PlazaMidwoodGuy

That building looks downright...well...Miesian!

Rest assured Bill James will not give up on this matter. Don't be surprised to see him recruit parents of school-aged children in his district to challenge the book. Other right wing loonies may do the same thing.

True, I haven't....but I've seen pictures. I've certainly never been to any city in Canada or Europe where entire swaths of urban highways are dark because the lights don't work. For that matter, I've been to basically every large and medium-sized city in the entire USA and haven't seen anything as bad as what the NCDOT has allowed to happen on Charlotte's state highways.

Thanks for the update, JoJo. I still find it absolutely amazing that in the USA in 2006, a state can't keep its highway lights on. We're talking BASICS here, not high tech luxuries. Charlotte looks like a Third World country at night.

Oh I don't know about that. I think he knew precisely what he was doing and he WANTED the book to get attention. He rationalizes that if parents get riled up about the school system allowing a book that....as people like him say.....promotes "the homosexual agenda," then there will be so much hoopla they'll have no choice but to take the book off the shelves. As I told the folks at the Observer regarding this whole mess, an interesting article for them to write would be one on the topic of Bill James' absolute obsession with homosexuality. How does the quote go? "The lady doth protest too much, methinks." And trust me, in this case I use the word "lady" very loosely.

You're right and thanks for clarifying. So now I'll amend it to say that I want a refund of my portion of property taxes and all other fees that may have gone to CMS over the years. And you make an excellent analogy where the hospitals are concerned. I've never really thought of it that way but it's a valid point, IMO.

Here we go. If you work in Mecklenburg County, you pay taxes on that income...whether you're a dog walker or a bank CEO. Therefore we ALL have a say in the running of CMS because it's OUR tax dollars that they use to fund the system. Are you advocating the idea that those of us who don't have children in the school system have no say in the matter? Okay, if that's the case, I want a refund for the portion of my taxes that have been earmarked for CMS over the 20 years that I have lived childless in this city. And from this point forward, I want to pay LESS tax than parents who have children in CMS and I don't want "one more dime" (to quote you) of my hard earned money going to the school system. I have no kids, so it's only fair....right? Then and only then will I no longer have a say in what happens in CMS....and that INCLUDES keeping enlightened and positive books such as this one in the school libraries, as opposed to having them banned by ignorant, radical conservatives who can't stand the idea of acceptance of anything other than what they narrowly consider the norm.

Very interesting. Thanks for all the info! That area is in a great location. This development, if done right, could end up being a huge success --especially with the possible changes in store for Cherry.

I'm sorry....I guess I should have clarified. I was referring to the Elizabeth development project by Grubb.

Could someone explain to me...in a nutshell....why this project has been in the works for 7 years and nothing has been built yet? And please don't tell me to read the entire thread to find out.....sorry but I don't have time to read through 16 pages of posts. I'm just hoping someone can give me the quick and dirty condensed version.

Regarding the ridiculous controversy surrounding the book about the allegedly gay penguins, the Observer was just asking for trouble when they provided a "Post your comments" section accompanying the online article. While I'm all for a forum in which people can post thoughtful and reasoned comments, that's typically not what happens....ESPECIALLY when the topic deals with homosexuality in any way shape or form. The vast majority of the comments were typically ignorant anti-gay bile and my jaw dropped when I read some of the things these people had to say. I sent an email to the writer of the article, as well as the online editor of Charlotte.com and told them just that. They responded to me that the comments section of the article had been taken down because it had gotten so ugly. It's sad that such a book would cause an uproar here. Of course, the fact that commissioner Bill James helped stir the pot on this one only made things worse...as usual.

Oh, just like at MY house. I guess that makes sense....thanks!

Yeah, the Billy Reid store is great and I think it's a wonderful addition to SouthPark....even more so than some of the more "well known" stores, just because it adds a nice dose of cool understatement without all the flash and glitz. Of course, I can't actually AFFORD anything there! I agree that the associates were very friendly and Billy was there the day I went in, too. I really do have to admit I'm pretty jazzed about the fact that, other than the store in his Alabama hometown, Charlotte is where he chose to open his first store outside of Texas. Now about the hooch they serve there....how do they get away with that? I love it, but I don't understand how it's allowed.

Oh, did you now? Do tell. I know the subdivision has seen an unfortunate number of foreclosures over the last few years, which has caused some obvious problems. But apparently the gay contingent has been a highly stabilizing force, which is great. As far as I know, that's the only concentration of gays and lesbians in any neighborhood outside of the city's core.

Are you referring to Scotsborough? I heard from friends that bought up there that they marketed those homes in gay rags like Q Notes and actually went after the gay homebuyer. Is that true?

Well, for starters, it would take splitting off the entire eastern third of North Carolina from the rest of the state so that Down East legislators would no longer be in control of NC. Okay, there may be just a wee bit of sarcasm in that statement, but it's not too far off the mark. Political power in this state has traditionally been centered in the east and this is a pattern that goes back to colonial days. The reasons are varied and, even as a North Carolina native, I don't understand all of them myself. Add to this the fact that NC politics is notoriously split between rural vs. urban counties, and guess which group there are far more of. That's right....rural. Several years ago (I don't remember exactly when -- either late 80s or early 90s) the rural-dominated legislature pushed through an "equity formula" for distributing road money throughout the state. This was a not-so-transparent effort on the part of rural politicians to ensure that we got plenty of wide expressways through the pine forests and tobacco fields of eastern NC, while the cities had to make do with what was left over. Charlotte's explosive growth (and what the rest of the state sees as our constant chest thumping and too-big-for-our-breeches attitude) has only served to make us even less popular among the rural politicians in Raleigh. Of course it's not always quite as simple as I've laid it out, but that's the short and sweet version. Suffice it to say that eastern NC and its representatives in Raleigh (along with a healthy number of reps from the mountain counties) don't exactly care for Charlotte and/or Mecklenburg County, so getting state money for basics such as roads is always a tough fight.

The lights and signs on these highways are NCDOT's responsibility. And it simply amazes me that they've let the condition of these lights and their accompanying electrical systems deteriorate over the years to the point where repairing them is so costly. Had they maintained them all along it wouldn't be such a huge expense to fix them now. And as far as Charlotte and/or Mecklenburg Co. trying to pressure the state into getting the work done, that's an uphill battle. The louder Mecklenburg screams for its fair share of anything, the more the rest of NC calls us the "Great State of Mecklenburg." And they DON'T mean that as a compliment!

Great news on both fronts. Thanks for the info!

Have you tried "Creation," on The Plaza, just up from the fire station and across from Harris-Teeter? It's not strictly Thai, but that's the predominant style. It's very good and it's very reasonably priced.

The street light issue is definitely one of my pet peeves where NCDOT's neglect of Charlotte-area highways is concerned. Well, that and the trash. The lights have been a problem for many years, since WAY before there was ever a budget crunch in Raleigh, which they conveniently blame for it now. Really? Why weren't the lights fixed/maintained when there WAS money? They seem to look at street lights as some sort of luxury, as opposed to a basic safety issue in high-traffic urban areas.

It's unfortunate that whatever goes in the old Auto Werks spot is going to be in the shadow of that monster billboard. Ugh!