Headlines for week ending: Sunday, February 06 2005

(2.04.05) Charlotte faces a $12 million deficit
CHARLOTTE — Charlotte faces a $12 million budget hole and a growing pile of needs. Everything that residents and elected officials want -- new police officers, more frequent road resurfacing, better enforcement of neighborhood rules -- must squeeze into a suit that looks one size too small. The city released its first 2005-06 budget projections this week. The city's general operating fund will be $399.5 million, but it will cost $411.5 million for Charlotte to keep its programs and give raises to employees.

(2.04.05) Rail funds in flux, but city set to move
CHARLOTTE — Charlotte will break ground on its light-rail line this month, transit chief Ron Tober said Thursday, even as he awaits official word that the federal government will help pay the cost. The Federal Transit Administration has scheduled a news conference on Tuesday morning to announce the handful of cities that will receive federal help in building their rapid-transit lines.

(2.03.05) CMS school board wary of shuffling kids
CHARLOTTE — Most Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board members showed little enthusiasm for capping school poverty levels or forcing students to leave crowded schools, as they took their first stab at a vision for student assignment Wednesday. Between now and October, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools will hold a series of sessions -- including several for the public to speak -- examining the 3-year- old student assignment plan.

(2.03.05) E-mails propose secession from CMS
CHARLOTTE — Unsigned e-mails are urging north Mecklenburg County residents to meet at a Huntersville church on Feb. 17 to discuss seceding from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. The effort is organized by one or more Hopewell High students and their parents, according to school board member Larry Gauvreau and county commissioner Jim Puckett, who represent that area.

(2.02.05) Charlotte group home cited
CHARLOTTE — N.C. group home investigators have suspended admissions to an east Charlotte group home after finding the owner struck a child with a plastic rod. The action is the first since N.C. monitors began last week's statewide inspection of group homes for mentally ill children. Gov. Mike Easley ordered inspections of the state's 1,000 group homes for mentally ill children after stories in the Observer detailing poor care and lax standards in many homes.

(2.02.05) Lawmakers hear pitch on allowing smoking ban
RALEIGH — State lawmakers got their first formal pitch Tuesday for a proposed smoking ban in Mecklenburg County bars and restaurants. Sandra Bisnar, Mecklenburg's assistant county attorney, asked lawmakers from the county to seek money for more school nurses and to cover higher Medicaid costs. She also sought funding for more assistant district attorneys, and to replace Gatling Juvenile Detention Center in Huntersville, as part of the county's wish list from the state.

(2.02.05) Spacing may cut out 1 light-rail station
CHARLOTTE — Three train stations proposed north of uptown Charlotte are too close to each other and only two of them may be built initially, a transit manager said at a community meeting Tuesday. The stations are proposed in Derita and on W.T. Harris Boulevard, both in Charlotte, and the Hambright Road/Eastfield Road area in southern Huntersville.

(2.01.05) CATS to developers: Get on board
CHARLOTTE — The plan for uptown's new West Trade Street station for trains and buses is missing two things: a developer and a design. Charlotte Area Transit System officials hope that three days of meetings this week with potential developers and the community could fill in some of those blanks. The only meeting open to the public is at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The state has spent $30 million to buy 27 acres around the future station.

(2.01.05) Consultants: Charlotte image needs enhancing
CHARLOTTE — Charlotte has good energy for young people, is diverse but racially segregated and needs to be more accepting of minorities, especially lesbians and gays. That's the message a group of young professionals delivered Monday night to Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory and other city and civic leaders. But perhaps the city's most urgent problem, the group said, is its lack of identity, something upon which people can "hang their hat."

(2.01.05) Advocates ask county to focus HIV effort
CHARLOTTE — With Mecklenburg's HIV incidence rates double those of the state, activists say they plan to ask county commissioners for more money, more attention and a stronger focus on prevention. The numbers spiked in 2003 with 437 new HIV cases -- a 43 percent jump over 2002. County officials say the surge reflected more testing. The number of new cases dropped again, in 2004, to 344 -- but that's still almost 40 more than were reported for 2002.

(2.01.05) Officials ponder schools' readiness for growth
LINCOLNTON — As Lincoln County feels the pressure of growth around the Charlotte area, county and school officials are trying to figure out how to control it. On Monday night, county commissioners and school board members talked about the district's future school needs and how the county can pay for them. School enrollment this year is 11,441 and is expected to grow 10 percent by 2010.

(1.31.05) CMS to discuss goals of school assignment
CHARLOTTE — What's the guiding vision for student assignment in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools? The school board will start figuring that out Wednesday, at a session kicking off months of study. Between now and October, the board will study the student assignment plan that replaced court-ordered desegregation in 2002. It guarantees students seats in nearby schools, but lets families request alternatives.

(1.31.05) Watt hits national TV on black caucus's behalf
CHARLOTTE — Look for Rep. Mel Watt to become a fixture on national TV news shows over the next two years -- his term as chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus. The Charlotte Democrat is expected to sit down soon for an hourlong Q&A with C-SPAN's Brian Lamb. And last Thursday, Watt went on CNN's "Inside Politics," where he told host Judy Woodruff about the caucus's recent meeting with President Bush at the White House.

(1.31.05) Trail to take detour through front yards
CHARLOTTE — The planned Little Sugar Creek Greenway has been described for years as a 15-mile trail meandering alongside a creek, connecting neighborhoods from north Charlotte to the S.C. line. But as some homeowners near Freedom Park in central Charlotte have learned, what gets built in some areas may not exactly match that vision. Instead of running next to the creek, the trail from Freedom Park to Westfield Road south of uptown will consist of a 6-foot-wide sidewalk in front of about 20 homes.

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