This year the annual Public Health Forum, Blueprints for a Healthy Community: The Built Environment for Mecklenburg County will be held on Friday, May 4 at the Westin Charlotte. Registration will begin at 7:30 a.m.

The theme for this year’s conference is the built environment; the focus will be on how structures such as roads, sidewalks, greenways, parks, and open space affect the health of Mecklenburg County residents.

The keynote speaker will be Mark Fenton, host of the PBS television series Americas Walking. Additional speakers will be Reid Ewing of the National Center for Smart Growth, Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners Chairman Jennifer Roberts, and Mecklenburg County Park & Recreation Director Jim Garges.

All Board members are invited to attend this event. Board members planning to attend are asked to RSVP no later than April 20 by emailing PHForum@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov. Please also indicate your lunch choice of vegetable lasagna or chicken caesar salad. Questions should be directed to Kerry Burch at the Health Department at 704-432-4249.

 

 

 

Memorial Stadium and Grady Cole Center are reserved through May 8, 2007 for the filming of a major motion picture called “Leatherheads.” The film is the story of a college football program in the 1920s when helmets were made of leather. The movie stars George Clooney and Renee Zellweger.

The County’s manager of this facility, Mike Moraglia, is coordinating site logistics and other details with the film production company. This includes accommodating up to 1,200 production staff and extras involved in everything from creating a “winter” in Charlotte on an 80-degree day to coordinating site preparations for the movie. Some of the work involves transforming part of Memorial Stadium into a 1920s version of a Chicago college football stadium. Elaborate façades of the old stadium with windows, an antique score clock and a press box have been set up as a throwback to the origins of football in this country.

Central Piedmont Community College also has been a partner in this undertaking, working with County staff and the production company to make parking available during the filming.

Please contact Jim Garges with any questions.