Charlotte Center City Partners

The Charlotte Observer was quick to point out this week that "Charlotte Business Leaders" support raising the food and beverage sale tax.

As business "leaders" the Observer cites the Charlotte Center City Partners who are hardly "business leaders" they are for the most part city county employees, elected officials, academics and  bureaucrats. Hardly Charlotte's "business leaders".

John Belk, was a business leader, Bill Lee (Duke Power) was a business leader, Hugh McColl (Bank America) was a business leader, George Ivey, Johnny Harris, Henry Fasion and so on. Let us not confuse those of us who are in business, who understand the risks and the effects of taxation with those who work in the comfort and safety of municipal employment or academia tenure.

Charlotte Center City Partners has without a doubt an impressive list of individuals, but half of them are not in business rather they are insulated from business and the realities of being responsible for not only their employees well being but for the day to day operation and stress that comes with being responsible for the bottom line.

I submit that a number of this board of  "business leaders" have no idea what a balanced budget is or have any idea why adding additional tax burdens to the taxable public is wrong.

What do you think?

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Harvey Gantt Chairman Gantt Huberman Architects

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Pierre Bader Board Member Sonoma Restaurant Group

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Cathy Bessant Executive Committee Bank of America

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Debra Campbell Board Member Charlotte Mecklenburg Planning Director

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Dr. Ronald Carter Board Member Johnson C. Smith University

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Ann Caulkins Board Member The Charlotte Observer

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Robert Cummings Board Member Falfurrias Capital Partners

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Al de Molina Board Member Investor

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Phil Dubois Board Member University of North Carolina at Charlotte

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Frank Emory Executive Committee Hunton Williams

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David Furman Executive Committee Centro City Works

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Art Gallagher Executive Committee Johnson & Wales University Charlotte

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Bob Hambright Executive Committee Balfour Beatty Construction

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Steve Harris Board Member Harris Development Group, LLC

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Carol Hevey Board Member Time Warner Cable

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Harry Jones Board Member Mecklenburg County Manager

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Patsy Kinsey Board Member Charlotte City Council

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Todd Mansfield Executive Committee Crescent Resources

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Dr. Michael Marsicano Executive Committee Foundation for the Carolinas

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James Mitchell Board Member Charlotte City Council

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Bob Morgan Board Member Charlotte Chamber of Commerce

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Heath Morrison Board Member Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools

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Tom Murray Board Member Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority

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Scott Provancher Board Member Arts and Science Council

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Ernie Reigel Executive Committee Moore & Van Allen, PLLC

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Pat Riley Executive Committee Allen Tate Realty

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Jennifer Roberts Board Member Mecklenburg County Commissioner

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Laura Schulte Executive Committee Wells Fargo

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Doug Stephan Board Member Vision Ventures

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Richard Thurmond Executive Committee Charotte Magazine

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Krista Tillman Executive Committee Queens University of Charlotte

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Curt Walton Board Member City of Charlotte

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Eulada Watt Board Member UNC Charlotte

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Fred Whitfield Board Member Bobcats Sports and Entertainment

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Darrel Williams Executive Committee Neighboring Concepts

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Dr. Anthony Zeiss Board Member Central Piedmont Community College

More Otis Taylor - Hey Joe

Cedar's Take: Anne Harris makes this cover of Hey Joe happen.

Charlotte Civil Service Board Upholds Captain Chuck Adkins Termination

A civilian panel has upheld the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s firing of a formerly high-ranking police captain accused of failing to report that an assault victim came to his home seeking help.

Members of the Charlotte Civil Service Board reached their decision after deliberating for four hours Wednesday. That followed nearly three days of testimony about former Capt. Chuck Adkins.

After the board’s decision, police attorney Mark Newbold said the department was pleased.

“The message sent is that officers are held to a standard if they’re in a situation where somebody’s life may be in jeopardy.”

Adkins and his attorney declined to comment, and left the hearing room shortly after the decision was announced.

The department has said Adkins broke CMPD policy by failing to immediately alert law enforcement about his Sept. 19 conversation with a woman who came to his home while he was in his garage. His marked CMPD cruiser was parked outside.

She had been kidnapped, handcuffed to a toilet and beaten. The policy dictates that officers report domestic violence when there are signs of physical injury.

The woman, who was bruised and had caked blood on her face, said her boyfriend had hit her.

Adkins listened to her story, then let her use his cell phone to contact a friend for a ride. He told her she should report the crime to authorities, but he didn’t contact police that night or the next day.

Two days later, Adkins saw the woman’s picture and a story about her disappearance in the newspaper. He phoned missing persons detectives, who used the number in his cell phone to get in contact with the woman.

In testimony, officers have said the woman was a prostitute and kidnapping victim. The case is now part of a federal investigation. Officers testified the Department of Homeland Security has interviewed the woman.

Adkins has contended that he was off-duty when the woman walked up, and was groggy from a sleeping pill and a glass of wine. In testimony on Tuesday, Adkins said: “I’m telling you I couldn’t have acted in the capacity of a police officer that evening.”

In his 21 years with the department, Adkins has been posted to several high-profile jobs: head of Internal affairs, captain over the Central Division and overseeing the communications division.

But he was linked to two incidents that embarrassed CMPD last year – the situation with the assault victim, and a case in which he was accused of placing dog feces in a neighbor’s mailbox.

Marc Gustafson, Adkins’ attorney, said he is not without fault in the case, but that the facts “don’t warrant the termination of a 21-year-veteran of the police department.”

Even the victim in this case spoke highly of Adkins’ actions, Gustafson said.

“Captain Adkins gave (the victim) what she needed that night,” he said. “She didn’t need to be interrogated. She just needed somebody to listen. That certainly doesn’t absolve Captain Adkins of anything, but it’s something we should take into consideration.”

But Bob McDonnell, an attorney for CMPD, said that Adkins, as a senior officer with two decades of experience, was in a key position to get the woman more help.

“I find it hard to believe that you think the best thing to do in that situation is place that young woman in that car with someone she says was a friend,” McDonnell said. “It should be obvious to anyone: call 911.”

McDonnell said Adkins could have conveyed crucial information about the victim to police. She told him that she was a dancer, that she’d been handcuffed and beaten in a home in Adkins’ neighborhood.

“His explanation was, ‘I fulfilled my duty by letting her use my phone and putting her in a car with someone I didn’t know.’ ”

McDonnell said Adkins’ behavior was unbecoming an officer, and an embarrassment to the department, especially given his rank and extensive training.

“It’s embarrassing that a captain who’s been to the FBI school, doesn’t think he has a duty to call 911.”

Adkins can appeal his firing in Superior Court, but has not indicated if he will do so.

CMPD Promotions

We've known for weeks but now they are official.

From: Graue, Katrina

Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2013 4:28 PM

On behalf of Chief Monroe, I am pleased to announce promotions pending Civil Service approval.

To Deputy Chief

Major Eddie Levins

To Major

Captain Allan Rutledge
Captain Mike Smathers
Captain Mike Adams
Captain Freda Lester

To Captain

Lieutenant Ryan Butler
Lieutenant Rob Dance
Lieutenant Todd Garrett
Lieutenant Rich Austin
Lieutenant Gerard Farley
Lieutenant Todd Lontz

To Lieutenant

Staff Sergeant Christian Wagner
Staff Sergeant Tom Barry
Staff Sergeant Brad Koch
Staff Sergeant Rich Stahnke
Staff Sergeant Brian Sanders
Sergeant Steven Durant
Sergeant Bret Balamucki
Sergeant Dave Robinson
Sergeant Anderson Royston
Sergeant Alex Watson

To Sergeant

Officer Celestine Ratliff
Officer Donald Penix
Officer Jeff Sterrett
Officer Caleb Komis
Officer Scott Sweatt
Officer Melvin Miner
Officer Melissa Kiefer

A promotional ceremony is planned for Friday, March 8 at 1000 hours at the Police Training Academy.

Please plan to join us to celebrate the accomplishment of those being promoted.

CMPD Captain Chuck Adkins Hearing Day 2

A Charlotte-Mecklenburg police captain said Tuesday that he did not immediately report that an assault victim had come to his home for help, in part, because he didn’t think he had enough information to be helpful to detectives.

Capt. Chuck Adkins testified for more than three hours before the Civil Service Board, which will decide whether to uphold a police department recommendation that he be terminated.

Adkins said the 19-year-old woman had rejected his earlier suggestion to call law enforcement, but promised to call for help later as she ran to get into a friend’s car.

Adkins said he wondered whether he should call police “as a backup,” but realized he hadn’t gathered some information, like her name. He said the encounter lasted two or three minutes, but that a sleeping pill he’d taken earlier left had him unable to quickly grasp all the woman said to him.

He didn’t call police that night, Adkins testified, because at the time he thought he had “nothing to tell them that is anything of value.”

The department has said Adkins broke CMPD policy by failing to immediately alert law enforcement about his Sept. 19 conversation with the woman, who had been kidnapped, handcuffed to a toilet and beaten. The policy dictates that officers report domestic violence when there are signs of physical injury.

On Tuesday, attorney Bob McDonnell, who is representing the police department, repeatedly asked Adkins whether anything the woman told him at his home signaled that he was dealing with a domestic violence incident.

Adkins said the woman told him she had been beaten up by her boyfriend, although at one point she denied they were in a relationship. He said he didn’t think the pair met the state statutory definition of a relationship, which would make it a domestic violence case.

The woman worked as a prostitute, according to previous testimony from CMPD, and was fleeing a pimp in September when she spotted Adkins at his house and asked to use his phone. She had suffered visible injuries, including facial swelling and marks on her wrists and dried blood.

But instead of calling police, Adkins let the woman use his cellphone to contact a friend for a ride.

Adkins said he did not immediately see the woman’s injuries, but they became visible when she stepped into his lit garage.

Adkins is a 22-year CMPD veteran who has worked a number of roles, including one in the department’s internal affairs bureau. He most recent was a watch commander overseeing police operations on nights or weekends.

A sleeping pill, a glass of wine

On Sept. 19, Adkins said he had gotten off his shift that morning before heading home, where he went to sleep. Later, he spent more than four hours in class at UNC Charlotte before getting home again at around 10:45 p.m.

Adkins said that when he returned home, he took a prescribed sleeping aid, along with a glass of wine, to try to get to sleep quickly because he had to get up early the next morning for a beach trip.

Adkins said he was in his garage when the woman came to his home. But he said that while he was able to talk with the woman and observe her injuries, the sleep aid had left him with diminished capacity.

McDonnell asked whether Adkins believed he no longer had obligations as a police officer to report the incident because he had consumed the sleep aid and wine.

“I’m telling you I couldn’t have acted in the capacity of a police officer that evening,” Adkins replied.

Cedar's Take:

Wednesday Change Up - Nasty Letter

Odds and Ends - Your Money Edition

CMUD - Despite all the concern over the Charlotte Mecklenburg Utilities Department (CMUD) and their failing meter reading operation not much has improved. For example the meter at my home was read on January 30, 2012 but the bill wasn't produced until February 20, and didn't show up at my house until February 25th. Further the bill isn't due until March 13th.

Of course much on the delay is because the people who read the meter and supply and service are not the same people who convert the readings into billable numbers and produce the bills. The job falls to the city's billing department. 

The job is complicated by CMUD's matrix like billing structure that seeks to subsidize low income residents at the expense of those who water lawns and have clean clothes. Additionally it is further complicated by the "storm water" tax....errrr fee.

And the fact that the billing cycle is on some sort of random cycle. Sometimes it is 30 days, others 34 and still others 23 days. All I can figure it is on some sort of "load/yield" computer program that seeks to maximize the pain to taxpayers.

Think about it, On January 1st my home took water and I didn't have to pay for it until the 13th of March, that's a free ride for get this, 72 days. That is nuts, just think of the revenue increase if the City could cut that time down by just 10%.

Time Warner Cable - Quietly without much notice your cable bill is going up. Some services are going to increase by 25% on March 1st.

Nothing grinds my gears worse than on one of the few occarsions I turn on the 60 inch flat screen to watch something and I get nothing. Time Warner Cable tells me that if I don't turn on my televison at least once every day I miss certian software upgrades to my cable box. Apparently this is a almost daily event. So when I turn on the box it has to load and install all the latest and greatest improvemtns.

My arguement with Time Warner Cable is that all month long I pay for service I don't use, therefore when I do turn on my televison and I get nothing but FAIL they should refund my entire month's bill. Afterall I am not paying to watch as much as I am paying for it to be there when I want to watch.

When I explain that because of their cable box I missed the final ten minutes of the Daytona 500 the rep suggests that I use the "on demand" feature and pretend I didn't already know Jimmy Johnson has won.

CMPD Captain Chuck Adkins Hearing Day One

Day one of the Civil Service Board hearing for CMPD Captain Chuck Adkins, is a wrap. Monday's day long hearing focused mainly on CMPD officials presenting their findings to the board.

The hearing is unique in that never before in the history of CMPD has a Civil Service Board hearing been open to the public and it is seldom that someone with 21 years of service is cited for termination.

The following was reported by the Charlotte Observer's on line edition late last night:

Startling new details emerged Monday during a termination hearing for a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer accused of failing to report that an assault victim came to his home for help.

Capt. Chuck Adkins did not alert law enforcement after speaking with a 19-year-old woman who had been kidnapped, handcuffed to a toilet and beaten, according to testimony from CMPD investigators.

The woman worked as a prostitute and was fleeing a pimp in September when she spotted Adkins outside his house and asked to use his phone, officers and attorneys said. She had suffered visible injuries, including facial swelling and marks on her wrists and dried blood, they said.

But instead of calling police, Adkins allowed the woman to use his cellphone to contact a friend for a ride.

CMPD had revealed little about the case before Monday’s hearing.

Civil Service Board hearings are almost always closed, but Adkins has requested an open hearing, which means anyone in the public can attend. It is the first open board hearing since 2007.

Adkins, who last served as a watch commander overseeing police operations on nights or weekends, says he invited the woman inside his home and encouraged her to report the crime. Adkins also has said he took a sleeping pill before the late-night encounter and was groggy.

“This man was nice to her,” said his attorney, Marc Gustafson. “He gave her a phone. That’s what he was supposed to do. He got her to safety.”

But CMPD policy dictates officers report domestic violence when there are signs of physical injury, investigators said.

“This is a very serious matter that goes to the heart of the function of a police officer,” said attorney Bob McDonnell, who is representing the police department.

The case is now part of a federal investigation. Details remain sketchy, but officers testified the Department of Homeland Security has interviewed the woman.

They did not say who the federal probe was targeting or what allegations the Department of Homeland Security were investigating.

Two men have been charged with kidnapping the woman who came to Adkins’ home. Authorities did not divulge their names, ages or other identifying information.

The testimony came during a Civil Service Board termination appeals hearing for Adkins. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police recommended his firing Oct. 12.

Officers can appeal a termination to the Civil Service Board, a group of civilians that reviews disciplinary actions for police and firefighters.

The panel, which can overturn or lessen punishments, plans to listen to testimony Tuesday and Wednesday before going into deliberations.

In addition to failing to immediately report his interaction with a battered woman, CMPD alleges Adkins violated department policy when he took a second job with a private security company.

He had received notice his bosses wanted to fire him but was still considered a department employee.

Adkins is arguing his actions do not warrant termination. His attorney argued he needed to take the second job to support his family, with his CMPD employment in jeopardy.

The episode started in September when the woman was lured to a Matthews hotel, according to testimony from CMPD.

She was assaulted, kidnapped and taken to a home in northeast Charlotte.

The woman escaped through a window and later approached Adkins as he tinkered in his garage, with his police cruiser parked outside.

He noticed she was bruised. In a brief conversation, the woman told him her boyfriend had beaten her at a house nearby and she had fled. She then used the officer’s cellphone to call a friend for a ride.

The next day, Adkins took his family on a beach trip.

A day later, he was reading the Observer when he saw a photo of the woman, who was reported missing.

Adkins called the missing persons unit and told them he talked with the woman. He told investigators she had used his cellphone to call for a ride.

The investigator dialed that number and made contact with the woman, who was unharmed.

A few days later, the department suspended him.

Cedar's Take: Amazing that CMPD would fire a career officer over something that at worst was just an oversight. While at the same time an Officer with a history of domestic violence and gun play is allowed to keep his job.

The Onion Stinks

Someone at The Onion thought Tweeting the "C" word would be funny, and apparently thought directing it at 9-year-old Best Actress Oscar nominee Quvenzhane Wallis. would be funnier.

Caution: The Below Image contains the "C" word and is pretty tasteless.

Moments after the above tweet appeared @TheOnion received a phalanx of tweets condemning the poor judgement.

The Onion deleted the tweet about a hour later and their tweeter feed fell silent.

But then things went crazy, when some wacko, Elizabeth Hawksworth from Canada thought it necessary to point out the Wallis was a women of colour and that this would have never happened to Dakota Fanning.
Cedar's Take: I thought shock humor went out of style with Andrew Dice Clay and Richard Pryor?

In Case You Missed It - CMPD Internal Affairs Division Addresses Citizens Review Board

How CMPD's Internal Affairs fits with the Citizens Review Board.

Before citizens take complaints of misconduct to the Citizens Review Board, they must wait for findings from CMPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau.

CMPD disciplined hundreds of officers between 2004 and 2011, Internal Affairs reports show.

More than 3,500 allegations accusing police of misconduct were filed during those eight years. A majority of the complaints – more than 2,100 – were levied by police officers against fellow officers. Citizens filed more than 1,400 complaints.

Internal Affairs found police misconduct in 26 percent of complaints lodged by citizens. When CMPD supervisors and officers filed complaints, 85 percent, more than 1,800, led to findings of misconduct.

More than 3,000 disciplinary actions, including more than 500 suspensions, were levied against officers during the eight-year period. Officers were given written reprimands more than 900 times. They were ordered to undergo counseling more than 1,300 times.

Fifty-four officers were fired. Seventy-five resigned.

Offenses included rule violations, unbecoming conduct, neglect of duty and use of force.

When citizens aren’t satisfied with outcomes of the Internal Affairs investigations, they can appeal to the Citizens Review Board. But citizens have never won a case before the 11-member panel.

Maj. Cam Selvey, who heads CMPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau, doesn’t believe the review board is a rubber stamp for the police department.

“It means the CMPD does a good job of taking care of discipline in the organization,” Selvey said. “I think the people of this community would have reason to be concerned if the Citizens Review Board was disagreeing with us a lot. That would be an indication of a systemic problem within the organization. We don’t have that type of problem here.”

NASCAR Blocks Fan Video of Saturday's Crash

Vein Guys Plane Crash Victims Named

GBI Crime Lab positively identified victims in Wednesday's plane crash as Dr. Steven Roth, a managing partner of the Vein Guys, and Vein Guys employees; nurse anesthetist Lisa Volpitto, ultrasound technician Tiffany Porter, and Dr. Roth's Administrative Assistant, Kimberly Marie Davidson, 43.

The medical examiner is still working to identify a fifth fatality. However, the family of Heidi McCorkle, an ultrasound technician, said they had been notified that she had also died.

Clockwise from the top left Heidi McCorkle, Lisa Volpitto, Dr. Steven Roth, Tiffany Porter, Kim Davidson

Local papers have reported that Richard Trammell, was being treated and was in critical condition they have no named the pilot who was reported as having only minor injuries.

Cedar Posts has learned that the private jet that crashed Wednesday night is the same type and model that Jack Roush crashed in 2010. In fact Jack Roush was attempting to abort a landing in Oshkosh Wisconsin when his plane crashed.

Jack Roush's Hawker Beechcraft 390 Premier I N6JR

The Hawker Beechcraft 390 I has been very popular with the NASCAR crowd in that it is very fast and relatively affordable.

Clint Bowyer Racing owns the same type and model as well.

Clint Bowyer Racing's Hawker Beechcraft 390 Premier 1 N78CB

Additionally Cedar Posts has learned that Thomson McDuffie Regional Airport is known to have a deer hazard. One pilot who has flown into the airport at night said he was surprised to find a number of deer standing just off the runway one night a couple of years ago.

Since the airport doesn't have a control tower often at the night the airport is void of staff or other pilots who might notice the deer. The airport information available on line also notes: "DEER ON RWY AT NIGHT".

In depth coverage from the Augusta Chronical here.

The following is an update from the Associated Press:

THOMSON, Ga. (AP) - A small private jet carrying a surgeon and members of his clinic staff aborted its landing at a Georgia airport before it hit a 60-foot utility pole and crashed in a flaming wreck, killing five people onboard and injuring two, federal authorities said Thursday.

Workers from Georgia Power repair electrical lines near the site of a private jet

 crash east of the Thomson-McDuffie County Airport.

National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt said fuel leaking from the plane ignited in flames Wednesday night after it hit the concrete pole with enough force to sheer off the left wing. He said investigators found pieces of the plane strewn over 100 yards.

View of Vien Guys Jet Crash Site Thomson-McDuffie Airport

"The wreckage was severely fragmented, and it is almost completely destroyed by fire," Sumwalt said at a news conference Thursday afternoon. "...You walk up and you say to yourself, `Where is the airplane?'"
Investigators don't yet know why the plane aborted its landing at Thomson-McDuffie Regional Airport, a small terminal with a 5,500-foot runway about 30 miles west of Augusta.

The plane with seven people aboard had departed from John Tune Airport in Nashville, Tennessee, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said.

Sumwalt said investigators would interview air-traffic controllers to see if the pilots made a distress call and search for a flight-data recorder from the plane that might yield clues. He also said authorities had obtained video from a security camera at the airport but had not yet reviewed it.

The Hawker Beechcraft 390/ Premier I, a small business jet that seats two pilots and six passengers, was carrying five staff members of the Vein Guys clinic of vascular medicine specialists in Augusta, said Dr. Stephen Davis, a plastic surgeon who works for an affiliated Vein Guys clinic in Nashville.

The crash started a brush fire in the woods behind an industrial plant near the airport. Witnesses reported power outages in the area as well.

The private jet had been flying fairly frequently from the Thomson airport during the past several months, said Keith Bounds, the airport's general manager.

"The pilots were familiar with the facility, familiar with the area and familiar with the runway," Bounds said.

"And the airplane was immaculate. The pilots kept it in pristine condition."

The pilots had sent an electronic message to close out their flight plan before the jet overshot the runway - a sign that they began their landing approach without problems, Bounds said. Skies in the area were clear Wednesday night with light wind, he said.

There was no damage or other physical signs that the jet ever touched down on the runway, Bounds said. The plane crossed a five-lane state highway near Interstate 20 before it struck the utility pole about a quarter-mile from the end of the runway.

Friday Wrap Up - Sunshine Edition

CMPD Captain Chuck Adkins termination hearing is now set to be called on Monday February 25 at 8:30 a.m.

The Civil Service Board hearings are held at The Charlotte Mecklenburg Government Center Room 14 Room Basement.

CMPD Chief Rodney Monroe is seeking to fire Capt. Chuck Adkins but as with all terminations officers can appeal the termination to the Civil Service Board.

The board, which can overturn the firing, was scheduled to take up Adkins’ earlier this month but the hearing was postponed at the last moment.

According to the Charlotte Observer "Adkins, was assigned to the watch commander's office often overseeing police operations on nights or weekends, has stated publiclly he doesn’t believe his actions warranted termination. and has asked the hearing be held in public."

Cedar's Take: The highly unusual move should shed some "Sunshine" on CMPD's termination process and the effectiveness of the Civil Service Board.

More from the Charlotte Observer here.

Jerry Orr - Charlotte's curmudgeonly airport manager is keeping a low profile as he continues to push his secession plan. Cedar Posts has long pointed out that Charlotte's cash cow, the airport needed tighter control and should contribute to the city's bottom line.

Now a number of revelations have exposed some shady financial dealings and that is just the tip of the "berg". Meanwhile local Democrats are crying foul, yet make no effort to clean up the mess and there are few if any guarantees that taking the airport away from the City of Charlotte will clean up the mess.

CMPD Promotions - Water cooler talk is that Eddie Levins will be promoted to Deputy Chief and Freda Lester will get the nod to Major. Other promotions will follow, but notable are those who were passed over, including Majors Sheri Pearsal and Cam Selvey.

Cedar's Take: Big Head Ed needs to step up his game and honor the spirit of the thin blue line.

In other words, here is a chance for someone in Command to make a difference, to lead by example. One of the most glaring things I've seen since Chief Monroe's arrival was during a Holiday Event. When it came time to form up at the buffet line, the Chief follow by nearly every DC, Major and Captain lead the way. That, as any military commander would tell you is just all sorts of wrong. Troops eat first, always the Chief should have been last. 

Social Media Follies - While a number of Charlotte's news personalities have Facebook and Twitter accounts, apparently only WCNC "requires" reporters and anchors to "tweet" at least once a day and follow strict guidelines and polices which are deemed to "enhance" the stations visibility.

WCNC's Dianne Gallagher created her "required" Facebook page adding "I reluctantly present my mandatory Facebook Page. I just didn't want to make a page....but I don't really have a choice."

Dianne Gallagher is an award winning reporter/anchor at NBC Charlotte/WCNC. Political junkie. Sport nut. Dog Lover. Polyglot (x6) News tips: dgallagher@wcnc.com

Cedar's Take: Micro managers are the scourge of the business world. In other words, if it is not broken don't fix it.

Charlotte's Mayor Foxx - had his twitter account hacked over the weekend and suddenly his followers found themselves on the receiving end of tweets advertising "Sunshine wants to share her private photos with you".

Cedar's Take: Only an idiot would actually click on the link and then enter his password which automatically turned his account in a spambot.

CMPD Officer Trial Postponed - Cecil Brathwaite who is still on the CMPD payroll was on the Mecklenburg Superior Court calendar this week, but his trial was moved back to April 25, 2013. Brathwaite is charged with false imprisonment and assault with a gun during a domestic dispute with his ex wife and the victim the ex wife's boyfriend.

More on Brathwaite's arrest here.

NOTE: It is not often that CP shuts down the comments on a post. However, when it starts going over the top and the personal attacks get out of hand, it is time to take a deep breath.

If you have a point to make about any of the above items just drop an email to cedarposts@gmail.com and we'll be happy to add your comment.

Carry On - Cedar

CMPD Promotions

Cedar Posts has been hearing that Eddie Levins will get the Deputy Chief spot and Freda Lester will get a promotion to Major.

More to follow.

Meanwhile CMPD Officer Cecil Brathwaite remains on the City of Charlotte payroll, as his court date is now set for April 25, 2013. He is charged with false imprisonment and assault with a gun.

Augusta Georgia Plane Crash

Five bodies from last night’s plane crash at the Thomson-McDuffie County Airport near Augusta Georgia, have been taken to the GBI crime lab in Atlanta.

The aircraft was much like this Beechcraft Hawker

John Bankhead, public information officer for the GA Bureau of Investigation said that the five bodies will undergo autopsies there in the coming days.

McDuffie County Fire Rescue Chief Bruce Tanner said that the bodies were removed from the scene around 4 a.m. today.

Tanner said that the bodies were strewn throughout the main crash site. He added that the wreckage stretched for about a mile.

NTSB officials say the plane was attempting to land at the Thomson McDuffie Regional airport just after 8 p.m. last night when the pilot over-shot the runway.

Witnesses said that they saw the plane over run the runway then pull up to avoid the Milliken plant building. Tanner said that the plane clipped a set of large electric transmission lines that run behind Milliken, shearing off one entire wing.

Power to more than 5,000 electric customers was out for a brief time last night in McDuffie and Columbia counties. The power at the Kinsgley Mill plant was turned back on this morning. Tanner said there were two survivors. One of the survivors was the pilot who was found by rescue workers as they arrived, walking about 300 feet from the wreckage. The other survivor was found in the wreckage still in his front cockpit seat. Both were airlifted out to the GA Regents Medical Center trauma unit; however GRU says that they have one victim at the hospital who is listed in critical condition.

Members of the NTSB go team have arrived in Thomson and are expected to have a press conference sometime today to give preliminary information on the crash. There is still no confirmation on the identities of the victims.

Cedar's Take: This accident has some surprising similarities to the 2010 crash of Jack Roush's private jet at Oshkosh. WI.

Same identical aircraft also doing a go around.

From Wikipedia:

On July 27, 2010, Roush crash-landed in his Hawker Beechcraft Premier 390 jet, (registration N6JR,) during an approach to the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) AirVenture Fly-In in Oshkosh, Wisconsin in the late afternoon.[5] He walked out of the plane and was taken to a nearby hospital.[6] His condition was listed at serious but stable that evening. On August 3, Roush was upgraded to fair condition.[6] On August 13, Roush made his first at track appearance since the incident at the Michigan International Speedway. During that time he confirmed that he fractured his back, broke his jaw, and lost his left eye as a result.[7] The National Transportation Safety Board attributed the cause of the crash to pilot error, specifically, "pilot's decision not to advance the engines to takeoff power during the go-around, as stipulated by the airplane flight manual, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall at a low altitude."

Also see:

http://aol.sportingnews.com/nascar/story/2012-06-22/jack-roush-plane-crash-pilot-error-2010-oshkosh-wisconsin-ntsb-report

The owners of Vein Guys had recently traded up from the Beechcraft King Air to the higher performance Hawker Beechcraft Jet

A Charlotte Streetcar Named Desire

When Tennessee Williams penned his play (A Streetcar Named Desire) in 1947 he set it against the backdrop of changing America, and a clash of cultures. Much as what Charlotte is facing today, a changing city and as Mayor Foxx has pointed out a clash of cultures.

But as Williams' story unfolds the illusion of the principle character Blanche DuBois is exposed.

Charlotte's Mayor Foxx is a lot like Williams' Blanche:

"I don't want realism. I want magic! Yes, yes, magic. I try to give that to people. I do misrepresent things. I don't tell truths. I tell what ought to be truth." Says Blanche Dubois in one scene.

I imagine mayor Foxx much had a deprived childhood, denied magic of that new toy train clicking around the family Christmas tree and this perhaps this is his redemption?

No doubt East Charlotte needs something magic, but you can't correct the sins of our fathers overnight. Misguided rezoning of the 1980's led to a decline in property values and the always spoken in hushed voices "white flight".

Changing demographics, brought on by declining rental rates caused by an over abundance of rental properties built in the 1980s and early 1990's caused the collapse of East Charlotte.

Charlotte needs to learn from her mistakes of the 1980s to insure the blight of East Charlotte stops and does not spread.

“Will it cost us something to build the city that we want to be?” Foxx has asked.

“Yes,” he said. “Pay now, not later. Let’s get it done and make this community what we can make it and
we’re going to be fine.”

I'm sure the city council on 1987 thought the same thing as they approved apartment complex after apartment complex on top of shopping centers and stripmalls.

But, I have yet to see a city study that seeks to understand what happened. How did the once vibrant Central and Albemarle Road area, turn into a wasteland of crime and violence, abandoned businesses and shopping centers?

I have not seen a study of what happened and no real plan beyond "If you build it they will come".

It may be that a Streetcar will help but at what expense to other areas of Charlotte?

The other end of Mayor Foxx's Streetcar Named Desire is West Charlotte or more correctly Beatties Ford Road.

If you drive from the Arena Transit Center toward the Rosa Parks Bus Depot the first thing you notice is most of the property that would front the streetcar is not revenue centric to the city.

Yesterday Charlotte business owner Rasheedah Hasan gave his input on the proposed streetcar during a meeting with West Charlotte residents.

Hasan said that while areas like the Beatties Ford road corridor are "attractive because of their diversity, they lack investors and opportunities for development."

(Cedar's take: Beatties Ford Road has diversity? Seriously?)

Lawanda Mayfield who supports the Streetcar told the group yesterday “Laying those tracks shows permanence. It shows that we’re serious about investment, transportation and infrastructure,”

“At the end of the day, it does take money to make those investments.”

But Mayfield like Mayor Foxx has no answer for where the revenue come from to support the operational expenses? Perhaps it will be magic?

The general theory is that revenue from ridership would not support the operating costs, but that reinvestment in the community would more than pay for the expense.

Except one glaring fault. Property along much of the West Charlotte Streetcar Route is property tax exempt.

Johnson C. Smith owns the property from Montgomery Street to Mill Road, nearly a half mile. Add to that Frazier Park and the I - 77 interchange, numerous churches and public property such as schools and community centers and you suddenly notice that the potential for development from the Arena Transportation Center to the Brookshire Expressway is not there!

In other words the first 2.5 miles of the west portion of the streetcar will have no economic benefit to the city or to the Beatties Ford Road community. The first 2.5 miles will remain pretty much as it is with the exception of magic steel tracks down the center of the street.

Before Charlotte goes on another wild spending spree we should have some direction. Yet in the past plans, be they transportation studies, or zoning have be tossed to the wind. City Council routinely caters to the whims of developers and special interests. Leaving gaps and holes in our communities.

The Streetcar may be Desireable, but does the Mayor's magic just create the what ought to be truth?