Should Charlotte’s convention center start trying to capture the “green convention” business? Successful event planner Mary Tribble, who’s back from a national conference on the subject, said Tuesday she believes more national conventions will aim their business at cities and facilities that can market themselves as “green.” The Charlotte Convention Center is not LEED-certified, of course. [LEED = Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.] Nor will the new NASCAR Hall of Fame be. (See my May 23 posting, below.)
Tribble says she and Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority honcho Tim Newman are forming a task force to see what can be done in Charlotte.
— In Wake County, even conservative tax-watchdoggers are pushing FOR a land transfer tax to generate money to build schools. Click here for the N&O’s story.
Excerpt: Even former county commissioner Phil Jeffreys, speaking as a member of the fiscally conservative Wake County Taxpayers Association, was on board for a transfer tax. “We need to make sure we go to the legislature and really push on real estate transfer fees,” said Jeffreys, who was voted off the board in the last election after voting “no” on many spending proposals.
— In fast-growing Chatham County, county commissioners on Monday enacted a moratorium on residential development. Click here for the story.
— Courtesy of one of my favorite planning info sources, Planetizen.com, here’s a link to a Wall Street Journal article about the trauma subprime loans are causing in many minority neighborhoods, including a long-established middle-class area of Detroit. According to the article, so many homeowners are facing foreclosure now that it may well erase any gains in homeownership the nation has seen. (And don’t forget the Observer’s coverage, complete with online map of local foreclosures. Here’s a link.)
–And finally, also from Planetizen, here’s a piece in which the author takes aim at Reason magazine’s assumptions about mass transit versus road-building.