Leave it to Bruce over at Gay Patriot to cut to the chase on Eric Holder’s offensive “race coward” crap. Bruce phoned up Sen. Kay Hagan’ office — Hagan voted to confirm Holder to the office of Attorney General — to ask if the Senator thought Bruce was [...]
Correct me if I am wrong, but isn’t Howard Manning essentially saying it is OK to have video poker now that Jim Black is safely behind bars?
Manning’s reasoning escapes me otherwise, although I’d love it to be upheld. “The state acted unlawfully in authorizing the Eastern Band of the [...]
In a good way.
Remarkable headline as well, Countrywide deal is paying off big, BofA exec says.
Trouble is, the story is totally foward-looking — about new mortgages, new loans, new terms. Nothing on the pool of mortgages Bank of American took on from Countrywide. More to the point, if BofA [...]
Anyone else find this ridiculous? Bank of America and Wells-covia need meetings with Mayor Pat McCrory to help convince them to keep jobs in Charlotte?
Mayor Pat McCrory, who met last week with Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis and Wells Fargo’s John Stumpf in Washington, said he felt it [...]
I’m so glad Mecklenburg County has sacks of cash just sitting around, ready to be handed out to the highly compensated operators of a failed speculative entertainment venture.
And a $50-day “all access pass” is gonna save the Whitewater Center, huh? Why didn’t they start with that level of [...]
There you have it folks, straight from Mayor Pat McCrory. The city of Charlotte is building billionaire Brian France and NASCAR a $195m. Convention Center expansion in order to help you, you ungrateful little bastards. So if those hotel-motel tax revenues do not arrive to help pay for the [...]
Super, guys. Just what we need.
If folks are dumb enough to lose thousands of dollars a night gambling, let ‘em. Oh, that’s right. The state of North Carolina does not get a house stake, let alone a cut, of these games.
Would it help if the players called it [...]
Normally I pay no attention to NASCAR or Ron Green Jr., but events have conspired to throw them together in a noteworthy way. Say, like Skipper Beck and hookers.
Anyway, Green and others are moaning about the Daytona 500 coming up 50 laps short due to rain. [...]
As DeeDee used to say “OneTwoThreeFour!”
Thieves are stealing out-going mail in Elizabeth, pulling checks out, and using the routing and account numbers to make cash transfers. In other words, the crooks are smarter than the banks. Yet another reason I’m glad I went to e-banking. Why has BofA hiked [...]What the hell is the deal? Camping out to get to a furniture store? Special traffic congestion-reducing stop lights from the city?
It is the Trader Joe’s frenzy all over again. A nice, quality national chain but no where near deserving of giddy, cult-like adoration. Heaven help us if Whole [...]
…right about 25 seconds in. Oh, and Shaq’s head coach — quick name him — was fired today. Market on, David Stern, market on. Lord knows what you are selling.
[...]Lotsa chatter via McClatchy Watch and elsewhere that we are weeks — perhaps days — away from additional workforce reductions at MNI.
I continue to wonder how much longer a top-heavy management structure can survive. I would not be at all surprised to see some papers double-up on publishers most [...]
Friday’s edition of The Charlotte Business Journal does a great job of laying out just how dire Charlotte’s economic condition really is — and will be. First, up income.
Income is a function of employment. Employment is getting hammered and will only get worse. Wachovia’s Mark Vitner says unemployment [...]
To drive a Formula One car? Massive news if so.
Last week came word that F1 operators were looking to set up shop in Charlotte to take advantage of the motor sports workforce.
Now the AP is reporting out of Madrid that current Indy car driver [...]
The NASCAR season is underway — maybe that is what has distracted Lowes Motor Speedway honcho Marcus Smith from paying his $23K tax bill on his $1.7m. Sharon Lane home.
[...]Now Sue is back to opposing bailouts/rescues/stimuli.
On a related note, best details of the stimuli I’ve seen yet:
Q. What is an Economic Stimulus Payment?
A. It is money that the federal government will send to taxpayers.
Q. Where will the government get this money?
A. From taxpayers.
Q. [...]
This should not be that hard. But because it is CMS, it will be.
As the system goes hunting for millions in “savings” the staff that actually interact with kids should be exempt. In fact, Pete Gorman’s gold-plated PR office should be put on furlough until the crisis has passed [...]
And what will it sell besides patches and updates? I kid, I kid. Never had much use for Apple until iTunes.
The problem with such vertical integration in tech products is quality control all the way through to the customer. The guy or gal closing the deal for you has [...]
Least surprising news of the year — the U.S. National Log Flume ride has defaulted on its $38m. construction loan. In fact, the taxpayer-backstopped center lost more money than it did the previous year. Again, not a surprise.
The long and short of it is that local taxpayers will [...]
Puzzled how one of the country’s biggest real estate concerns still has not paid its property tax bills. The four parcels owned by 555 Blake LLC owe the city and county over $380K.
Wonder how the sponsors of this weekend’s Bartender’s Ball at the Blake feel about [...]
Knew this was coming, didn’t you? Of course you did. Randal O’Toole told you this was coming back in 2007 when he came to Charlotte.
Ignore the inside baseball dust-up between Becky Carney and Dan Clodfelter — Clodfelter always had the last word on the issue, not to mention more [...]
Heavens, the calamity!
Opponents of a proposed sales tax on alcohol held a boisterous rally at the Capitol yesterday culminating in what organizers likened to the Boston Tea Party — a mass splashing of bourbon on the front steps of the statehouse.
“How many of y’all believe Kentucky bourbon needs more [...]
Let’s see, the city can’t afford the debt to pave roads, now the county can’t afford the debt to build schools. But train building is still full steam ahead.
If it weren’t space for kids at stake, the situation CMS finds itself in would be very amusing. The district has [...]
You don’t see many of these out on the road anymore. I know I wouldn’t take any chances with some idiot dinging it up. More looks here, including a much better shot of the bucket seat.
Remember, click-it or ticket.
[...]OK, now that Charlotte city council has officially been told that a streetcar line will “create” hundreds of millions of dollars in “free” money watch how we will be told that we will “lose” that money unless we build it.
Councilman Anthony Foxx, bless his heart, is already sounding the alarm [...]
John:
I see that you’re planning to announce your run for the mayor’s office at the Eastland transit center tomorrow morning. This suggests there is a strong possibility you will hawk the $400m. streetcar scheme to East side residents who are manifestly upset about how they’ve been treated by city government [...]
Check this out on the topic of overdue property taxes, from Mayor Patrick McCrory:
“When taxes are not being paid, and we cannot respond, our credibility with the public is impacted,” he said…
Pat is having a conniption over $77K owed by non-profits that never had any money at the same [...]
My patience with the local dopey “leadership” class is near an end. Tick-tock.
[...]What was supposed to be 462 condos in a 27-story hi-rise on MLK Blvd. in Uptown right now only has 60 condos sold, according to local developer symbiote Doug Smith. As a result the building is converting half of the 400 unsold spaces to apartments. I’d wager the rest will [...]
Just to be perfectly clear about what is going on right now in Charlotte, the city is choosing trains over streets. Repeatedly.
CATS is reducing bus and train service in order to preserve cash for another $1.5 b. worth of trains while the city of Charlotte is rushing [...]
And that is just for this fiscal year. The budget for 2010 should be a real adventure. A requirement for making the numbers works, scaling back the $227m. in bonds the city and Chamber flogged past voters in November.
I have no idea how the city could possibly be projecting [...]
And the Uptown paper is worried about possible future federal tax code breaks to Beazer Homes USA.
County records indicate that Beazer owes $129,000 in property tax on several parcels for 2008. Exactly what you would expect from a tapped out spec developer dependent on fantasy lending standards.
The [...]
Not much to add when a company says it is going to suspend 401(k) contributions next quarter. Still the same old story: Massive debt, barely enough revenue to service it, more attempts at finding cost savings.
The share price is stable on the news as MNI correctly guided analysts to [...]
To put in perspective some of the praise we received for seeing our local fiscal train wreck coming, super-human powers of observation were not required. Just the proper understanding of human nature and government.
John Hasnas, associate business professor at Georgetown University, now visiting at Duke Law, explains:
Libertarians spend [...]
Could use it to get the ice off the roads.
Now comes word that CATS has suddenly figured out that the growth path for half-cent sales tax revenues will not be ever-upward. In fact, some $252m. less through 2018, or about $20m. less every year compared to the 2006 forecast. You [...]
This has been spreading like wildfire since the how-to on hacking those electronic road signs was posted the other day. Many examples are from Texas, but other Illinois has been hit as well.
Run for your lives!
[...]Wonders never cease. Lead sponsor says he is concerned that “these blogs are getting out of control.”
State Sen. Steve Goss (D-Boone) must be seeing different stuff than me, because North Carolina’s blogdom is decidedly tame compared to some states with a more confrontational policy making history, not [...]
Been offline — or online at dial-up speeds — all morning thanks to whatever is broken in TW’s South Charlotte loop. Has to be pretty big because I saw three (3) bucket-trucks on my street. Those are the line techs, the guys who really know how to fix stuff when [...]
As Grand Vizier Hood points out, there is no sack of magic money from Washington that is going to fix state or local budgets. Not only is there no federal money, Mecklenburg County has never depended on federal support to make the numbers work.
The overwhelming majority of revenue [...]
I’ll pop up on WBT at around 5pm to talk to Tara about our amazing, completely unforeseeable county budget situation. You know, the one we’ve couple been warning about for a couple years now.
[...]More scenes from Charlotte’s future? Atlanta had to close five fire stations yesterday due to twice as many sick days as normal. City employee unions say the problem is “budget cuts” which reducing staffing to the bare minimum.
[...]Gee, shouldn’t MeckDeck get a finders’ fee? Some repo man scratch?
One day after we reported that Bank of America owed $95,000 in property tax on a two-acre parcel across from the arena, the bill got paid. Funny how that works.
To recap, that is $58,629 to the county, $32,058 [...]
Mayor:
I admire your willingness to boldly reject the fool’s gold of a “bailout” or “stimulus” rescue for the city’s fiscal distress. As you correctly note, it is only the wealth creating activity of the private sector which can provide us with the resources needed to meet our civic obligations [...]
No wonder Julius Peppers wants to leave town. He owes $6K in tax on his Uptown condo. Looks like his bill was sent to his loudmouth Houston agent Carl Carey, who didn’t bother to pay it on time.
And Kemo too! Panther DT Ma’ake Kemoeatu owes almost $9K on [...]
We welcome the Uptown paper of record’s entry into the tax deadbeat beat on any level, but c’mon guys, zeroing in on the West side non-profits? The $77K is peanuts compared to the hundreds of thousands owed by massive corporate entities with billions — trillions even — in assets.
Besides, [...]
Mecklenburg County’s wild spending days caught up with the commissioners yesterday in Ballantyne. The county is short $90m. while the debt bomb it ignited ticks away in the background.
County manager Harry Jones has flogged the county toward delaying some $253m. in bonds for CMS, CPCC, [...]
The two-acre site across the street from the $265m. Uptown arena and bordered by the $521m. light rail line and which was to be the site of a 12-story $60m. mixed use project and 1400-space parking deck for Bank of America has a [...]
Not that I’d be caught within earshot of either, but first The Dead’s tour opted to stop in Greensboro in April rather than visit Charlotte, now it is Bruce Springsteen’s 2009 tour that will by-pass Charlotte for Gboro, Atlanta, and Charlottesville in May.
But I guess we do have Thomas [...]
Both the city and county are getting pushed to adopt domestic partner policies for staff. County Commissioner Bill James is pushing back, Bill James style.
The fact is nothing is really standing in the way of adoption of domestic partners benefits aside from enough votes on the city council [...]
Hmmm. Maybe I should call 311 so I can be told something something something. Two weeks without pick-up. Are they taking the month off?
I know! I’ll call up and cancel my service contract with….nevermind. This is going to make the coming garbage fee hike feel like a proper jail-house beatdown.
[...]Ugly break-ups are so much fun.
John Thain is not taking the BofA PR campaign against him lying down. He is blazing back at Ken Lewis and crew with a level of zeal that Bank of America probably did not expect.
Where it gets interesting is that Thain’s Goldman Sachs buddies [...]
Check out Jennifer Roberts spinning the gloom-and-doom for Mecklenburg County’s budget:
“There’s not a lot of fat to cut (in the budget),” Roberts said. “We’re going to be cutting muscle and bone, I fear, and we’ve got to figure out how to do it without hurting the health of the [...]
The criminals in Raleigh still harbor hope to force every homeowner in North Carolina to help pay for insurance on coastal properties. This goes by the Orwellian name of an “assessment.” It is no such thing. It is a tax — or possibly outright theft, depending on the degree [...]
In light of his most recent comments on employment, wonder if Mark Vitner still thinks Uptown will hit the 100,000 jobs needed to make CATS $9.5 billion transit system work?
“I don’t want to sugarcoat it,” said Mark Vitner, an economist for Wachovia in Charlotte. “We just drove right through [...]
Henry Blodget makes crystal clear that Ken Lewis is taking taxpayer dollars in order to pay executive bonuses. Specifically:
By the time it paid its bonuses, Merrill knew about the $21 billion of operating losses for the quarter and Ken Lewis and BOFA knew they would need more capital. [...]
Just weeks removed from wondering if Adam Morrison was the biggest bust pick at #3 ever — only a couple years after repeatedly defending the Morrison pick when the rest of the world knew Brandon Roy was the correct choice — Uptown NBA scribe Rick Bonnell pens one of the [...]
Why did the US Postal Service spend $650K to acquire two vacant lots of just under two acres adjacent to its Matthews Post Office when those lots were sold for hundreds of thousands less than that a couple years ago and carried a tax value a fraction of that [...]
1..2..3…4!
The Don of Manteo has declared that he requires more gold in Raleigh, suggests the state take it from smokers and drinkers. C’mon global warming! Flood this coastal cretin out of office. The It Was John Thain’s Fault meme is off to rousing start, thanks to the details of [...]I suppose we should be grateful that these sort of stories are even being done, but if you were an editor, wouldn’t you utterly ban your reporters from going to a Wachovia economist for quotes on how things really are not that bad and could be much better with [...]
The feds have started a crackdown on swimming pools, spas, and hot tubs in futile attempt to make them “safe” and absolve parents of the need to closely watch their kids whilst they are in any amount of water.
I understand the political reality of no garbage collection on MLK Day — he was in Memphis for a sanitation workers’ strike — but the mid-winter angle always begs for trouble. Trouble hit this year.
Monday’s day off was followed by Tuesday’s questionable “snow day” for multi-ton garbage trucks, which meant [...]
A high school band director I met kept sending me pictures of his junk, until I called the cops on his creepy ass.
This kind of thing used to bother me. Now I think cell phones and related devices are helping humanity to clean up the gene pool a bit.
Bonus [...]
In no particular ord……..Oh, look! A pony!
Write it down. Charles Chandler deflates rampant speculation that DC Mike Trgovac will be the next Panthers assistant to move on by quoting unnamed sources saying that Trgo is expected to sign a contract extension soon.
I have to assume that unnamed source is GM Marty Hurney; Chandler wouldn’t be [...]
The new music venue was announced amid great hoopla exactly two months ago by the NC Music Factory bunch. Still not among the Live Nation list of venues and the spring tour season is ramping up.
Guess we’ll hear something when we hear something.
[...]Quick! Get in the car and drive/slide to Teeter for milk and bread! Why? I don’t know! That’s what we do in Charlotte when it snows!
You! With the big 4-wheel drive SUV! Drive around aimlessly to show everyone you have a big 4-wheel drive SUV!
Kids! Try to sled in two [...]
Can’t be! Those of us who warned for years that Charlotte would face an arts performance funding shortfall as ever-more public money was directed to building more arts venues were written off as kooks and cranks.
One final question: If $11m. represents the annual ceiling the Arts and Science [...]
Wow. Talk about a bombshell indictment of the Panthers during the John Fox era. Julius Peppers telling ESPN via a release from his agent that he has decided to play elsewhere in order to become an “elite” player is pretty damning.
Peppers is declaring to the football world that the [...]
Don’t look now, but smart people are raising serious questions about the ability of NY Fed chief Tim Geithner to win confirmation to be the next SecTreas. At minimum, the cozy little Goldman alum club is getting some unwelcome pub and Geithner’s rep has taken more than a few [...]
Alright. Bank of America has weaseled another $20b. out of the US Treasury. Now, just like Citigroup, BofA has received $45b. in direct bailout funds. Now 2009 turns a weird psychological game for Wall Street.
Are the bailout funds supposed to build confidence in the institutions — or do they [...]
I was frankly stunned that WBTV was the only local TV outlet that went to live local coverage of the Hudson River ditching yesterday afternoon. Given the plane was bound for Charlotte and packed with Bank of Wachovia employees the potential for a massive disaster for the local community was [...]
Ken Lewis is one smart guy. Not only is he keeping Goldman Sachs alum John Thain close, he is cashing in on that relationship for billions more in taxpayer dollars from the Goldman alum decision-makers at the Fed and Treasury by claiming that the takeover of Merrill Lynch is [...]
I’m sorry, no one can hate the Stillers more than a born-and-bred-and-abandoned Browns fan like me, but Pittsburgh mayor Luke Ravenstahl changing his name to “Steelerstahl” in advance of the Stiller AFC title tilt with the Ravens is pretty damn hardcore.
Pat, meanwhile, still owes a Seattle radio station for [...]
Gloria Pace King has filed her lawsuit against the United Way. Finally.
Ah, sit back and enjoy the fireworks.
[...]Yes, all the headlines say Fantasy Island, but we know better. Much better.
That Khan Noonien Singh could come back as a memorable character 25 years after Montalban first portrayed him is a lasting tribute to the man and his craft. The campy, fun aspects only mean that he’ll [...]
Hadn’t heard this one before.
Michael Jordan has an online steak-selling biz, called Michael Jordan Steaks. Two 38 oz. Porterhouse of USDA Prime will set you back $170, although that includes shipping.
If you are looking a little more down-market, try the sauces and marinades, which kick [...]
Just advance warning that the city/county will be forced to take a close look at hiking mandatory trash pick-up fees this year. The reason is rosy assumptions about the amount of money the county-wide recycling program would throw off are coming home to roost.
[...]Let’s see if I’ve got this straight. CATS claims ridership of about 16,000 a weekday on the $522m. choo-choo. That’s about 75 percent more than projected, as boosters never tire of pointing out. OK. At minimum, that additional ridership should be throwing off over $1m. in additional annual revenue, [...]
As legislators return to the scene of their previous crimes, a quick reminder that the General Assembly’s first and only impulse is to spend more money.
In boom times — spend. In lean times — hike taxes, then spend. Spending by state government in just the last five years grew [...]
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