-choked expressways and huge parking lots that dominate the auto-centric area now. 

We're not talking about Ballantyne or SouthPark. Leaders in University City — Charlotte's second-...

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'Arbitrary Lines' and the case for killing zoning
   June 27, 2022
Aaron Houck, Ph.D.

You’ve surely seen them, but you might not have noticed them—roadside signs with a big “Z,” indicating an upcoming public hearing on zoning at an interminable City Council meeting. Most of us know that zoning exists. Perhaps we even know it involves planning and land use. But for many of us, the specific details are a little vague. We just know that zoning is one of those things that’s a...

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Excessive sick leave blamed for shoddy bus service
   June 23, 2022

Tony Mecia

CATS chief John Lewis on Wednesday shed new light on the reasons that his transit agency’s buses increasingly are late or don’t show up, saying that drivers using their allotted paid sick days are leaving the agency without enough workers to operate routes and contributing to unreliable service.

At a meeting of elected officials from around the Charlotte region, Lewis said CATS’...

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Charlotte’s new mobility plan: ambitious goals, tons of data
   June 22, 2022
Ely Portillo

A far-reaching new plan could shape Charlotte’s transportation infrastructure for decades to come, reorienting a car-dependent, sprawling Southern city towards a denser, transit-oriented, bike- and pedestrian-friendly future. 

Charlotte City Council approved the Strategic Mobility Plan on Monday in a 9-2 vote, with council members Tariq Bokhari and Ed Driggs voting no. The plan was...

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Rediscovering an overlooked native plant: Ninebarks
   June 17, 2022
Ruth Ann Grissom

Plant obsessions can run in different directions. Some plant lovers amass a deep collection of a single species – say, iris, roses or hostas. Others go wide — they want one of everything. I’m definitely on the wide end of that spectrum, but I’m moving toward the center. I’ve come to appreciate how a mass underplanting of Southern shield ferns brings cohesion to a shrub border and how a wavy...

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