Before voting Tuesday night to approve a $10.9-million business investment grant for Siemens Energy Inc., Mecklenburg Commissioner Vilma Leake wanted to know how soon she could start landing jobs at the company for her friends. It turns out, not as soon as she thought. Leake, a Democrat, said she “took some young men out to […]
If you think proposals to cram so-called affordable housing into Ballantyne, and now Ayrsley, sparked a firestorm of controversy and gnashing of teeth, just wait until the Democrat-controlled city council’s pitch for inclusionary zoning, currently weaving its way through the council’s housing and neighborhood development and transportation committees, hits the fan. Despite the at-best mixed […]
The Huntersville Town Board on Monday night approved two binding resolutions that request the State of North Carolina to intercede on behalf of citizens and take proactive action to prevent the implementation of the recently passed healthcare legislation. The resolutions, introduced by Republican Commissioner Charles Jeter, were approved by a 3-2 vote, with commissioners Ken […]
Or at least you’d think it was from reading the uptown paper of record, which breathlessly proclaimed Monday that “Smog levels may soar into Code Orange range this afternoon” and that “Something is in the air.” Yep, mostly hype and hysteria, along with a wicked dose of unusually high pollen. That’s the greenish-yellow gunk you […]
Fun was found in abundance last Saturday, April 3, at the Latta Plantation Easter Egg Hunt. Photos by: Glen Simmons [nggallery id=22]
The budget that Superintendent Peter Gorman says he will present to county commissioners will include a request for an additional $16 million over and above the $317 million in county dollars Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools received this year, while simultaneously including options for cutting $80 million in state and local money. Gorman, who last year received a […]
With Mecklenburg County struggling under crushing loads of debt and facing a massive budget shortfall, Republican commissioners are concerned that their Democrat colleagues may use the county’s threatened triple A bond rating as an excuse to hike property taxes. Similar to a homeowner’s good credit rating, the county’s premium bond rating allows it to borrow […]
While some Mecklenburg residents have been pitching in to raise money for the county’s beleaguered library system, donating nearly $250,000 over the last few weeks, a group of literary scofflaws has been headed down a decidedly different financial path. About 10 percent of folks who use the library owe roughly $176,000 in fines for overdue […]
Again. For the ninth consecutive year. Wonderful. The recently released John Locke Foundation’s “By The Numbers: What Government Costs in North Carolina Cities and Counties” report shows Charlotte perched at the top of the state’s heap, with the highest local government cost per person. Charlotte’s local taxes and fees totaled $2,587 per resident for the […]
The attorney retained by the City of Charlotte to investigate whether a city councilmember sexually harassed a city employee was a huge financial contributor to the campaign of the mayor whose cryptic e-mail prompted some councilmembers to call for an investigation. Valecia McDowell, an attorney with the influential and politically connected law firm Moore & […]
