Thursday, August, 28 2008

Gorman vs. Monroe: You Decide
Posted August 28th, 2008 at 7:59 AM by Jeff Taylor

Once again Charlotte is confronted with the glaring difference in management style between CMPD Chief Rodney Monroe and CMS boss Peter Gorman. As part of his department shake-up Monroe has eliminated the position of a top PR spinner Julie Hill, who made $112,539 a year — or more than three deputy police chiefs and two [...]

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East Meck Shooting
Posted August 28th, 2008 at 5:57 AM by Jeff Taylor

You know, it occurred to me yesterday that using East Meck as a shelter for folks displaced from their apartments by flooding was not the greatest idea. Now it turns out that an East Meck student was shot yesterday afternoon near campus.
Let’s make sure schools are safe before we start importing people onto campus [...]

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Programming Note
Posted August 27th, 2008 at 8:45 PM by Jeff Taylor

I’ll pop up on WDYT 1220 AM tomorrow morning around 9:15 to talk about what is going on in Charlotte — the good, the bad, and the merely hysterical.

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Brooklyn Decker Getting Married in the Spring?
Posted August 27th, 2008 at 8:38 PM by Jeff Taylor

Matthews’ own supermodel has set a time and place for hitching up with tennis player Andy Roddick, next spring and in Texas. Or so the Inter-tubes claim. And we all know how reliable that must be.
Supposedly the couple desires a small, no non-sense affair which would rule Ballantyne or Quail Hollow right out.
And now I’ll [...]

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• Lynx And Exploding Pipes
  Jeff Taylor says there may be another factor to blame for CMUD’s recent series of water leaks.
• Getting Ugly
  Jeff Taylor explains the danger associated with Charlotte Center City Partners’ opposition to Coyote Ugly’s move into the old Ivey’s building.
• More Code Red Alerts
  Charlotte is almost certain to see frequent alerts on unhealthy levels of ozone. Jeff Taylor points out that the overlooked fact will be that we already have done something about.
• Ghost Riders Boarding Lynx
  Operations of the CATS’ South Corridor light rail have become a little more transparent with two recent data points explains Jeff Taylor.
• Charter School Funding
  Michael Lowrey explains why the N.C. Court of Appeals ruled that CMS was underfunding five local charter schools.
• Charlotte’s Misery Index
  Jeff Taylor says that Charlotte’s inclusion in Forbes’ list of the 10 most miserable cities in America shows how far local civic leaders are into denial.
• See More Hits

Lunch scrutiny includes call for better data
CHARLOTTE — A second round of talks about free lunches Tuesday brought the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board no clarity about how many families might be cheating and whether the board is making smart spending decisions. The only certainty: Heated discussion will continue, starting with a proposal by board member Trent Merchant to audit a random sample of applications.

Popular charter shows appeal of choice
CHARLOTTE — Lake Norman Charter School just recently scraped together money to build a permanent middle school. Next up: A new building next door for high school. “We run a tight ship financially,” says board chair Tom Ghareeb, who has four children there. “There are no buses; you have to take your child to school. There’s no cafeteria; you have to make your child’s lunch.”

Charlotte home prices soften anew
CHARLOTTE — The Charlotte region is showing new signs of weakening home sale prices as the nation’s historic housing slump drags on. The region’s median sales price for all homes sold during the second quarter was $184,000, down 1 percent compared with a year ago, according to Market Opportunity Research Enterprises.

Fight on stadium deal costly
CHARLOTTE — Mecklenburg County has spent close to a half-million dollars so far to defend a complicated land swap that will let the Charlotte Knights build a new minor-league baseball stadium in Third Ward. It’s a fight that pits elected officials against a lone Charlotte lawyer, and taxpayers are picking up the tab.

2 visions of new uptown icon seen
CHARLOTTE — Creating an uptown icon was the bold goal of meetings this week between city leaders and a national engineering firm. Standing in a room filled with drawings and diagrams, engineers Thursday spelled out two possible visions for redeveloping a coveted piece of uptown real estate.

70 gangs in CMS schools, report says
CHARLOTTE — Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools officials on Tuesday unveiled what they called their first comprehensive report on gangs, identifying about 70 gangs and 450 members in local schools. The report included groups with such names as the “Beatties Ford Bloods,” the “Latin Dragon Nation” and the “Laotian Crips.” Superintendent Peter Gorman said the school system takes the issue seriously.

More headlines »

Un-Affordable Housing: Cities keep low- and middle-income families from home ownership
Many North Carolina cities use affordable-housing policies to provide housing to low-income citizens. No doubt started with the best intentions, those policies ignore fundamental economic realities and produce the opposite effect than was intended.

Does Gaston need a sales tax increase?
The Gaston County commissioners are asking voters to approve a sales-tax increase on May 6. This report identifies $54.4 million in revenue and savings the county could use to meet its needs — almost 12 times the amount that the proposed tax increase would produce.

Does Lincoln need a sales tax increase?
The Lincoln County commissioners are asking voters to approve a sales-tax increase on May 6. This report identifies $26.3 million in revenue and savings the county could use to meet its needs — over 17 times the amount that the proposed tax increase would produce.

Does Stanly need a sales tax increase?
The Stanly County commissioners are asking voters to approve a sales-tax increase on May 6. This report identifies $23 million in revenue and savings the county could use to meet its needs — over 16.7 times the amount that the proposed tax increase would produce.