As Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools continues issuing pink slips to hundreds of teachers, and officials brace for the looming possibility of wholesale school closings next year, the district finds itself trapped in pricey long-term leases for administrative offices scattered around the county and is bartering away millions of dollars for even more new office space at a […]
Could be $198.6 million. That’s the size of the bond city leaders are currently floating: $156.6 million for transportation (79 percent of total package); $32 million for neighborhood improvements (16 percent); and $10 million for affordable housing (5 percent). Call me crazy, but asking voters to approve spending nearly $200 million when unemployment continues to […]
Mecklenburg County Manager Harry Jones says he won’t be recommending raises this year for county employees, but is keeping the possibility of a fat bonus for himself on the table. And isn’t that exactly the kinds of inspiring news you want to be reading, if you’re a county employee burning the candle at both ends […]
A fractious Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education on Tuesday night voted 6-3 to approve a schools budget that includes plans to slash upwards of 600 teacher and teacher assistant positions, implement a pay-to-play scheme for middle- and high school sports, increase class sizes while shrinking transportation options to popular magnet schools, and have students pay fees […]
Less than 12 hours before the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education is slated to approve a recommended budget that slashes teacher positions, guts teacher assistants positions, and further reduces funding for campus security associates, a .22-caliber handgun brought to school by a third-grader was discharged inside a classroom at University Meadows Elementary. No injuries were reported. […]
While Charlotte’s uptown lunch bunch is an a complete tizzy this week over the grand opening of the vaunted NASCAR Hall of Fame, it’s entirely apparent that despite all the hoopla the grand edifice to racing is already struggling to get out of the pits. The City of Charlotte took on a full tank of […]
The Charlotte City Council and the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners in 2007 jointly approved what was touted as an ambitious plan to end and prevent homelessness in 10 years. That was three years ago and, to date, the plan has accomplished little, except for now laying the groundwork to form a new community-based leadership […]
So libraries, parks, social services and schools are facing massive cuts and layoffs and the braintrust in the county manager’s office decides it’s a good idea to blow close to $3,000 buying five new Apple iPads. Wonderful. The official line – shocker here – is that spending more will ultimately save more, in this case […]
Nope – in Detroit, the homicide rate is actually dropping, down 25 percent year-to-date for the first quarter through March; here in the Queen City, homicides have spiked more than 50 percent, year-to-date through April. Granted, Detroit brings the number of homicides down from the mind-numbing 80 the city recorded during last year’s first quarter, […]
A handful of Democrat county commissioners are pushing to hike a special law enforcement district tax paid by residents living in the county’s unincorporated areas, despite the county manager’s recommendation to avoid the tax increase and pull money from other parts of the budget to pay for the service. Since 1996 residents in the county’s […]
