Thanks to the sound fiscal policies and stellar management of city government, Charlotte finds itself in the position of proposing pay hikes for its employees – oh, and eliminating funding for school crossing guards and security officers, cutting money for after-school programs, tinkering with police overtime schedules, jacking up bus fares for the elderly and […]
The Charlotte City Council has sent a proposal to jumpstart a controversial red-light camera program to its public safety committee for more review. The program, which Charlotte operated from 1998 to 2006, places cameras at targeted intersections, snaps photos of cars running red lights, and issues tickets to the owners. Charlotte abandoned the camera initiative […]
Inspired by a few compliments from some visiting corporate consultants who gushed over uptown Charlotte’s trinkets and toys, Gov. Bev Perdue has apparently gone bat-guano crazy and is in a complete lather to take as much of your hard-earned coin as possible and use it as de facto bribe money to recruit businesses to North […]
If there’s a bigger waste of money than Charlotte’s spiffy, new Wayfinding system and accompanying signs, I’m hard pressed to find it. And that’s saying something, considering the city’s billion-dollar-plus budget that’s stuffed with more pork than a pig farmer’s breakfast platter. In fact, about the only positive thing to be said of the city’s […]
A new community survey lends demonstrable evidence supporting what has to-date been a fairly nebulous, yet pervasive public sentiment: There exists a large disconnect between Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police statistics that show a steady reduction in crime and what many citizens view as the reality of every-day life on the streets. Police Chief Rodney Monroe, almost from […]
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 […]
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 & […]
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department apparently is flush enough with cash to come off the hip for spiffy, new dress-white uniforms for its command staff, but not to pay dozens of sergeants who have worked overtime. Thirty-two CMPD sergeants, in fact, have filed a lawsuit that claims the Police Department and the City of Charlotte owe […]
The number of gang members is on the rise in North Carolina, up to 13,700 from last year’s count of just over 10,000, according to the recently released Governor’s Crime Commission report. The bangers break down into 900 organized gangs statewide. Not surprisingly, Charlotte-Mecklenburg tops the state with 160 gangs battling for turf in the […]
