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http://www,theoharlottepost.com 6C tll^e C()arlotte $ofit THURSDAY, JUNE 29, 2006 BUSINESS JetBlue skies over Charlotte PHOTO/JETBLUE JetBlue, which starts flying out of Charlott^ouglas International Airport July 12, will use the state of the art Embraer 190, a 100-pas senger jet The Charlotte flights will go to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, giving Charlotte passengers a low- cost alternative. By Erica Singleton FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST Air travel betweai Charlotte and New York will beccane much cheaper next month. JetBlue’s service includes four daily roimd trip flights to John F. Kennedy International Airport starting July 12., “It provides our new cities access to our entire route system via JFK,” said JetBlue Airways spokesman Brian Baldwin. The flight system includes 36 routes between major cities and popular Caribbean destinations. New markets like Charlotte are chosen based on JetBlue’s belief that it can stimulate new traffic in the area. “Where can we start service that typically tends to have higher prices and be under served” Baldwin said. ‘3y offering low fares we can really stimulate demand.” Mid-sized markets that figure into JetBlue route system are being added now, and explains part of the reason for the Charlotte Jaimdi. “Charlotte, as the nation’s second largest bankir^ region... [has] natui'al ties to New York, but imtil now, the people of North Carolina have over paid for sub-standard service,” said JetBlue CEO David Neeleman. Introductory one-way fares start at $69; regular fares will are between $89- $199 one-way, a loiuid trip ticket is never required. In addition to low fares, the addition of JetBlue as a flight option in Charlotte also brings with it what has been referred to as ”The JetBlue effect.” ‘What often hap;^ens, when you have a new service that starts...that offers flights that ai*e lower than what has been offered in the past, there is a competitive element that takes place there, and other airlines respond to that,” said Baldwin. “Our goal is not to take customers fiom other airiines,” said Baldwin. “Our prices are gener ally lower, when we go to new mar kets... so that causes other airlines to ■ lower their prices as well.” Along with new routes and low fares, JetBlue is the first airline to fly, the Embraer 190, a state of the art 100-seat Jet. “It’s a far cry from a regional Jet,” said Baldwin,” and our customers so fai', have given it rave reviews. It makes service to Charlotte really work for us.” Critics: Columbia outreach a failure THE ASSOCIATED PRESS COLUMBIA, S.C. - Critics say a program designed to increase the number of busi nesses doing construction work for the dty is an expen sive failure. Two elected officials say there is little evidence the Subcontracting Outreach Program is accomplishing its goals. Cmincilman Daniel Rickenmann cited one recent case in which only one contractor followed the pro gram’s guidelines, causing the cost of a sewer project increase about $150,000 - or an 50 percent of the estimat ed cost. Rickemnann, along with newly elected coTmcil mem ber Kirkman Finlay, also says he is not convinced the program is creating new opportunities for businesses that typically don’t win con tracts, such as those owned by women and minorities. “With this program, we spend money, but there’s no guarantee that we receive the desired results of reach ing out to the small-business community” Finlay said. “It’s a set of steps that can be checked off (by contractors) but does not push for small- business involvement.” Finlay ai.id Rickenmann say a recent contract put out to bid to install a larger sewer line along a road near the University of South Carolina football stadium should be rebid because the two lowest bidders failed to follow guidelines of the out reach program. City manager Charles Austin said the dty is negoti- ath^ for a lower price with the winning contractor. The program requires gen eral contractors who bid on dty construction projects worth $200,000 or more to document their efforts to share some of the money by subcontracting out at least 20 percent of the work. After a project is done, con tractors have to tell which subcontractors were .used and how much each was paid. A review of recent filings by The (Coliimbia) State newspaper showed that many - but not all - contrac tors were hitting the 20 per cent requiremait. 'The pro gram can no longer specify that the subcontracting work go to women- and minority-owned businesses. ‘We’re saying to contrac tors, Don’t go use the same subcontractors that you use all the time. Consider using other businesses, as well,”’ Coimdlman E.W. Cromartie said. “Cities are obligated to try and spread the wealth.” PHOTO/CURTIS WILSON Calvin Murphy is president of the North Carolina Bar Association. Legal eagle spreads wings By Erica Singleton FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST Calvin Murphy always knew he wanted to help people, but it was when he was 14 that he realized that he wanted to be a lawyer. The prindpal lawyer at Murphy & Chapman, Murphj' attended aU-black J.H Gunn School. In 1962, while working on a research project, the teenage Murphy sat in the all-white Mecklenburg Coimty’s SherifTs office and watched a well-dressed black man come in and be treated with respect. He was a lawyer. “I’m an impressionable black male in Charlotte...and l asked the deputies who the man was,'’ Murphy said. “It was like Superman had just passed.” The encoimter left an unforgettable mark on Murphy as he decided that day, that whatev^ Bell did to get that kind of treatment firom the Sheriff was what he wanted to do. Though primarily a trial lawyer, Murphy was named 2006 “NC Super Lawyer” by Law & Politics and served as N.C. State Bar Association president. The posi tion was not one he iriitially planned for himself but that he did eventually want. Murphy served nine years as State Bar Counselor and questioned leader ship why there had been no per son of color as president. “If you’re going to do a job, you need to do it to the best of your abilities,” said Murphy “Always subscribe to the standards I set for myself, rather than the ones someone else set for me. If ^u set your standards hi^ enou^ and measure your behavior by those standards, youll never disappoint yourself” After graduating Davidson College, Muiphy graduated N.C. Central School of Law in 1977. He worked as a district attorney before forming his firm in 1982. Through it all he has applied his philosophy to all thir^, which may be part of the reason that in 2005 the board asked him to serve as president. North Carolina Lawyers Weekly described Murphy as someone who “helped steer the State Bar throu^ an intense period of public scrutiny and negative publicity” A soft-spoken and contemplative man, Muiphy does not fit the image most people have of crimi nal defense lawyers. “Generally the public does not really undemtand what lawyers do,” said Murphy ‘Tor most peo ple there familiarity comes fix)m TV or their lawyer or what they [see] in the media. What they don’t see about lawyers is what they do in the community” Murphy explained that most lawyers are leaders in their churches, leaders in pohtics, they’re leaders in business, and they are people who help people. “A good lawyer always knows where to go to get answers,” said Murphy ‘You don’t have to know the answers, but you know how to go get them. Lawyers are trained in how to evaluate facts and how to apply the law to those facts in a way that benefits a client. If you are on the other side of a lawyer you are going disagree with what ever that lawyer is doing.” Tips for negotiating workplace conflict 0©0! FROM StAFF REPORTS Conflict happens. Disputes can arise between employees, between business part ners, between a company and a client. And if such issues ai-e not set tled, bad things can happen. Good people quit. Profitable relationships dissolve. Great companies go imder. This has always been true, of course. But according to renowned mediator Jeffirey Krivis, in a global economy tile implications of conflict are more profoimd than ever before. “In a world where relationships matter more than ever, mediation skills matter more than ever,” says Krivis, author of “Improvisational Negotiation: A Mediator’s Stories of Conflict about Love, Money, Anger—and the Strategies That Resolved ’Them.” “Companies can locate anywhere. People can work anywhere. Clients can stay with you or go with a competitor halfway aroimd the globe. So whether you manage employees or clients or both, it’s critical to learn the art of bringing harmony out of conflict.” What, exactly, is negotiation? Krivis says it’s reframing a situation in order to get people to shift their positions in a way that makes a res olution possible. You needn’t become a certified mediator in order to settle a dispute at work or home. You just need to understand some basics about human behavior, practice the fine art of paying attention, and offer jnurself up as a neutral party who Just wants to resolve the problem. Here are tricks of the trade Krivis Small business upbeat si^gests: • • Let people teU their story When a person is deeply upset about something, he really needs to get his story out. .• If someone refuses to budge, take the spotlight off her. Isolation tends to create movement. • When someone seems ‘locked up,” dig for the emotion behind the stone face. • WTien people are picking fly- specks out df pepper, come in with a reahty check. • Identify the true impediment. In every conflict, ask yourself What is the true motivatii^ factor here? • 'Think creatively about ways people can cooperate rather than clash. In every negotiation, there is a taision between the desire to com pete and the desire to cooperate. By Joyce M. Rosenberg THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK - While small business owners across the coimtry are firetting as they see inflation, gas prices and interest ' rates rising, many others are optimistic about the coming months. Some of these owners are in industries that actually benefit when costs are rising, or they own companies that are structured in ways that insulate' them fix>m some of the economy’s vagaries. Many Just have the upbeat attitude of the enti.*epreneur - theyh find a way to make things work no matter how difficult the business climate gets. ‘1 feel like 111 figure out some way to do better than the competition and Ill survive - and if some of the competition doesn’t, Ill pick up some of their business,” said Dorm Fhpse, CEO of Field of Flowers, a chain of three floral superstores in Davie, Coral Springs and Boca Raton, Fla. Lake many other owners whose busi nesses are dependent on delivery vans and trucks, Fhpse is considering raising his delivery charges, and he’s ordered trucks that run on diesel because theyll get bet ter mileage than gas-powered vehicles. After 16 years in business, he’s learned how to cope with change - he started his company during the first Gulf War, when oil prices were at a then-unheard of $40 a ban’el. U.S. cars get high marks By Sarah Karush THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DETROIT - U.S. automakers are pro ducing more hits 'with cars, but are facing steeper competition in trucks, an area they once dominated, according to a vehicle quality study. The domestic Big Three had the top-scor ing vehicles in five out of 10 car categories ' in, the annual vehicle quality study by Strategic \lsion Inc., a San Diego-based market research fiim and consultant to automakers. A notable winner was the Ford Fusion, which prevailed in the medi um car category In trucks, Japanese companies took six out of 10 categories. 'The winners included the Honda Odyssey for minivan and the Nissan Armada for large SUV Detroit is “playing catch-up, but the com petition is moving ahead at the same time ” said Daniel Gorrell, vice president of Strate^c Vsion “The imports are really developing a stror^ foothold in the truck market.” The study which, factors in emotional reactions to vehicles, as well as defects and design issues, found BMW to be the top brand, followed closely by Lexus. BMW’s ranking contrasted sharply to a better-kno'wn quality report by J.D. Power and Associates. 'That study, released earli er this month, foimd a hi^ number of ' complaints about BMW for design, partic ularly its iDrive system, which operates many different controls through a single knob.
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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June 29, 2006, edition 1
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