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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.

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.”

A group of five people huddled in Archie Hoskins’ motel room off Freedom Drive on Nov. 27, with other people circulating in and out throughout the afternoon to check on things or ask a quick question before going about their daily tasks.

The gathering looked like so many families coming together on the day before Thanksgiving to catch up and share memories, but this was a family brought together by necessity — neighbors who had been living in Lamplighter Inn but were now facing eviction by no fault of their own.

Instead of memories, the group shared advice on how to best utilize the support being offered by community organizers like Apryl Lewis and Robert Dawkins, who were there at the motel that afternoon.

When Newell Presbyterian Church opened its first sanctuary in 1892, the area was surrounded by dairy farms, cotton mills, and tobacco fields. Trees covered nearby hills. The city of Charlotte was miles away.

Today, Newell is part of fast-growing northeast Charlotte. Subdivisions and apartment complexes line Rocky River Road West. Another 650-home development is in the works nearby. Bustling commercial districts, as well as one of the state’s largest universities, are minutes away. But few changes have come to the church. A new sanctuary opened in 1979 with room for 200 members. Today, 50 might attend on a given Sunday. “We’ve grown small,” says pastor Matt Conner.

What the church does have is land. Alongside its three buildings is a grassy field on Old Concord Road that makes up half of its 10 acres. A few years ago, Conner and church leaders began to imagine new ways to use it. Conner wondered: Is just cutting the grass cutting it anymore?

CHARLOTTE – The C.W. Williams Community Health Center hosted its 10th annual Back to School Community Health Fair on Aug. 10 at the Stratford Richardson YMCA.

The theme of the event was “Powering Communities Through Caring  Connections.”

The event was part of a national  campaign to increase awareness of the many ways in which community health centers across the country provide affordable healthcare to more than 32 million patients annually.

The C.W. Williams Community Health Center distributed care kits to people experiencing homelessness and provided maternal & child health supplies and educational materials to underserved patients.

Charlotte city leaders OK’d a highly debated development that will introduce more dense housing between the burgeoning East 7th Street corridor and Elizabeth’s quiet residential community.

Why it matters: The development demonstrates the ongoing division in Elizabeth. Neighbors are split over how to preserve the area’s history while embracing its inevitable future as an expansion of center city.

Flashback: Last month, Charlotte City Council voted to defer the rezoning necessary for this project. Some members worried the maximum height of 78 feet would set a precedent for taller buildings. Plus, city staff had recommended denial.

Join At Large Council Member LaWana Mayfield for the This is Your Charlotte Town Hall where you’ll have food, beverages, and positive conversations. Town hall participants include:

• Charlotte Business Inclusion
• City Clerk’s Office
• Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department
• Department of Social Services
• Digital Equity
• District Attorney’s Office
• DreamKey Partners
• Economic Development
• Housing & Neighborhood Services
• Innovation & Technology
• Strategy & Budget

RSVP to LaToya White at latoya.white@charlottenc.gov.

Charlotte’s Black LGBTQ+ history collection includes political victories, Pride and personal stories, but needs the community’s help to grow.

Beyond a wall of glass and just off the elevator on the tenth floor of the J. Murray Atkins Library at UNC Charlotte, you will find the Dalton Reading Room, a semi-circular space lined with rare books and study tables. The space is open to the public, although appointments are recommended, and it is where Qnotes went recently to view items from the university’s special collection and archives, specifically those that document Charlotte’s Black LGBTQ+ community.

Since 2013, the collection at UNC Charlotte has included the King Henry Brockington LGBTQ+ Archive, a community project designed to collect, preserve, and protect the LGBTQ+ community history of Charlotte. Named after Don King, Sue Henry and Blake Brockington, the collection covers primarily the 1970s-present, with personal papers, oral histories, organizational records, ephemera and the full archive of Qnotes. While named after Brockington, it includes no items from his life beyond the past issues of Qnotes. That absence is indicative of a problem archives face when trying to document Black LGBTQ+ history. Discrimination in both communities has limited the stories that are often recorded.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — While a CATS bus driver is still recovering after being shot by a stray bullet, his congregation is recognizing the bus operator and calling his survival a miracle.

The Throne Of Grace Ministries in East Charlotte held a special service for Zavier Austin who was shot while driving a CATS bus earlier this month.

Several community supporters were in attendance, including Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden who also spoke at the service. Sheriff McFadden said that spirits were high during service. His concern focuses on how to better protect and manage public transportation buses during emergencies.

“We just come to celebrate it and support him. And let him know he has support throughout the year, and the coming months of his recovery,” McFadden said.

LaWana Mayfield, a Charlotte city council member, echoed the call for more action in keeping those behind the wheel safe from violence.