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Charlotte's Mayoral Future

voyager12

By voyager12
in Charlotte Coffee House

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Charlotte_native City

Charlotte_native

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If we are to blame McCrory for all the sprawl issues we certainly have, does that extend into the surrounding counties? There is a lot of blame out there, but there is probably little our weak form of mayor can do about it. City and/or County councils have far more control than he does and the sprawl in the outlying counties has nothing to do with our planning department or mayor at all. I'm not his defender by any means and dislike his social stances, but I also don't like seeing anyone receive blame where it might not be due. He influences much of this, but he doesn't control it.

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stadtguy Unincorporated Area

stadtguy

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McCrory and the political elite deserve plenty of blame for failing to promote responsible growth. I think the appointment of Deb Campbell and the recent city manager exemplify this town's lack of vision. For whatever reason, Charlotte lacks the political will to grow in a more sustainable manner. To varying degrees, Chicago, Portland, Salt Lake, Seattle and even Louisville have implemented policies that incent better environmental stewardship. Louisville, for example, is pushing through a complete streets ordinance. Chicago is well known for it's green roofs and goal of becoming the greenest US city. Of course, Chicago has a strong mayor who is not afraid of angering certain interest groups.

Perhaps Charlotte's lack of sustainable planning stems from the transitional population. Folks simply have not been here long enough to stake a claim in Charlotte's future. Or, newcomers don't appreciate the public realm--preferring to choose among competing HOAs for formerly public goods like pools, tennis courts, golf courses, etc. that are associated with quality of life.

Another factor is the predominance of national builders in Charlotte who push the cheapest product possible (despite the fact that greener building only adds a slight premium of 2-5 percent that will be recouped over several years of ownership). I have never lived in a city where the variable "price/square foot" was such a determinant of value. What about park acreage per capita? multi-modal connectivity? walkable schools? For whatever reason, these values seem to be overlooked by Charlotte politicians and residents.

In my opinion, McCrory could be a much stronger advocate of sustainable development. Of course, this would require leadership and a vision--two traits that seem to be lacking in this town.

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1979Heel Whistle-Stop

1979Heel

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Actually, I think it's long-timers who don't appreciate the public realm. In a city where single family homes predominate and have been relatively easy to purchase, there has been little need for parks when nearly everyone had a backyard to call their own. Then, when newcomers arrived, they seemed to prefer this model. I also agree that Charlotte's population seems to churn a good bit and so I don't think many newcomers feel much stake in Charlotte's future.

Changing people's habits is a long-term process. They won't move quickly or easily to the Manhattan model of living. I'm not sure that's the ideal for which we should strive, but I would prefer the walkability of Charlotte's older neighborhoods and fewer cul-de-sacs. For example, many middle ring neighborhoods are quite walkable including schools and yet they are shunned because of the perceived (maybe real) lesser quality of the public schools. And older homes lack amenities and modern plumbing and wiring found in new construction (retrofitting pushes the cost way out of sight for many people.) My perfect example of this is Madison Park, near Park Road Shopping Center, where prices have now topped $200/sq ft for fully restored post-war brick ranches, but the schools are less than desirable. I grew up in that neighborhood and walked to Pinewood School, but that was long, long ago.

I'd like to see families as well as DINKs reclaim the middle ring, but it's an uphill climb so long as the schools are thought to be inferior. Let's face it, in many cases they are. Who wants to send their kids to Sedgefield and Waddell when for the same price and a much nicer house they can send their kids to South Charlotte and Ardrey Kell?

Builders ought to incorporate green design-I'm all for that. One other thing-Debra Campbell may be very well-qualified for her role as Planning Director, but I think part of the reason she was chosen was cost-her salary was probably dramatically below what other planners in other markets were commanding in the marketplace. That's an annoying commentary on Charlotte, too-the city tends to cheap out on a lot of things. See for example the stringing of wires to hold stoplights. Most other cities use aluminum poles.

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kermit Megalopolis

kermit

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I have searched repeatedly in vain for an Earle website and have not found one. Another example of a very half hearted campaign...I have yet to see any Earle yard signs either. The perception of her candidacy is becoming more and more of a lamb to slaughter sad to say.
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voyager12 Town

voyager12

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^ A good observation and it makes a lot of sense. My bitter partisanship aside :rolleyes: I think it's politically unhealthy for Charlotte to have such lopsided mayoral races over and over and over again. The Meck County Commisson razor thin rollercoaster election last time around gave me fits but illustrated political engagement. At least Gjertsen gave us some variety. I thought the exact same thing in my former hometown of Charleston. Democratic Mayor Joe Riley has been on the job since 1977 and while I generally supported him, the smackdown he gives to all challengers makes for stagnant political dialogue. This type of environment unfortunately prevents opportunities to delve into pressing issues in Charlotte and other cities.

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voyager12 Town

voyager12

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Creative Loafing has a profile of Earle as the cover story this week. I think she came across very well in the article. Her approach to a wide range of issues seems to be much more fairminded and inclusionary than McCrory and I still plan to vote for her. And though CL has a liberal bent the tone of the article cast her chances of victory as quite bleak which is the reality in my opinion as well. McCrory has bipartisan support. City neighborhoods that vote Democratic nationally and for council and county commission races have easily elected Pat in the past and I don't see this changing. Earle's primary base of support is the East and West sides and those residents have greater challenges getting to the polls from a transportation and occupational standpoint. I hope we have good weather that day. Local political experts say "McCrory Fatigue" is growing but may not be strong enough for Earle to take advantage of and use in her favor. Also she has spent so much time in Raleigh that her local name recognition is nil outside of her Statehouse district.

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elvigy Whistle-Stop

elvigy

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IMHO, the only hope that Earle has is the Republican burnout that is happening nationwide. If enough people go in and pull the lever for a straight Democratic ticket, without hand picking individual races, she might have a shot. I'd say that the chances are next to nil that this will happen and I still expect a roughly 65-35% victory for McCrory.

I read that CL article as well and it did improve my overall perception of her somewhat. But with only six weeks to go until the election, I just don't see any real movement away from McCrory. Yeah, some vague talk of McCrory fatigue, but the ones that are tired of him are, for the most part, the same people who are tired of politicians in general and sit at home and don't vote. C'est la vie.

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Charlotte_native City

Charlotte_native

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For whatever reason, Charlotte lacks the political will to grow in a more sustainable manner. To varying degrees, Chicago, Portland, Salt Lake, Seattle and even Louisville have implemented policies that incent better environmental stewardship.

In my opinion, McCrory could be a much stronger advocate of sustainable development. Of course, this would require leadership and a vision--two traits that seem to be lacking in this town.

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voyager12 Town

voyager12

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I won't support him and I really don't think he can win statewide. Charlotteans and politicians in particular are not liked by most other North Carolinians. Any Republican is going to have a hard time going up against the dominance that Democrats have on the state level. Republicans are going to get behind someone who is closer to Raleigh and has deeper grass roots support across North Carolina and not some slick talking Charlottean.

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elvigy Whistle-Stop

elvigy

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Voyager12 is exactly right. McCrory in particular would have a hard time appealing to statewide voters. He has an aura of big-cityness to him, imho. And the Esquire thing wouldn't help with NC voters. The eastern farmers and the mountainous westerners are very unlikely to vote for him. There really is an element of anti-Charlotte in a lot of the state, though it's not usually anything blatant that you can point to (except maybe the roads and lack of funds for them issues).

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ncwebguy Burg

ncwebguy

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McCrory's pro-business and anti-"Raleigh fat cats/corruption/waste" stances could play well with Republicans west of the Piedmont and east of I-95. That plus his pro-transit actions could play well with former "Jesse-crats" across the state and Democrats turned off by a mud-slinging primary between Cooper and Perdue.

Having said that, state Republicans have put Hayes and Ballentine on recent ballots with no success. And he has less than 11 months to build a war chest, but that could be easy due to the contacts made as Mayor over the years.

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