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IPO in the business world means Initial Public Offering. In many ways, Charlotte and its neighboring communities are just now “going public,” as the region’s national and international profile grows. WFAE News presents IPO Charlotte, an on-going and in-depth look at our region’s emerging economic, social, political and cultural identity.
“These reports are designed to help bring greater understanding and awareness of the issues and trends shaping our region,” said Mark Rumsey, WFAE News Director. “IPO Charlotte will dig beneath the surface to shed light on the Charlotte region today and tomorrow.”
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How Green is Charlotte?
"Going green" has become a common catch phrase for cities across the country in the past year. In Charlotte the trend is alive and well. But just how environmentally-friendly is the Queen City? In this final segment of our series, WFAE's Simone Orendain explores that question.
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Keeping Charlotte Clean
Charlotte is a city proud of its sparkling skyline, lush canopy of trees, and its image as a clean city. But how clean is Charlotte, really? WFAE’s Mark Rumsey looks at “visual pollution” in Charlotte, and what’s being done to keep things tidy.
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Clearing the Air
Throughout the Charlotte region people are breathing some of the state's most polluted air. Much of the pollution comes from power plants, but even more comes from cars and trucks. And with more people moving to the region everyday and bringing their autos with them that pollution is increasing. In this installment of IPO Charlotte WFAE's Lisa Miller takes a look at Charlotte’s air quality and what’s at stake as the region tries to clear the air.
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Charlotte's Future Water
We enter the final month of this series by turning our attention toward the environment. Charlotte gets its water from the nearby Catawba River system. The watershed isn’t that large, and the region’s growth shows few signs of slowing. In this next installment of IPO Charlotte, WFAE’s Scott Graf reports on the future of Charlotte’s water.
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Property Crime in Charlotte
Property crime doesn’t grab media attention nearly as much as violent crime. But in Charlotte, it’s the most prevalent crime and also one of the most preventable. In this segment of IPO Charlotte, WFAE’s Simone Orendain reports on why property crime numbers are so high and what’s being done to try to keep them down.
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Charlotte's Gangs
WFAE News continues reporting on crime in the city with a look at gangs. Police have documented more than a hundred gangs at work in the Charlotte area, some of them bearing the titles of big West and East coast gangs, others with more homegrown names. WFAE’s Lisa Miller reports on Charlotte’s brand of gangs and efforts to prevent their spread.
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Who is Committing Crime in Charlotte?
WFAE continues reporting on crime in the city with a look at who’s committing the crime. Numbers from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department show four out of every five people it arrested from 2004 to 2006 were African American. According to the most recent census, about 30% of the county’s population is black. WFAE’s Scott Graf reports on what experts say are some of the causes for the disparity and what they think can be done to turn it around.
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Crime: Perceptions Match Reality?
One of the biggest issues in Charlotte is crime. Over the next few weeks we’ll look at the crime situation in Charlotte, including reports on who is responsible for much of the crime in Charlotte, gang activity in the region, and the rising number of property crimes. First, though, we’ll try to gauge whether or not Charlotte is truly a high crime area. News reports of homicide, assault and robbery grab the public’s attention, but some argue this gives a false impression of our city. WFAE’s Craig Fahle looks at whether the perception of crime in Charlotte matches up with reality.
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Private Education in Demand
The ever increasing number of students in the Charlotte area is causing rapid growth among all schools, public and private. WFAE’s Mark Rumsey looks at the rise in demand for private school education and how these schools are responding to the challenges growth brings.
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Keeping Teachers in the Classroom
We look at the difficulty the area faces in trying to attract quality teachers. Once those teachers get here, how do we keep them? With school districts under increasing pressure to raise scores on standardized tests, having qualified folks in the classroom is crucial.
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School Performance
This week, we tried to get a sense of what area schools are doing to increase school performance. But what exactly constitutes quality? The most common measure of a school’s quality is test scores. But many people see this as a “one size fits all” approach that doesn’t accurately reflect a school’s true performance.
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School Overcrowding
Even if every bond issue being floated by school districts all around the region were to pass, it still might not be enough to keep up with demand. So, instead of just pointing out that kids are learning in trailers, we thought we’d look at how schools are handling a situation that we’ll all be dealing with for quite a while.
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Walking and Biking in Charlotte
This week we’re looking at what Charlotte is doing to make the city more bike and pedestrian friendly. The city’s new development strategy is counting somewhat heavily on people leaving the cars at home…but to do that, and make people feel safe in doing so, the city admits that some more work needs to be done.
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Charlotte's Rail System
This week, we take a look at the proposal for light rail and commuter rail in Charlotte. Instead of focusing on the exact details of where and when the rail will (or perhaps won’t) be built, we decided to look at the concept of the rail system as a development tool for the region.
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Riding the Bus in Charlotte
With all of the talk about light rail v. road construction, we thought it important to examine the part of the mass transit puzzle that’s already in place, namely the CATS bus system.
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Traffic Congestion
When WFAE commissioned a study last year to examine what issues were important to Charlotte area residents, infrastructure needs were high on the list. One of the pitfalls of rapid growth is rapid increases in traffic problems.
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Native Charlotteans' Reactions to Newcomers
With the influx of new residents to the area, natives find themselves dealing with new customs, foods, accents and more. WFAE's Craig Fahle takes a look at how those natives are reating to their new neighbors.
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Latino Influx
WFAE's Simone Orendain reports on the region's fastest growing segment of immigrants - Latinos.
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Northeastern Bankers
For the next few weeks we are going to talk about some of the groups of folks that are flocking to Charlotte in big numbers. We start with a look a the Northeasterners who have made Charlotte home.
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