Shocking, isn’t it; would’ve never seen that coming. Charlotte Area Transit Systems is slated to ask the city council to adjust the preliminary engineering contract for the Blue Line Extension Light Rail Project. The adjustment? A mere $5 million bump. “The amount being requested is the culmination of various changes that have been determined necessary for […]
Or more accurately, the district’s continued privatization tap dance, which has been ongoing for nearly a decade with few demonstrable gains. Recall that way back in 2005 the vaunted CMS Citizens Task Force unveiled what was at the time hailed as bold and sweeping recommendations for improving CMS operations and management. Chief among them was […]
The Mecklenburg Union Metropolitan Planning Organization paved the way this week for Charlotte’s streetcar project to roll down the tracks, voting to amend its long-term 2035 transportation plan to allow the streetcar to leapfrog other projects in order to secure federal funding. The MUMPO’s decision was the last hurdle that needed to be cleared for […]
Stealing a page from the county manager’s playbook, the city manager and police chief have apparently taken to treating the city council and the public like mushrooms: keep them in the dark and feed them crap. In this case, it takes the form of City Manager Curt Walton coming before council last month and explicitly […]
For acting like cops, apparently, which a three-judge appeals panel has already ruled is a no-no, at least not when Presbyterians, alcohol and driving are involved. The N.C. Supreme Court is slated to hear arguments Tuesday morning that will determine if the ruling holds. This from DavidsonNews.net: The case stems from a 2006 incident in […]
Like night follows day, Charlotte is tops again in the total tax burden local government places on its citizens. This from the John Locke Foundation’s annual “By The Numbers” report on tax burdens in North Carolina: Charlotte’s local taxes and fees totaled $2,360 per resident for the 2009 budget year. That total helps the state’s […]
If a racing museum crumbles in a center city and nobody’s around to hear it fail, does it really make a sound? Apparently not, as the uptown lunch bunch continues to make excuses for the fiscal wreck that the France Family Museum has become and paint a happy face on its future. This from TCO: […]
No real surprises here: operating costs for the vaunted light-rail Lynx Blue Line are expected to soar, with projections pointing toward a whopping 55 percent increase over four years. Charlotte Area Transit System officials blame required maintenance for the spike. “Hopefully the costs will begin to stabilize,” CATS administration manager Dee Pereira tells the uptown […]
That would be Scott Stone, probably unfamiliar to many, who announced today that he’s tossed his hat into the ring as a GOP mayoral candidate. Stone, an executive vice president with Merrick & Company, launches with a bang, hitting incumbent Democrat Anthony Foxx square on the jobs front and promising not to accept any chatter […]
Or engage in other unlawful conduct, gross negligence of duties or willful malfeasance, according to the sweet-deal contract inked for Mecklenburg County Manager Harry Jones. Under the terms of that so-called employment agreement, if Jones were fired, even with cause, before December 31, 2011, he would be “treated as if he had completed 20 years […]
