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January 2023
Welcome to City Speaks, your monthly connection to what's going on in Charlotte government. Here you will find the latest information on city initiatives, services, events and programs, and other relevant, trending topics.
Help us connect with people across the Queen City; share the newsletter with your friends, your family and your community. Subscribe at publicinput.com/cityspeaks.
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City Council Prioritizes Affordable Housing Unit Creation, Job Skills Training, and More During Summit
The Charlotte City Council this week renewed its commitment to helping residents access affordable places to live, good jobs, and transportation from home to work and back again.
During its Housing & Jobs Summit on Monday and Tuesday, the City Council took its first steps of 2023 toward creating policies and making funding decisions that will address Charlotte’s affordable housing and workforce development needs. On the second day of the summit, council members decided to prioritize several key strategies:
- Support the production and/or preservation of affordable housing units.
- Partner with employers to create training programs for the jobs of tomorrow, to enable existing workers to move into new roles and scale up.
- Provide access to upskilling opportunities and technical certifications specific to Charlotte’s target industries.
- Offer more public transit routes and options to Charlotte’s major business districts.
These priorities largely echo sentiments shared by local housing and workforce leaders during panel discussions that took place during the two-day summit.
“I’ve heard Mayor [Vi] Lyles talk about these three areas — of housing, employment and transportation — as the three-legged stool,” said Danielle Frazier, president and CEO of Charlotte Works, the area’s workforce development board. “They’re very connected to each other, and critical to one’s success, whether it’s their career journey or whatever journey they’re on.”
Residents seem to agree. In an informal community survey that the city released prior to the summit, respondents ranked affordable housing production and preservation, and access to upskilling opportunities as their top housing and jobs priorities, respectively.
The council’s renewed priorities come none too soon. Charlotte is projected to add nearly 400,000 residents and more than 200,000 jobs by 2040. Meanwhile, the region’s housing supply is not catching up with demand, house prices continue to rise, and 80% of households cannot afford the median single-family house price. Additionally, labor shortages continue as workers are changing how they prefer to work following the COVID-19 pandemic.
It’s all food for thought as the City Council evaluates the future of the Housing Trust Fund and current affordable housing strategies such as subsidizing naturally affordable units in changing areas to keep them affordable; considers how it will use the $50 million housing bond approved by voters in November; progresses with the HIRE Charlotte initiative to create and fill good jobs; and invests in public-private partnerships that drive growth, such as The Pearl health care and innovation district due to break ground in Midtown in 2023.
The City Council will continue to discuss and refine its priorities, and the tactics that will achieve its goals, during an annual retreat at the end of January and during upcoming discussions about the city’s next annual budget, which the council will approve in June. Fiscal year 2024 begins July 1.
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CMPD's 2022 Year in Review
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) released its annual, end-of-year report on Thursday, revealing that overall crime was up 3% for the year, with violent crime down 5% and property crime up 6%.
"A 5% decrease in violent crime is encouraging, but we will continue to remain laser-focused on deterring these serious offenses in 2023," said CMPD Chief Johnny Jennings. "There will always be violent crime to fight. Recruiting will continue to be a challenge as it is across the country. But I am incredibly proud and grateful for the men and women of CMPD who answer the call to serve each and every day."
Reducing violent crime was a top priority for CMPD in 2022. Read the full end-of-year report to learn more about 2022 priorities and crime statistics.
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Eight Emerging Insights on the State of Charlotte-Mecklenburg's Culture
A Charlotte City Council committee on Jan. 3 reviewed emerging insights about the state of arts and culture in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area — key information that is part of the city’s ongoing work to create a sustainable future for the local creative sector, and that will inform the future Charlotte Arts and Culture Plan.
Several months of research and public engagement in 2022 are helping city officials understand:
- Equitable access to arts and culture is needed throughout Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, not just in the city center.
- Leadership in the arts and culture is a public sector responsibility.
- Sustainable funding requires public-private collaboration and commitment.
- Support for local artists is needed, to balance offerings brought into the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area from elsewhere.
- Collaboration throughout the arts and culture sector is growing, but it needs to increase.
- Space (studios, rehearsal space, performance and display spaces, etc.) is challenging — particularly in terms of affordability — for both producers of and consumers of arts and culture.
- Stronger communication and greater cooperation among the arts and culture community is needed to break silos and increase awareness.
- Public art, such as mural art, is successful and can be leveraged if expanded.
The findings are still being reviewed and refined before a final and full State of Culture Report is released by the city in February. The report will be key milestone in the process to develop policies and strategies that stabilize the arts and cultural sector, incentivize growth opportunities for artists and arts and culture organizations, grow the industry ecosystem, and respond to community needs and opportunities.
Learn more about these emerging insights, the research and analysis that led to them, and the city’s next steps in the process to create a comprehensive cultural plan for Charlotte.
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Progress in the Corridors of Opportunity
Earlier this month, the city released the Corridors of Opportunity 2022 Year-in-Review Report.
Since its launch in 2020, the city’s Corridors of Opportunity program has committed more than $70 million to six transportation corridors in Charlotte with histories of high unemployment and poverty, and low rates of public investment, and that are rapidly changing with the city’s growth. In 2022, residents in the Albemarle Road and the Sugar Creek Road corridors led the creation of corridor “playbooks” that define the unique needs, priorities and opportunities of their respective communities. The playbook creation process for the North Tryon and North Graham corridor also began in 2022 and is ongoing.
Corridors of Opportunity will continue to be impactful as the city supports equitable neighborhood investments and holistic revitalization, and helps long-time residents stay in their homes and communities. Learn more about the work happening in the city’s Corridors of Opportunity, and where they are headed in 2023.
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