General News

Charlotte’s neighborhoods (like those of many American cities) are highly segregated by race and economic status. A quick review of the Charlotte/Mecklenburg Quality of Life Explorer’s interactive maps reveals that the data support this claim. The two racial categories with the highest share of the county’s population are White (44.7% of county residents) and Black […]

Even casual birders feel the urge of spring migration. Within a few short weeks, millions of birds will pass through our forests, parks and yards. Many pause here only briefly to fuel up for their journey north, so this will be our only opportunity to get a glimpse of them in their breeding plumage. We […]

The Charlotte region is not building enough new housing. That reality helps explain why the people of greater Charlotte confront a growing affordability challenge. According to Canopy Realtor Association, the average sales price in the Charlotte region was $417,430 in January 2023, up nearly $150,000 from an average sales price of $268,271 in January 2019—a […]

Editor’s Note: This article is a part of a series of guest contributors considering the question, “What small tweak or large shift would you make in 2023 that would catalyze sustainable growth and ensure equitable wellbeing in our region?” Ask anyone in Charlotte-Mecklenburg what issues are most important to them and you’ll get a short […]

Editor’s Note: This article is a part of a series of guest contributors considering the question, “What small tweak or large shift would you make in 2023 that would catalyze sustainable growth and ensure equitable wellbeing in our region?” “A nation of homeowners, of people who won a real share in their own land, is […]

What sort of image comes to mind when you think of a “pollinator garden?” I see an island of native grasses and perennials surrounded by a sea of turf. That’s the garden I helped to install in my neighborhood park in Charlotte. We needed full sun to support the coneflowers, goldenrods, black-eyed Susans and mountain […]

As a community, we often talk about the young people who are the “most vulnerable” or who are at “high risk.” Admittedly, we don’t always know who exactly those young people are and what their experiences have been. And far too often, those labels become the only story we associate with them. We don’t always […]

Kimberly Evans grew up with the warning “stranger danger,” so when rideshare services like Uber and Lyft came into the picture, Evans was hesitant to use them. Then, on March 29, 2019, Samantha Josephson, a 21-year-old student at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, ordered an Uber and mistakenly entered the wrong car. She […]

At the end of last autumn, I set out to rediscover our evolving metropolis with a bit of caffeine. Staking out the independent coffee shops that dot our region, I began an informal weekly motorcycle tour of the 14-counties that surround Charlotte’s urban center to observe and learn, but mostly to relax. Are the open […]

Would you spend $750,000 to put your name on Charlotte’s new uptown bus station? A consultant told a City Council committee this week that he expects a company would buy the naming rights to the new facility, scheduled to open by the end of the decade. Sean Moran with the Innovative Partnership Group said the […]