Photo: City of Charlotte There has been a lot of news coming from CATS recently. We attended the recent Metropolitan Transit Commission meeting on Wednesday, Mar. 22 to hear the latest from interim CATS CEO Brent Cagle. The meeting opened with Mayor Lyles expressing the need for a “candid conversation” about the May 2022 Lynx Blue Line derailment that came to light a few weeks ago. Cagle then delivered a CATS Management Partners Update presentation, outlining the successes of the department, including steady bus and rail operations and a stable budget.    Continue reading

Photo: Charlotte Area Transit System If you live in Huntersville, Corneliu​s and Davidson, perhaps you’re familiar with North Meck Village Rider, a bus service with three dedicated routes that connect to several Charlotte Area Transportation System (CATS) fixed-route services and two park-and-ride stops. While the North Meck Village Rider follows a set schedule along the main routes, it also serves destinations up to ¾-mile off of them. Riders can schedule a pick-up and drop-off point and time with a customer service agent one day in advance.  Soon, CATS will pilot a microtransit program that may replace the North Meck Village Rider network.  Continue reading

Despite a postponement, rain, and chilly temps, our March 10 group walk on Irwin and Stewart Greenways was a success! We co-hosted the walk with AARP Charlotte, in partnership with our Growing Our Greenways friends, Partners for Parks and Carolina Thread Trail.  Continue reading

As our community finds new ways to reconnect in these post-pandemic times, Sustain Charlotte is bringing people together to have fun, build connections with each other, and find common ground in our shared advocacy interests.  What better way to do that than through games! We hosted our very first Sustainability Game Night at Divine Barrel Brewing on Wednesday evening.  Continue reading

As Charlotte’s population grows, how should city leaders balance the needs for more compact development and a healthy tree canopy? On Monday, Mar. 6, the City of Charlotte’s Transportation, Planning, and Development Committee met to discuss the city’s tree canopy status and upcoming projects. Tim Porter, Charlotte’s Chief Urban Forester, gave an update on the citywide tree canopy analysis, which will be completed this year using top-down GIS techniques, including aerial imagery, LiDAR, and heat mapping. Continue reading

Credit: The City of Charlotte Planning Department What is Community Area Planning? Community Area Planning (CAP) is the next step in helping Charlotte grow in an intentional, sustainable, and equitable way. The planning process, which invites participation from members of the community and intentionally includes their input in decisions, builds upon the vision and goals stated in the 2040 Comprehensive Plan (https://cltfuture2040.com). The information gathered from this initiative will provide more detailed guidance regarding development, infrastructure, transportation, and other critical quality-of-life influencers for each of the 14 community areas throughout Charlotte (the Uptown area has its planning process separate from this effort).  Community Area Planning aims to capture each geography’s distinctive needs and character while accounting for surrounding areas to inform decisions about development and growth. That’s where you come in! The more voices in the conversation, the better we can plan for our community’s future. Continue reading

Dennis Markatos-Soriano, East Coast Greenway Alliance Executive Director, shares the organization's vision. Photo: Lauren Sawyers Last night, Sustain Charlotte hosted the latest program in our Growing our Greenways series, an initiative to highlight the many benefits of greenways and to amplify the voices of Mecklenburg County residents and organizations advocating for equitable and expedited construction of our county greenway network. The purpose of this event was to explore new ways of funding greenways and options for building them faster. Two of the main goals set forth by the Growing our Greenways initiative are to allocate sufficient resources in the next Capital Improvement Program and enhance organizational support and processes to enable completion of at least 50 additional miles of greenways by end of fiscal year 2028, and to determine and provide the resources needed to substantially complete the Greenway Master Plan by 2035. This panel discussion was headlined by Dennis Markatos-Soriano, executive director of the East Coast Greenway Alliance, the nonprofit working to build out the 3,000-mile East Coast Greenway to connect 15 states and 450 cities and towns from Maine to Florida. Their Greenways for All initiative is designed to support communities from Maine to Florida in accessing funding for greenways and trails in order to foster a safe walking and biking route along this entire east coast corridor.  Continue reading

Editor's note: This is a guest post from Insight Architects, one of Sustain Charlotte's supporting partners.  In today’s industrial and fast-paced climate, buildings account for roughly 70% of all U.S.  electricity consumption and 40% of all U.S. energy consumption. Therefore, the notion of designing buildings that give back to our grid, or at least do not consume as much energy as before, is reframing the way design materializes in a bid to better our future environment. Continue reading

Sweeping views. Crisp air. Miles of trails and streams. Who doesn't love a trip to the mountains? We want to tell you about a place you can stay in luxury in North Carolina's High Country that aligns with our sustainability values. Continue reading

Charlotte has a new bicycle planner in town. Dave Campbell started his new job with the Charlotte Department of Transportation in December after a long advocacy career, including the last 10 years as advocacy director for Bike East Bay in California. Continue reading