Charlotte mayor, council and school board elections for 2011: results and research

You can get direct election results from the Mecklenburg County Board of Elections from today's mayor, council and school board races later tonight. Polls close at 7:30 p.m. and results will start showing up almost immediately.

Figuring out who to vote for in the 2011 elections is a little harder. You can check endorsements at The Charlotte Observer. The League of Women Voters has an extensive PDF voter guide that includes candidates for towns in Mecklenburg County.

Try getting your sample ballot from the board of elections before you hit the polls.

Here's a list of more places you can research candidates in the Charlotte elections:
NCvoterGuide.org, from UNC-TV and the N.C. Center for Voter Education.
Charlotte Observer school board candidate profiles.
Charlotte Observer city council candidate profiles and positions.
Charlotte Observer mayoral candidate profiles and positions.

For the Charlotte Mecklenburg School Board race, Lisa Hundley has withdrawn for health reasons, but her name will still appear on the ballot.

Opinion: Focus on the numbers as emotional budget woes hit Charlotte hard

Thursday’s county budget drama focused on libraries, with the news that about half the Charlotte library branches will close in two weeks and 140 people will be laid off. The branch closest to Merry Oaks, Plaza Midwood, has been spared, but the ripple effects of layoffs will affect us all.

Outrage from book lovers on Twitter ran strong, and library staffers immediately pointed reading fans to a donation site and a Facebook fan page. At this point, it’s unclear whether those donations will prevent branch closings.

A few people remained skeptical, though, about the emotional appeal. Those who have watched budget talks over the years in Mecklenburg County have seen proposed cuts targeted at our county’s most valued institutions. The drama seems designed to soften up the largest number of employees, friends and family to be open to the idea of raising taxes.

But in this Great Recession year, I suggest some caution. Raising taxes can endanger struggling families as much as the ripple effect of county layoffs. And buried deep in budget documents are places where cuts can be made with less impact on the community.

Digging into the budget documents, however, takes time and effort by individuals and county employees, and often the numbers are quite unclear.

The budget document for last fiscal year was a book, 613 pages long and 24.7 megs of PDF download, printed in full color with photos and promotional information as well as numbers (at a cost of what?). Very few Mecklenburg residents, or perhaps even county commissioners, can dig through that book and find the hidden corners where money could be cut without affecting county residents as much as libraries or schools. A more filtered, clear presentation of the numbers might give residents and commissioners an easier way of finding other money to cut.

Yet to come: A likely crisis and emotional appeal to save our schools from similar budget cuts. Last year’s problem caused teachers to be laid off and then asked to return two months later when federal money arrived. Many teachers chose to avoid the drama and move into other opportunities. Let’s hope this year doesn’t include a repeat.

Throughout the drama, some numbers remain clear: This recession hits lower-paid employees harder than those with higher salaries, and the ripple effect of that pattern affects everyone. That pattern has been common in private industry; it doesn’t have to be the pattern in our local government.


Links for digging deeper:
Salaries for county, city and school employees, from The Charlotte Observer.

Current budget documents from Mecklenburg County.

2009-2010 budget document, (the big one of 24.7 megs. It’ll take you two hours to skim through.)

2008-2009 budget documents, (a svelte 10 megs).

Donation page for the library.

Crossroads Charlotte job discussion report, with tips and noting the disparities of who is affected most by unemployment.

Image: Cover of the 24.7 meg, 613-page budget book for 2009-2010

Will Charlotte rezoning decision allow CATS bus facility to expand into greenway?

City council members will meet Monday to consider several rezoning requests, including one that could allow expansion of CATS bus facilities into land once set aside for park and greenway space near uptown Charlotte.

No hearings affecting land immediately near Merry Oaks are planned for this month.

The rezoning decision for the CATS expansion could allow an office building and garage to be built on open space in Alexander Park, near Seigle Point, which is part of the corridor for the Sugar Creek Greenway. The area is near what was once the Piedmont Courts public housing complex.

The park and sports facilities at the location were planned through a partnership of Trinity Episcopal School, the Charlotte Housing Authority, Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation and the City of Charlotte. Ground was broken on the plan last fall.

Plans for the park, with recreational facilities for Trinity and the community, included six tennis courts, followed by two half-court basketball courts, a high-school regulation soccer field, picnic pavilion, playground and walking trails.

The rezoning request, Case No. 2009-039, affects 3.65 acres owned by the city at 910 N. Alexander St. next to the existing bus garage. CATS wants to build offices, a parking deck and a new maintenance facility there.

The zoning meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. in the council’s meeting chamber and includes a public hearing on other zoning cases, including these two center-city petitions:
Roger and Perina Stewart seek a site plan amendment for .68 acres at the north intersection of Belmont Avenue and Allen Street (Petition No. 2010-013);
St. Paul Baptist Church seeks a zoning change for 6.92 acres within Harrill Street, East 16th Street, Pegram Street and East 19th Street from residential to mixed-use (Petition No. 2010-009).

Background:
Charlotte Business Journal in June on the CATS rezoning.
Trinity Episcopal School on the Alexander Park groundbreaking.
Charlotte Magazine on Trinity’s connections to the Sugar Creek Greenway.
The CATS rezoning request.
City rezoning website.

Schools, flooding and an Elizabeth rezoning

From Under the Water Tower comes a heads up on a rezoning in the Elizabeth neighborhood. Deadline is Wednesday, Sept. 2, to email comments to neighborhood organizers about the rezoning request along Seventh Street. The public hearing is Sept. 21.

The developer is seeking rezoning from R-22 to MUDD (mixed use development) to build up to 390 residential units along Weddington Avenue and Seventh Street, near the historic Palmer Building on Firefighter Place and near Lupie's Cafe.

The neighborhood had a meeting seeking comments about the rezoning on Aug. 27 and is sharing those comments with the developer, Winter Elizabeth of Atlanta, according to the Elizabeth Community Association. You can see some site-plan details at the neighborhood site.


The rezoning doesn't directly affect Merry Oaks, but it raises a couple of thoughts with broader community impact:
1. The comments in a PDF from Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools officials at the Rezoning.org site note that "adequacy of existing school capacity in this area is a significant problem." The officials estimate the development, when completed, could add 118 students to Eastover Elementary School, 80 students to Alexander Graham Middle School and 93 students to Myers Park High School. Those kinds of numbers are important to keep in mind when considering redrawing school boundaries: There is talk of moving some people out of the feeder zone for Myers Park High to East Mecklenburg High. Numbers like these might add more weight to that concept. The numbers also highlight how school quality affects development and real estate. If school performance for the Garinger High School district were stronger, would demand for development and housing in that district in east-central Charlotte be stronger? Would growth and development be more evenly spaced across the county?


2. The comments in a PDF from stormwater services at the rezoning site appear to be minimal. Given the density proposed in this development under MUDD zoning, and given its proximity to Briar Creek, it seems deep consideration should be given to the effects of flood zones downstream. In the long run, that consideration could save Mecklenburg County money and save homeowners the hassle of unexpected flooding. The county has spent millions buying homes in floodplains along Briar Creek in recent years. Should dense MUDD zoning get further examination? Can dense urban design have features that absorb and slow stormwater runoff to avoid urban flooding?

Further links:
Background from the Charlotte Business Journal in 2008.
Planning documents for growth in "Centers, Corridors and Wedges" from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning Department.
FEMA floodplain maps.

Image credits: Google maps (top) and FEMA maps (middle).

Wild school at Merry Oaks

Merry Oaks Elementary received its designation as a wildlife habitat from the National Wildlife Federation.
The designation certifies that the school provides wildlife habitats on school grounds, provides educational material and encouragement to students. The Merry Oaks Neighborhood Association helped with planting and cleaning up during the April Hands on Merry Oaks Day.
If anyone wants to build and hang bluebird houses, send a message to the Merry Oaks Google group.