Month: January 2009

2 agencies in the gun sights of one commissioner

More from the Mecklenburg County commissioners’ retreat:

In a discussion on the county’s funding of outside agencies – sometimes a topic with lots of undercurrents – commissioner Vilma Leake, who spent years on the school board, made clear her displeasure with two school-related nonprofits that get county money:
– Communities in Schools, a dropout prevention service, which gets $815,000 county money this year.
– Partners in Out-of-School Time, which offers services to middle school-age students, and gets $200,000.
That’s too much money for two agencies, Leake said. And she questioned why the county is funding services that, in her words, compete with services offered by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.
No action was taken – this is just a discussion meeting – but commissioners talked about the need to beef up county analysis of how all outside groups getting county money are performing.

Better access to local foods

Here at the Mecklenburg County commissioners’ retreat – at the Lodge at the Ballantyne resort – the commissioners are spending most of the afternoon giving 10-minute talks on issues they’d like the board to take up later.   Meaty, but not exactly earth-shaking news.

For instance, they discussed homelessness and concluded, in effect, that it’s definitely a problem, and they will look at what they might want to do about it in addition to what they’re already doing.
But here’s an interesting one: Dan Murrey made a pitch for the county to do more about helping people have access to locally grown, healthful foods.  “Our diet is based on foods being shipped from around the world,” he noted, and he also pointed to the growing problem of childhood obesity. “There are some neighborhoods where there are no grocery stores,” he said, or where the stores don’t have good (or any) produce.
He suggested getting the Park and Recreation department to offer community gardens. (In fact, P&R already does that, but could do a lot more, as their program now is quite low-profile.) 
Long-term, he said, the county should look at the feasibility of a permanent farmer’s market that’s accessible by transit. He didn’t say this, but much as I love the state-run Charlotte Regional Farmers Market on Yorkmont Road, whoever decided to locate it there was nuts. It isn’t centrally located, isn’t in any densely developed area, and isn’t accessible by transit. 
Some other, seasonal markets have sprung up but they aren’t in permanent sites or open year round, or well-distributed around the county.

Job losses at REBIC

I ran into Andy Munn from the Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition at Monday’s City Council meeting, and he confirmed that due to the recession, which has hit real estate and development particularly hard, the REBIC lobbying organization has laid off staff, including Mary Thomsen, the former executive director, and staffer Tim Morgan. Developer and consultant Karla Knotts is acting executive director.

REBIC is funded by dues and donations from member companies and groups, such as the Charlotte Regional Realtor Association, Home Builders Association of Charlotte.

The REBIC home page also notes that City Council on Feb. 9 will make appointments to the Airport Advisory Committee (for a west Charlotte resident), the Keep Charlotte Beautiful committee and the Tree Advisory Commission. The link posted didn’t work. Sorry. Check charmeck.org. (I’m at Mecklenburg County commissioners’ retreat and they’re going through the dismal projections for next year’s budget and need to pay attention.)

Death of an ancient tree

Tom Low of Duany Plater-Zyberk Architects sent around this photo of a tree being removed at Queens Road and Granville Road in the heart of old Myers Park.

I saw it yesterday and mourned its passing. Because the tree was in the city’s right of way, I asked City Arborist Don McSween what had happened. Here’s what he wrote:

“The Willow Oak (approx. 125 years old) had root rot, and the crown of the tree was dying. There is no technology available to stop root rot. We had pruned the tree a year ago and more of the top had died since then. After a detailed examination, I decided it would only continue to deteriorate and needed to be removed. This was one of our largest Willow Oaks. It was a sad day for me.”

And for us all. At 125 years, the oak would have pre-dated the development of the Myers Park subdivision. But as McSween says, with root rot there’s no cure. And as someone who drives past that corner almost daily, I understand that for safety’s sake, it had to go. Rest in peace.

What to do with a big-a– Big Box

Here’s why big box stores, while popular for a time with consumers, are bad for urban neighborhoods in the long term. The new Metropolitan development in Midtown, just over the creek from Uptown, is losing a whopper of a retailer. The Home Depot Expo is closing.

I don’t know yet (though I’m doing some research soon as I file another blog item and write an editorial) who the official property owner is — whether it’s Home Depot, developer Peter A. Pappas or other development partners — but I know there is probably going to be a very big, very empty floorplate at Kings Drive and Charlottetowne Avenue.

That’s one of many reasons big boxes aren’t good for the urban environment — although here I tip my hat to the fact that yes, Big Boxes do bring in Big Sales Tax Revenues (until they close) and, for a time, Big Property Tax Revenues. But all it takes is one big retailer going bankrupt (Circuit City anyone?) or closing stores, and there’s now a giant retail vacancy in a not-very-adaptable building.

Smaller buildings with smaller businesses also see vacancies and businesses failing. But one store closing shop doesn’t affect a space as vast as that Home Depot EXPO Design Center.

A more traditional building can evolve relatively easily into something else. A Big Box needs a Big Tenant. Plus the buildings are usually so shoddily built they look like junk within a decade. Compare the aging boxes on Freedom Drive, Albemarle Road or Independence and Wilkinson boulevards to the aging old stores on North Davidson Street or along Central Avenue near the Plaza.

For now, whaddaya do with the space? Here are my ideas:
Break it into apartments for the homeless?
Cubicles for the job-seekers?
Break it into 1,000 very small offices for bloggers and other entrepreneurs in need of very small spaces at very small rents?
Workshop space for artists? (Not much natural light, unfortunately).
Rehearsal space for local theater, opera and performing groups?
A gigantic indoor farmers and food market, like the one in Florence with cheeses and sausages and plenty of food stands in addition to fruits, vegetables, fish, bakeries, etc. ?

The Obama effect on educational achievement?

In my non-blogging, editorial board job, I write an op-ed column that runs Saturdays. This past Saturday’s (link here) was about Obama’s penmanship (sort of) and speculating whether having an African American in the White House who is unashamed to act intelligent might have a positive, peer-pressure kind of effect, especially but not exclusively, on African American youths.

Guess what? Here’s a link to an NY Times piece on a study that found something very similar.

‘Public hearing’ and private lobbying

During an e-mail exchange that included background data on some proposed changes from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg planning staff to the transit-oriented development requirements, I came across this. It’s from an official with REBIC, the Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition, which no one should be surprised to learn is opposing some of the changes and trying to get the staff to dial back on them.

I’m not passing judgment here on whether the proposals are good or bad. (Among the changes at issue are some involving parking requirements, and with transit-oriented development parking is a key issue, as you’re dealing with conflicting needs: Trying to encourage people not to drive and trying to encourage walkable environments, yet also trying to help development projects offer enough parking so as not to lose potential tenants and customers.)

But the note sheds light on why some staff proposals seem to start out like icebergs and end up as a half-cup of lukewarm water, before the nondeveloper public gets much of a shot at them. The public hearing isn’t until next week, and the developers’ lobby has been working on this for weeks. One developer even pointed out: “Our best chance to influence is before the public hearing.”

Here’s what REBIC said:

“The public hearing is January 26th.

“The best way to affect [effect] a change is to get staff to see the ‘error of their ways’ prior to the public hearing. The staff responsible for this TA is John Howard and Laura Harmon.

“I will assemble a variety of comments & handle with John & Laura but it will be most effective if you could send your comments to them directly (changes of a few sentences of course). I always like to see how they respond to the various constituencies – to figure out what they are really trying to accomplish & what they are willing to bend the most on.”

Now we live in a democracy, and all interest groups are welcome to weigh in to the process. Charlotte’s development community is skilled at that, and some of nondeveloper groups are also skilled — although they tend to have full-time jobs doing other things. The planning staff is diligent in trying to get public input for most of its proposed changes.

But too many things go on behind the curtain. That isn’t good for public discourse.

And if public hearings are really just for show, can’t they at least offer some popcorn and Cokes to the audience?

Protest petitions strangle development?

Ahem, someone needs to get out more. Up in Greensboro, there’s a discussion over whether the city should no longer be exempt from the law that allows protest petitions against proposed rezonings. The city council is to vote on Wednesday whether to ask the legislature to lift its exemption, so its citizens can file protest petitions as in most other N.C. cities.

One argument being raised against protest petitions is that they would strangle development. Whoever is saying this clearly has not been to Charlotte, where (until the recession slowed everything) it was quite clear that development here has been anything but strangled.

(What’s a protest petition? When a rezoning is proposed, if enough adjoining property owners sign a protest petition, then the deciding body, e.g. Charlotte City Council, must pass the rezoning by a three-fourths vote. And the mayor gets to vote on protest-petition rezonings, unlike other rezonings.)

The art in transit

If you’ve ridden the Blue Line you’ve probably noticed some of the art at the transit stations. Most noticeable, of course, is Thomas Sayre’s red-clay disks, “Furrow,” in the South Boulevard median at the Scaleybark station.

From today through March 27, an exhibition at the Carillon building uptown, 227 W. Trade St., “From Studio to Site – Public Art in Charlotte-Mecklenburg” looks at 12 public art projects around the city.

Among the works displayed in the photographic exhibit will be Dennis Oppenheim’s “Reconstructed Dwelling” (above, right) from the Tyvola station, and “Heritage 4 Charlotte,” (above, left) from Myklebust + Sears, four columns recently installed at the airport.

The Carillon is home to one of my favorite Charlotte works, Jean Tinguely’s “Cascade.” Be sure to notice it if you visit the other exhibition.

No bike/walk path for NE corridor?

From the foot and bicycle traffic I’ve seen, the rail-side path along the new Lynx Blue Line is popular. It’s a great way to walk or bicycle and avoid traffic. Too bad there might not be a similar path along its extension up to UNC Charlotte and beyond.

At a Tuesday night public meeting on plans for the extension, Charlotte Area Transit System and city planning department folks said it will be much harder to find money for, and build, a similar path. One key reason: The city owns the railbed from uptown south to Scaleybark — where the path is. But heading northeast out of uptown, the rail right of way is owned by the N.C. Railroad, and CATS will lease space in the ROW. That section already carries freight as well as Amtrak passenger trains.

The bike/walking path was paid for mostly by city bond money for the so-called SCIP (South Corridor Improvement Project). The city hasn’t yet prioritized its list of proposed NECI (North East Corridor Improvement, and they’re calling it “nee-sie”) — and it’s a bigger laundry list to start with. And a time of pinched local government budgets and tight credit all over the country.

Andy Mock of CATS tells me CDOT and the county park and rec department are working to see what can be done, perhaps with a walking/biking path that leaves the trackside and goes up North Tryon Street — which the light rail will do, probably north of Old Concord Road.

If you think the city absolutely should put this project atop its NECI priority list, be sure to let your City Council representatives know.