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Map: Explore City Population Change in the Charlotte Region
   March 11, 2011

The map below shows the percent change in population for cities from 2000 to 2010 - the larger the circle, the higher the percent change.  Click on individual cities to see additional population data.  You may pan and zoom the map to see greater detail.  If you have trouble selecting an individual city, you may need to zoom in.

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Should Charlotte Look Like Paris or Atlanta?
   March 3, 2011
Bill Graves

What should Charlotte look like?  When discussing urban design many planners, architects and developers assume that what works in New York, San Francisco and Portland should work here.  This assumption ignores the reality that Southerners have a very different perspective on "urbanness" than non-Southerners.  No one has asked Charlotteans what they want their city to become,...

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Investing in North Carolina’s Green Infrastructure
   February 25, 2011
Jeff Michael
Among the many state programs whose futures hang in the balance as North Carolina’s leadership wrestles with how to close the state’s projected budget shortfall are the four “trust funds” that have served as the primary sources of funding for land conservation over the past few decades. As leaders debate their future, a new report released by the Trust for Public Land (TPL) earlier this week... Read more
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We had chickens when chickens weren't so cool
   February 17, 2011
Ruth Ann Grissom

Chickens are all the rage these days.  All the fashionable neighborhoods have them.  I recently met a gentleman who’d built a stately coop behind his home in Charlotte’s Myers Park.  In Raleigh, residents flaunt their urban flocks during the annual Hen-side the Beltline Tour de Coop.

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New Partners for Smart Growth Conference - A Review
   February 11, 2011

Despite early February blizzards across the northern U.S. that cancelled flights and upended travel plans, over 1,300 people came to Charlotte last week for the 10th annual New Partners for Smart Growth Conference.  About 1,000 of them came from outside the Carolinas, including a dozen or so from outside the U.S.  They flocked to the 110 concurrent sessions and twelve...

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Charlotte's rapid growth brings demographic changes
   February 11, 2011

Headlines have highlighted multiple demographic trends affecting Charlotte and the metro area over the last decade. “Carolinas lead the nation in Hispanic growth,” read the headline of a Charlotte Observer story in 2008. The city has ranked highly on “Best City” lists for African Americans throughout the 2000s. Moving beyond the headlines, however, is there any clear demographic picture emerging... Read more
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Skulls
   February 3, 2011
Ruth Ann Grissom

The weeks following deer season are typically busy for taxidermists in the Uwharries.  Some hunters might be reluctant to part with several hundred dollars right now, even for a prized buck, but a European or skull mount can often be done for less than half the price of a traditional mount.  Billy Adams, head of the taxidermy program at Montgomery Community College, says this...

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Eastern mud turtles
   January 27, 2011
Crystal Cockman

While walking along the Rocky River one day in Stanly County, I came upon a neat little turtle on the stream banks who had suffered some kind of physical malady, from which he must have recovered a while ago. He had a slight disfigurement of his face, but he had healed nicely, so I placed him back safely on the sandy banks. Unsure what species it was, I took several pictures, and when back in...

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Christmas Snow 2010
   January 21, 2011
Ruth Ann Grissom

As I write this article, we’re in the wake of our second major snowstorm this season – several inches of pretty snow capped with an ugly layer of ice.  I’m stuck in a condo in Atlanta, negotiating slippery sidewalks with an elderly terrier.  My plans to drive up to the Uwharries for the week are literally on ice.  Buster isn’t happy about any of this,...

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Charlotte Biotech: Rapid Growth, International Exposure
   January 21, 2011

Marjorie Benbow

The emergence of the biotechnology sector was not due to luck, rather it was due to vision, the ability to see the invisible and do the impossible.  Our state prepared for success by investing in roads, K-12 education, community colleges, universities, research, innovation, business parks and biotechnology agencies (e.g. ...

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