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What new thing is happening in Charlotte that you are most excited about?
If the city and county can structure the sale that results in a refurbished and reused Spirit Square that preserves and enhances the arts offerings there, as opposed to highest bidder keep, then I think that will end up being a great use of the space. What a great Uptown address to be able to walk down and enjoy various arts venues!
Looking forward to peanuts and Cracker Jacks? What is the future of a baseball park in Charlotte? Michael Smith at Charlotte City Center Partners is a genius for putting together the land swap. That they’d create a large Uptown park, continue the arts tradition of Spirit Square, and bring baseball would be great for Charlotte in creating vitality, but not at the expense of arts! We need them all.
Arts vs. sports vs. bars/restaurants vs. Uptown shopping vs. public transportation. Where do you fall in the raging debate over what needs to be prioritized in order for Charlotte to grow into a "world-class city?"
We absolutely have to continue supporting public transportation. This includes the light rail, or I-77 north from Huntersville will become a parking lot. Every big city ultimately has to put some kind of alternative and it seems people will ride the train over bus. Charlotte has done a great job of revitalizing. I remember conversations with listeners in 1988-89 that downtown was absolutely a ghost town. Common sentiment was “gone are the days of Belk and Ivy.” But here we are, seven days a week Uptown is hopping! Now, retail has to follow, but for that to happen you have to have a critical mass. It’s hard to separate, prioritize because we need all of it. Charlotte has done a great job promoting the arts in terms of facilities, but we need endowments so arts organizations don’t always to look over shoulder for funding. More money needs to go into securing the organizations themselves, not just brick and mortar.
Charlotte considers itself forward-thinking on many urban development issues. It seems the larger a U.S. city gets, the more it needs an expanded social services network to handle needs of a burgeoning population, but can never keep up. What is Charlotte doing to be preemptive in this area? Can we plan ahead to offer programs that effectively promote productive living? How do we avoid the pitfalls of the “build more shelters” or “reactive spending” mentality rather than provide proactive assistance for independent living?
Well, so far, so good, but 10-15 years down the road we might be causing our own problem because housing is so expensive. Working class people need affordable housing in the immediate area. Obviously, Charlotte is one of the best places to live at the moment. To date we’ve done a decent job of planning for issues that growing cities face. The only thing I worry about is I don’t know when growth pays for itself. We are going to have to revamp the tax system because right now Charlotte’s economy is bound by the state and puts too much of burden on property taxes. The system is based on textile industry so businesses are only taxed on what they take away, physical product. But we don’t make anything anymore; we are now a service economy! So we lose lots of money in service-oriented tax revenue.
When one visits memorable cities, what often stand out are the waterfront/riverfront areas, immense parks and green spaces. Right now, Charlotte has nice fountains and large parks in the suburbs. What is the city/county doing to preserve green space and develop it for pedestrian use?
Well we gotta have it and need more of it for sure. As the greenway gets connected, that will help.
Where are your favorite Charlotte spots to hang out and why? I don’t have time to hang out!
I have four jobs so I’m working all the time!
What are the biggest issues facing your organization? What will need to happen for you to be successful?
WFAE has one of the highest listener ratings in the country, and our listeners stay tuned in for a long time, which is what all radio stations want. I think that is because of what we do and how we do it. People appreciate the civic discourse we provide. We let listeners engage in the dialogue and decide for themselves, and that’s not available anywhere else. We need to continue to do this because less than 10% of our funding comes through the government; the rest is comprised of listener contributions, advertisers and grants. We are grateful to have one of the country’s shortest pledge drives due to our enormous audience willing to support the programming they enjoy.
~ Celina Mincey
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