Monday, January 15
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday - City Offices Closed
2007 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Celebration - January 13-15, 2007 Staff Resource: Terry Bradley, 704-336-5271 - tbradley@ci.charlotte.nc.us
The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Celebration will be held this weekend January 13-15, 2007. The Planning Committee invites Mayor and Council to attend all events, including the annual Holiday Parade. Attached is a listing of events. The parade will start on Mint and Second (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.) and end at Second and McDowell.
Tuesday, January 16
2:00 pm - Environment Committee Meeting, Room 280
AGENDA: Proposed Floodplain Management Ordinance; Draft Focus Area Plan for the Environment; "Clean Cars" Legislation
5:00 pm - Council Manager Dinner Briefing, Room CH-14
6:00 pm - Zoning Meeting, Meeting Chamber
Wednesday, January 17
12:00 pm - Housing and Neighborhood Development Committee Meeting, Rooms 270-271. AGENDA: Johnston and Mecklenburg Mills RFP Follow Up; Housing and
Neighborhood Development Focus Area Plan
3:00 pm - Economic Development and Planning Committee Meeting, Room 267. AGENDA: Scaleybark Transit Oriented Development; Business Corridor Revitalization Strategic Plan; Economic Development Focus Area Plans for 2008-2009
Thursday, January 18
12:00 pm - Restructuring Government Committee Meeting, Room CH-14. AGENDA: 2007 Committee Schedule; Budget Process; Format for the New Government Channel Program; Community WiFi Proposal
4:00 pm - Governmental Affairs Committee Meeting, Room 280. AGENDA: Review and Discuss 2007 Federal Legislative Agenda; Discuss Lobbying Strategies for Achieving a Succes
Information Items:
The Police Department is actively investigating a series of burglaries that have occurred in the Freedom Park/Dilworth area since Christmas. There have been at least 8 burglaries; in most of the cases, entry was made through ground floor windows and, in some cases, occurred while the
residents were sleeping. The most common items stolen were laptop computers and large screen televisions.
These cases are being investigated by officers from both the Central and Providence Divisions as well as detectives from the burglary unit. Most of the burglaries have occurred in what is now
the Central Division but, effective with the January 13 reorganization, Dilworth will become a part of the Providence Division. The goal is to have a seamless investigation of these cases so both patrol divisions have been actively engaged in the investigation and communicating with neighborhood residents.
The following activities have taken place:
- Active efforts are being made to identify suspects, including the development of photo line-ups of possible suspects.
- A possible suspect vehicle left behind in the neighborhood was impounded.
- Officers are keeping the victims and other neighborhood residents informed through meetings, phone calls, and e-mails; a Providence Division officer attended the January meeting of the Dilworth Community Association and Providence Division Captain Katrina Graue and one of her officers attended a special meeting with residents on Sterling Road on January 7 along with a sergeant from the Central Division.
- Patrols have been increased and schedule adjustments have been made to ensure that officers are in the area during the hours these crimes have occurred; both marked and unmarked patrols are being used.
- Officers are working with the neighborhood to address issues associated with increased lighting.
- Officers in the Providence Division have been asked to familiarize themselveswith the new area.
- Effective January 13, the Providence Division will use overtime funds from the Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) to place additional officers in the area.
On January 11, police arrested a suspect and charged him with three of the burglaries. Some of the stolen property was recovered. Police anticipate additional arrests. Active investigation of these cases will continue.
Mecklenburg-Union Metropolitan Planning Organization (MUMPO) Chair and Council member Pat Mumford and Jim Humphrey, Transportation KBE, have been asked to make a presentation to the NC Turnpike Authority Board on January 17. The meeting will be held at the Chamber of Commerce.
The presentation will highlight the Charlotte region's growing transportation problems and related threats to economic development, quality of life and air quality. A regional High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) / High Occupancy Toll (HOT) / Managed Lanes Study that will get underway this spring will determine which system of special lanes make sense to study in more detail and which roadway segments or corridors should receive the highest implementation priority. While the detailed data or community input to discuss tolling of any specific highways will not be available until the study is complete, it is obvious that the interstate and freeway systems will have to be examined. Widenings of these facilities, which carry the highest volumes of commuter, truck and through traffic in our region, will be problematic because of high costs that are not easily addressed through historical North Carolina Department of Transportation funding approaches (Equity Formula and Loop Funding).
The presentation should be a good introduction of the region's problems to the Board. City staff is already working with staff of the NC Turnpike Authority on planning for the two toll facilities already authorized in our area; the Gaston East-West Connector (formerly called the Garden Parkway) and the Monroe Connector. NCTA staff has also committed to sit on the staff committee overseeing the regional study.
Tolling is one tool, among many, to address roads funding to keep pace with growth. Staff expects to gain the Turnpike Authority's assistance on additional projects as conditions dictate.
At City Council's workshop on Monday, January 8, 2007, the Charlotte Housing Authority (CHA) and City staff informed City Council about an urgent funding request for the proposed Live Oak Apartments Development located at SouthPark. The CHA needed a $1.1 million commitment from the Housing Trust Fund (HTF) to meet a January deadline for the project financing.
Staff indicated that it would review the proposal and discuss it with the Housing Trust Fund Advisory Board. CHA and City staff met with the HTF Advisory Board and developed a solution involving the transfer of funds from a previously approved CHA project (Springfield Gardens Apartment Development) to meet the Live Oak commitment. The CHA, in turn, will utilize other available HOPE VI funds to complete the Springfield Gardens project.
City staff has reviewed the pro forma and discussed the transfer with the HTF Advisory Board. The Board and staff have determined that the Live Oak Apartments development meets the underwriting terms of the Housing Trust Fund. Although the request was outside of the normal HTF process, the Board has modified its process in the past to address special situations. Further, the Board felt that this development served a priority population group, 30 percent of area median income and below, and will be an outstanding community example of a mixed income development.
Staff plans to bring the transfer recommendation forward for Council's consideration at the January 22, 2007 City Council meeting.
Last week, as a decision approached for Concord-Kannapolis's request for an Inter-Basin Transfer (IBT) of up to 36 million gallons of water per day from the Catawba River basin, North Carolina Senator Dan Clodfelter asked Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities to suggest possible regional solutions to the controversy.
Attached is a copy of the January 3 letter sent to Senator Clodfelter. The letter recommends a 'time out' and effort to bring interested parties back to the table - rather than the filing of lawsuits and proposed fast-track legislation that seemed imminent. The letter was shared in a meeting last week and received a warm reception from a number of the stakeholders involved on both sides of the Concord-Kannapolis request.
On Wednesday of this week (January 10), the North Carolina Environmental Management Commission approved an Inter-Basin Transfer request for Concord-Kannapolis of up to 10 million gallons per day (MGD) from the Catawba River and up to 10 MGD from the Yadkin River. Even with this approval, and any developments that will follow, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities continues to support a regional approach to water resource planning to ensure future water needs are addressed.
Solid Waste Services Selected As Partner For National Recycling Campaign Staff Resource: Victoria Garland,
704-432-4223 - vgarland@ci.charlotte.nc.us
Charlotte Solid Waste Services, along with Mint Hill, Davidson and Huntersville have been selected as the 24th partner in the Aluminum Can Council's (ACC) Curbside Value Partnership (CVP). Kicking off in February 2007, the four Mecklenburg County communities will partner with Mecklenburg County Solid Waste to launch a county-wide education program communicating the importance of recycling at the curb.
Through education and collaboration this partnership has the opportunity to reach and engage more than 200,000 households in Mecklenburg County. While plans for the specific campaign
are still being finalized, the campaign will rely heavily on education, public relations, grassroots outreach to underserved communities and direct marketing to specific homeowners who could participate, but choose not to for a variety of reasons, including not having a bin or not knowing what and when to recycle. Charlotte's recycling rate has declined from an estimated 65 percent in 2003 to 43 percent in 2005. This partnership not only helps increase the residential recycling rate, it also supports the Solid Waste Management Plan's focus on sustaining landfill capacity by reducing per capita waste disposal rates.
A kick-off event is planned for Thursday, February 15 at the County Materials Recovery Facility. Please look for more information on this event soon.
Created three years ago, the national CVP program is a research-based partnership with communities, haulers, material recovery facilities (MRFs) and other stakeholders to identify solutions to improving curbside recycling programs and address falling recycling rates. CVP wants to increase residential participation in local curbside recycling programs and make curbside programs more profitable and sustainable. CVP partners with communities free of charge as long as there is a commitment on the communities part to provide data and a willingness to work together to increase curbside recycling rates. In return, the community has unlimited access to data, templates and other resources to help them implement a successful and sustainable curbside program. The partnership with Mecklenburg County will result in an estimated value of $50,000 in in-kind services and materials development from CVP.
Charlotte's Solid Waste Services department was featured in the fall issue of CVP's Bin Buzz newsletter for its innovative approach to educating non-English speaking residents on how to recycle. More information on CVP can be found at
www.RecycleCurbside.org
