Charlotte spent more than $64K on City Council Germany trip. How did they spend it?

Thursday, January 16, 2025 | The Charlotte Observer, Mary Ramsey

Charlotte spent more than $64,000 to send a delegation of City Council members and staff to Germany in 2024 for an economic development trip that coincided with a Carolina Panthers game in Munich.

The city revealed the final price tag for the November trip Wednesday: $64,488.86.

The majority of the City Council — Mayor Pro Tem Dante Anderson and Council members Ed Driggs, Marjorie Molina, Tariq Bokhari, Malcolm Graham, LaWana Mayfield and Victoria Watlington — made the trip alongside six city staff members, according to the new information provided by the city in response to a public records request. The city paid for everyone’s lodging and most other expenses, though Bokhari “declined out-of-pocket reimbursements.”

The trip also included representatives from Mecklenburg County, the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance and the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority.

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City’s new year push for affordable housing: 200 units open in southwest Charlotte

Wednesday, January 15, 2025 | WSOCTV, Eli Brand

CHARLOTTE — A new year in Charlotte marks a new fight to get more affordable housing in the fast-growing city but a city councilwoman said the concern to find people homes is ongoing and could have repercussions.

On Wednesday, 200 more units opened in southwest Charlotte at the Residences at Cedar Creek.

“I’m just so thankful for the community that I’m in today,” said resident Gwendolyn Twiggs. “Good people. Clean. Just enjoying it.”

Twiggs said she experienced homelessness for months after her mother died in 2023.

The opportunity is something she is grateful for.

“Never been through that before,” she said. “Just to have the opportunity today, in my life, to have my own place. It means a lot to me.”

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