In what has become a veritable county government tradition, a task force that was created to find ways to save money needs more money. This time around, it’s The Future of the Library Task Force, which was formed, ostensibly, to find ways that a system rocked by budget cuts this year could operate more efficiently […]
The Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners spent nearly 45 minutes Tuesday night bumbling and bickering through an agenda item that was meant to – wait for it – improve the effectiveness and efficiency of board meetings. Commissioners ultimately approved a set of recommendations that was crafted by the board’s oxymoronically named Effective and Efficient Government […]
Eastland Mall could reopen as early as Christmas 2011 with a major facelift to include a Hispanic theme and dozens of small businesses, instead of a handful of major anchor stores, as the catalyst to drive future development. Texas-based Boxer Properties bought the main section of the now-shuttered mall – about 500,000 square feet – […]
If a tree fell on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center, would it hit a majority of city councilmembers that have at least half of a brain? The answer wasn’t easy to come by Monday night, as the council with an 8-3 vote approved changes to the city’s tree ordinance without knowing for certain what adverse impacts […]
What could possibly go wrong with this, big government tied into big business with a direct link to citizens’ primary source of energy? That’s essentially the concept lurking behind the new “Envision: Charlotte” initiative, designed to implement a so-called smart grid uptown, with a target to cut energy use by 20 percent in about 60 […]
They say that timing is everything in comedy. The same rule apparently applies in politics, where the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners last night set a public hearing for Nov. 3 to discuss the looming property revaluation. For those keeping track at home, that would be one day after those same commissioners appear on the […]
Cribbing from a popular nursery rhyme, Charlotte Center City Partners is going to market, hitting taxpayers up for a cool million dollars along the way and a chance to cry wee, wee, wee, all the way home. Or at least to the former site of Reid’s Fine Foods on Seventh Street, alongside the tracks of […]
In the wake of a booze and debauchery scandal that ultimately claimed the resignations of the local Alcoholic Beverage Control Board’s chairman and executive director, Mecklenburg commissioners have reaffirmed a salary structure for the currently serving ABC Board members and its new chairman, to align with new state ABC rules. Meanwhile, the board’s new CEO […]
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools officials have released a list of 32 schools that could face major changes next year, from reconfigured student-assignment boundaries to shutting down individual schools. Or not. School officials stress the list is only preliminary, crafted around and aligned with the school board’s newly concocted set of so-called guiding principles that covers the likes […]
Lee Ann Patton has been trying to track down Vilma Leake. Patton, the Republican candidate who faces Leake in November’s election for the District 2 seat on the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners, needs to contact her Democrat opponent about participating in the League of Women Voters’ debate. If Leake can’t be contacted and convinced […]
