Hi, I’m Mary. I blogged about growth, development, urbanism, and related topics – mostly focused on Charlotte and the Carolinas – from 2005 until 2021. Much of the blog was written during my time as an op-ed columnist at The Charlotte Observer, but in 2011 I moved to the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute, where they graciously let me keep blogging. I retired in 2018, so the entries after that are less frequent.