Our Walk Your Neighborhood launch made quite an impact! Over 125 residents from Belmont, Plaza Midwood, Commonwealth Morningside, Commonwealth Park, Chantilly, and Elizabeth came out to #WalkCLT on Saturday! Thanks to #thesavageway and our amazing volunteers, pedestrian wayfinding signs are now in place at both ground and eye-level. These signs tell residents how many minutes it will take to walk to eight destinations such as the nearest grocery store, antique shop, park or yoga studio. We are so proud to have such great resident and business support of this initiative, powered by OrthoCarolina, that promotes walking as a form of transportation!

This pilot project is the first of its kind, and we hope to expand it to other neighborhoods throughout Charlotte! Let's get walking, Charlotte!

Mary Newsom of PlanCharlotte outlines the importance of our #WalkCLT initiative and how the idea got started: "To be truly walkable, a neighborhood needs more than sidewalks and safe street crossings. Those are important, but an often overlooked factor is whether it has places to walk to, such as stores, coffee shops, schools and parks..." Click here to read the full article. 

Click below to check out this great news segment, featured on Fox 46, that highlights the goals and impact of our project:

Next up: Join our Giving Tuesday campaign! After battling the crowds and getting amazing deals on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, wouldn’t it feel great to do something for “good”? Here’s your chance! Giving Tuesday, coming up on December 1, is a global day dedicated to giving. Help us reach our goal of raising $5,000! Here's how you can help NOW:

• Like us on social media and share our posts (facebook, Twitter, Instagram; use hashtag #GivingTuesdayCLT)
• Click here now to give a gift via our Amazon wish list that will directly support our events and initiatives!

GivingTuesdayCLT.org

If you are looking for new and transformative ways to get involved in your community, join the Sustain Charlotte Community Corps! This group is made up of a core team of dedicated volunteers who will be partnering with a neighborhood in Charlotte each year to further assist residents in realizing the sustainable vision plan they created for their community. We are launching the formation of this group this Thursday! See the events section below for more information!

We are happy to give a warm welcome to our newest member: Adam Raskoskie! We sincerely appreciate the support of our mission and your community through membership! 

Local residents like you play a critical role in ensuring we have the resources to carry out our work in the community to inspire choices that lead to a healthier and more vibrant community for generations to come! Help us do more by becoming a Sustain Charlotte member today for as little as $3/month -- that's one cup of coffee! Click to learn how easily you can support our mission and your community via membership: 

Big beige rectangles: What’s wrong with design in Charlotte and why it needs to change [CharlotteAgenda]

"Among the many apartment complexes around town, some get it right and some get it oh, so wrong... So what is the root of this problem?... The city reviews these projects and lets them pass through to construction phase. If there were any set design standards in place the developers couldn’t get away with designing and building the cheapest possible option. Developers are generally (not all of them but it’s obviously the ultimate goal, and I don’t blame them) just in it to make a buck, throw up a product as fast as possible, market it with flashy, 'modern' design and say stuff like we have a dog washing station and a salt water pool to get people in the units. The city has the opportunity to step in a say, 'No, you need retail on the ground floor' or 'No, you need to add some color' but they don’t." We absolutely agree with the author that the city can prevent this kind of bad development that does not enhance the public, pedestrian realm! The City needs to set design standards in order to ensure smart growth in Charlotte.

12 acres of Eastland site could be sold to CMS next month [Charlotte Observer]

"Charlotte hopes to sell 12 acres of the former Eastland Mall site to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools next month, which would be the first step in redeveloping the empty property. The city’s plan is for CMS to build a K-8 school on the northeast corner of the 80-acre property, which the city bought in 2012 for $13 million. After that, the next step would be to partner with Mecklenburg County to build a 22-acre park, whose focus would be a lake acting as a stormwater retention pond... The vision is to have a network of streets inside the site, with houses, apartments, retail and office space." We think it is a wonderful idea to build a school and park on this site along with other mixed-use development! This is the kind of development that is an investment in our future, and an example of how we can grow smarter.

Sign the petition for the Parkwood Avenue "Road Diet"! 

On September 12, 2015, 73 year-old Al Gorman was struck and killed by a car while riding his bicycle on the sidewalk along Parkwood Ave near Hawthorne. A “ghost bike” was placed at the collision site to memorialize him and remind drivers to watch for cyclists and pedestrians. Less than a month later, another collision occurred at the same site, destroying the ghost bike memorial. Sign this petition that asks Charlotte City Council to make Parkwood Avenue and The Plaza safer through modifications to the streetscape, also known as a “road diet”! Neighborhood residents and visitors deserve streets that are safe for all users: pedestrians, people on bikes, transit riders, and motorists. People of all ages and abilities should be able to travel throughout these neighborhoods without fear of being struck and killed by a car!

November 12 - CityLYNX Gold Line Phase 2 Public Meeting

6:00pm - 7:30 pm @ Hawthorne Lane United Methodist Church, Evans Hall, 501 Hawthorne Lane, Charlotte 28204. This is a public meeting that will inform the community on phase two planning updates, construction information, and provide citizens with an opportunity to ask questions. Click here for more information. 

* November 12 - Sustain Charlotte Community Corps Launch! *

5:30pm - 7:30pm @ Vida Vida, 210 E Trade St, Charlotte, 28202 (Epicenter). Sustain Charlotte is forming a dedicated group of individuals who work with community leaders to put neighborhood vision plans into action. This group will work with neighborhood residents to host various events and projects to improve the neighborhood's sustainability. There is no cost to join. Join us to launch the Community Corps and choose your role in building a sustainable future for Charlotte neighborhoods! Click here for more information.

November 14 - Free One-Day Paper Shredding Event

8:00am - 12:00pm @ all Mecklenburg County's full service recycling drop-off center locations. We all know that protecting personal information and the environment are equally important. In celebration of America Recycles Day, you can do it safely and for free thanks to Mecklenburg County Solid Waste Services! Click here for more information.

We are happy to announce that The Home Collection and RED Group have renewed their partnership at the Silver level! We are proud to have their support of our mission and your community through partnership!