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The Voice of the Black Community
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C. Sf'Un Zr.iiiroeiZ
CHARloire, N 0
Also serving Cabi
WEEK OF JULY 26-AUGOST 1, 2007
Anew
day for
Double
Oaks
City funds boost
community’s
development
By Herbert L. White
hefb.wh/fe®(riecharioffeposf.cotn
Change is coming to the
Double Oaks neighborhood.
A $120 million redevelop
ment project is moving for
ward after Charlotte City
Council approved a $25 mil
lion package for the dis
tressed neighborhood off
Statesville Avenue. The pro
ject continues a long-term
revitalization of the
Statesville Avenue area with
mixed-use housing.
'‘The city understood this
is an opportunity they
might not get otherwise,
and they put it on a fast
track,” said Pat Garrett,
president of the Charlotte-
Mecklenburg Housing
Partnership, which is lead
ing the redevelopment.
The city package includes
$15 million in loans, with
the remainder in grants and
a right of way used by Duke
Energy.
When the project gets
under way, 576 one-story
homes will be razed and
replaced with 940 town-
homes, condominiums and
apartments. About 330 resi
dents will be relocated for
the demolition.
‘That'll be a year process,”
Garrett said. "We'll give
them up to three options of
where they want to go."
The partnership is com
mitted to building 300
rental units at Double Oaks
for low-income and elderly
residents who qualify. The
remaining construction
includes condos, homes and
commercial space.
“We're hoping we can start
at the Kohler Avenue end
and work our way to LaSalle
Street," Garrett said.
Full redevelopment is
expected to take 10 years,
Garrett said, but initial
results won’t take that long.
“We say it’s a 10-year pro
ject, but I think in the next
two or three years you'll see
some progress with people
moving in,” she said.
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
N.C. Rep. Bevafy Earle (center) metwHh reporters last week ofta announcing ha bid to run for
Charlotte mayor. The Democrat faces no opposrtion In the party primary.
Mission: Impossible?
Veteran lawmaker Earle faces
challenges in mayoral campaign
It’s been a long
time since anyone
other than Pat
McCrcxy has been
Charlotte's mayor.
Over the last 20
years, Chotiotte has
had three mayors -
Republicans
McCrory (1995-pre-
sent) Richard
Vinroot (1991-95)
and Sue Myrick
(1987-91). The last
Democrat to hold
the office was
Harvey Gantt (1983-
87) Charlotte's first-
and only-African
American mayor.
Myrick
By Cheris F. Hodges
cheris.hocJge5@fhechortoffeposf.com
Can the Teflon Mayor be beaten?
N.C. Rep. Beverly Earle is the lone Democrat looking to
unseat Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory this fall, though McCrory
faces a Republican challenger in Charlotte-Mecklenburg
school board member Ken Gjersten.
But does Earle have what it takes to unseat the six-term
mayor?
It’ll be difficult, says UNC-Charlotte political science profes
sor Ted Arrington.
"Earle is one of the best local officials. She would be missed
in the legislature if she should win. Having said that, she is
unlikely to defeat McCrory unless he does something terribly
stupid in the next few months,” he wrote in an e-mail.
Arrington added that McCrory is not known for making mis-
See CHALLENGER/2A
CMS list
spreads
gains
and pain
School board plan aims to
generate widest support for
Nov. bond referendum
By Herbert L. White
herb, whife@fhechartoffeposf.com
Charlotte-Mecklenburg's school board
voted to spread projects from a proposed
$516 million bond referendum across the
county.
But will it pass muster with
Mecklenburg County commis
sioners before going to a
November referendum?
"Absolutely,” school board
member George Dunlap said.
Two new schools and a slate
of renovations were pared
from the final priority list
approved by the school board
Tuesday by a 7-2 vote. Kaye
McGarry and Larry Gauvreau -
who represent districts in the northern and
southern ends of the county - voted against
the request.
“It’s always great to get a 9-0 vote,”
Mecklenburg commissioners Chair Jennifer
Roberts said, “but I don’t remember (CMS
board member) Larry Gauvreau ever voting
for anything."
"The vote was a reflection that there are
some people in our community who are out
of touch,” Dunlap said of the dissenters.
Please see BOARD/3A
Festival brings
African culture
N.C. black colleges face more changes to Queen City
THE ASSOC/AtED PRESS
RALEIGH - Despite an influx of
money and students. North
Carolina’s historically black pub
lic universities still face weak
graduation rates and several
financial problems.
State lawmakers and voters
have allocated nearly half a bil
lion dollars since 2000 to build
new buildings at the five schools
and to beef up recruiting and
marketing operations. The efforts
helped boost the number of stu
dents at the universities by about
12,000, or 52 percent, since the
beginning of the decade.
Yet the universities - Elizabeth
City State, Fayetteville State,
North Carolina A&T State, North
Carolina Central and Winston-
Salem State - have graduation
rates lagging behind the overall
University of North Carolina sys
tem. Fewer than half of the stu
dents at the historically black
schools make it to graduation
within six years, compared to a
UNC system rate of 59 percent.
Four of the schools are getting
new leadership within a month,
and two of them face financial
scrutiny.
Stanley Battle became the new
chancellor at North Carolina A&T
after the interim chancellor
uncovered financial abuse and
administrative chaos. At
Fayetteville State, chancellor T.J.
Bryan abruptly announced her
resignation last
week amid a finan
cial audit.
UNC President
Erskine Bowles
vowed that prob
lems unearthed at
North Carolina A&T
and Fayetteville
State will be cor
rected, and he called on the new
chancellors to lead the way.
“I want leaders who are capable
See UNC SYSTEM/2A
Bowles
Volunteer state: Service merits a national award
PHOTO COURTESY OF SUE GORMAN
Members of Leadership Charlotte Class 28 were recognized by the President's Council
on Service and Civic Participation tor their work In the Washington Heights communi
ty. Historic Washington Heights Neighborhood President Mottle Marshall (fourth from
left) nominated the group.
By Herbert L. White
henb.white@fhechartofteposf.com
Good deeds is more than its own reward.
Members of Leadership Charlotte Class 28
earned national and local honors for their vol
unteer efforts in the past year in the
Washington Heights neighborhood.
Ten Leadership Charlotte project team
members earned the President’s Volunteer
Services Award from the President’s Council
on Service and Civic Participation. They were
nominated by Historic Washington Heights
Neighborhood President Mattie Marshall.
Team members received letters from
President Bush, a presidential Call to Service
Award certificate, and an award service pin.
The volunteers were awarded the
Community Organization Award at the sec
ond aimual Community Philanthropy Awards
luncheon. The Northwest Corridor
See VOLUNTEERS/2A
By Herbert L. White
herb.wfiife@fhecfiortofteposf.com
The Garden City will meet the Queen City
Saturday.
The second annual Taste of Ghana at the
Afro-American Cultural Center will highlight
culture and art from Kumasi, Ghana,
Charlotte’s African sister city. For native-born
Americans, it’s an opportunity to get closer to
African culture.
"You get a taste of Ghana,” said Anita Alers-
Williams, former chair of the Kumasi
Committee. “You get a taste of the fashion, a
taste of the cuisine.”
Four segments will highlight the event from
12-6 p.m.: wood carvings and clothing from
the Voltaw Region of Ghana, fashions by
Kumasi designer Judith F. Osei Tutu, an edu
cation session by Ghana native Vincent
Nyanor and cuisine from the Motherland.
Kumasi, founded in the early 19th century
by King Osei Tutu, is Ghana’s second-largest
city with 2.5 million residents spanning a 20-
mile radius. It became Charlotte’s sister city
in 1996 and is home to Nana Opoku-Ware,
king of Ghana’s Asanti region.
For information on Taste of Ghana, call
Anita Alers-Williams at (704) 336-3924.
FILE PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
BEST IN THE WEST? J.C. Smfth football coach
Daryl McNeill prepares Golden Bulls for a
run of the CIAA Division title. Page 1C
Home improvement
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