The Meck Deck
Comment and analysis on all things Charlotte
Wednesday, June, 19 2013
Posted June 15th, 2013 at 1:46 AM by Michael Lowrey
The good news: The Charlotte Observer reports that fewer Charlotte-area homeowners were “underwater” in the first quarter of this year — 13 percent, as compared 18.8 of households with an outstanding loan a year earlier. The bad news: This still leaves more than one in eight of households with a loan — an estimated 50,292 [...]
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Posted June 14th, 2013 at 11:56 PM by Michael Lowrey
1. The NSA data collection efforts. The Washington Examiner offers up an interesting view on where this is headed: The problem here is not national security versus individual privacy. It’s much more akin to why the founders adopted the Fourth Amendment’s guarantee against illegal search and seizure: During the Revolutionary War, the British Army used [...]
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Posted June 13th, 2013 at 2:34 PM by Michael Lowrey
One of the great danger in politics (and a lot of other things) is falling in love with your own ideas. The latest person to do so in a very public way would seem to be Sen. Bob Rucho, R-Mecklenburg, who resigned today as as co-chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. Seems that the tax [...]
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Posted June 12th, 2013 at 1:24 PM by Michael Lowrey
Gotta love Greg Hardy. From ESPN’s Pat Yasinskas, who’s in town to cover the Panthers’ minicamp: This is going to sound outrageous, but that shouldn’t be a surprise when you consider it’s coming from Greg Hardy. The defensive end for the Carolina Panthers was asked Tuesday if he had a goal for the number of [...]
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Posted June 11th, 2013 at 11:28 PM by Michael Lowrey
So reports the Census Bureau. From CNN Money: During the past three years, the average size of new homes has grown significantly, according to a Census Bureau report released Monday. In 2012, the median home in the U.S. hit an all-time record of 2,306 square feet, up 8% from 2009. During the recession, Americans downsized [...]
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Charlotte's Greatest Hits
As jailed former state House Speaker Jim Black mounts a campaign for early release, critics contend that the state justice system did favors for Black regarding the settlement of his $1 million fine.
Wake County officials say imprisoned former House Speaker Jim Black satisfied a $1 million fine by surrendering some Mecklenburg County real estate, but questions remain about the real market value of the property.
Imprisoned former House Speaker Jim Black used undeveloped land with a tax value of less than $150,000 to pay off an outstanding $500,000 state fine.
Colleen Calvani writes that the Charlotte Area Transit system will scale back some routes in an attempt to counter three major decreases in funding.
Jeff Taylor argues that Pat McCrory failed to carry Mecklenburg County because he failed to move its conservatives.
Jeff Taylor says there may be another factor to blame for CMUD’s recent series of water leaks.
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Research
Cronyism is an umbrella term covering a host of government activities by which an industry or even a single firm or speculator is given favors and support that they could not attain in market competition. This report explains what opens government to cronyism, gives a brief rundown of recent examples of cronyism in North Carolina, and offers several possible reforms.
County and municipal governments provide many key services while taking in billions of dollars in revenue, but finding comparative data is hard. That's why this report provides information of how much local government costs in every city and county in North Carolina.
This report examines 52 contracts signed by the Raleigh Convention Center for the period of July–December 2011 and is a follow-up to the September 2008 John Locke Foundation report “The New Raleigh Convention Center: A taxpayer-funded money pit.”
County governments all over North Carolina are saving money by privatizing services. In an effort to assist in the exchange of information about these activities, the John Locke Foundation conducted a survey of all 100 counties asking county managers to tell us about governmental activities that they currently supply privately. We also asked them if they had problems in the past with a privatized activity that had caused them to return the activity to government provision.
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