5 Things to Know: Settlement Reached in ‘Cop City’ Lawsuit

Settlement Reached in ‘Cop City’ Lawsuit

The two parties involved in a lawsuit related to the development of a public safety training facility on Central Piedmont Community College’s (CPCC) Levine campus in Matthews, dubbed “Cop City” by opposition, have come to an agreement, quashing the suit.

Plaintiffs filed the lawsuit in April, alleging a lack of transparency around the project and challenging the banishment from campus of two women who attended a public meeting to inquire about it. This week they dropped the lawsuit with prejudice, meaning they can’t refile, after CPCC officials agreed to lift the ban and respond to another plaintiff’s pending public records requests by the end of the month.

“This settlement is a step forward — not just for us, but for everyone who cares about transparency and accountability in public institutions,” stated Xavier Torres de Janon, one of the plaintiffs in the case, in a release announcing the settlement on Tuesday. “We spoke up because we believed our voices — and our community’s right to know — mattered.”

CPCC denied any wrongdoing as part of the settlement. The suit had alleged that the college had contacted the employer of the one of the women who had been banned from campus.

Named Community Lifeline by developers, the project will be split into two parts. The main development will include training facilities for law enforcement, fire and rescue, EMS, forensics, detention and telecommunication staff on 24 acres northeast of the existing campus that was gifted to the college by Hendrick Automotive Group last summer.

That portion will include a single-family residential home, a townhouse, a convenience store, a burn building, a vehicle burn area, an entrapment space, and an indoor firing range. Another related facility to the west of campus will include a driver training course for first responders, taking up 14 acres of existing Central Piedmont property.

Mecklenburg County has allocated $116 million of the project’s $118 million estimated total cost. While the idea for the project was first proposed in 2022, CPCC did not announce it until July 2024, the lawsuit claimed. Residents have opposed the development for a range of reasons including environmental issues, concerns about the presence of a firing range on campus, and the need for broader police reform.

Anti-DEI Bills Pass Through NCGA

Republicans in the NCGA on Thursday passed House Bill 171 (“Equality in State Agencies/Prohibition on DEI”) and Senate bills 227 and 558 (“Eliminating “DEI” in Higher Education”), sending the bills to Gov. Josh Stein’s desk for signatures that they aren’t likely to get.

HB 171 asserts that no state agency can “promote, support, fund, implement or maintain workplace DEI programs, policies, or initiatives.” If signed into law, Republican state auditor Dave Boliek would conduct periodic audits of state agencies to ensure compliance and any state employee who violated the law could lose their job and face a misdemeanor criminal charge.

A press release from Democracy North Carolina on Thursday warned that Republican lawmakers are dismantling decades of civil rights progress and systematically excluding entire communities from public life.

“Make no mistake: The crusade against DEI is not about ‘merit’ or ‘excellence.’ It is about power and exclusion,” stated Adrienne Kelly, executive director of Democracy North Carolina. “As an organization dedicated to protecting voting rights and democratic participation, we recognize this assault for what it truly is — the age-old white supremacist backlash against any social progress for marginalized people.”

The release pointed out a couple of particular concerns the organization has with HB 171: the enforcement mechanisms that threaten public employees with termination, civil lawsuits, or Class 1 misdemeanor charges for promoting inclusive workplaces while granting the state auditor broad powers to conduct audits and punish any perceived violations.

“This is voter suppression extended into every corner of our democratic institutions,” Kelly warned. “When you criminalize efforts to make our government more representative and inclusive, you’re attacking the very principle that democracy works best when all voices are heard. Yesterday’s ‘political correctness’ and ‘wokeness’ accusations have evolved into today’s anti-DEI crusade, but the goal remains unchanged: to roll back the hard-won victories of Reconstruction, Civil Rights, and every movement that has pushed America toward true democracy.”

All votes occurred along party lines, which will make it difficult for supporters to overturn a potential veto from Stein.

New Bill Would Overhaul State Elections Office

Republicans on Thursday introduced and moved forward with a sweeping elections bill that would convert a third of existing staff positions at the state elections office to political appointments, allowing for NC State Board of Elections Director Sam Hayes to build an office of folks who will support his agenda.

Addressing the House Elections Committee about House Bill 958 on Thursday morning, Hayes said, “These positions would just allow me the flexibility that I need to conduct that reorganization and make sure that folks that are surrounding me, certainly my direct reports and I, are aligned on the vision for the agency as I set forward,” he said, as reported by NC Newsline. “But I want to assure everybody today that we are going to do this in a nonpartisan fashion.”

The bill would also allow foreign nationals to contribute to ballot measures in the state as long as those contributions are “derived solely from funds generated by operations in the United States” and “all decisions concerning the contribution are made by an individual or group of individuals who are citizens or lawful permanent residents of the United States.”

The North Carolina Democratic Party sent out its response on Thursday afternoon with a statement from Chair Anderson Clayton that read, “After making North Carolina the only state where the auditor controls elections, NC Republicans have now introduced changes to make the State Board of Elections among the most political state agencies when it needs to be the least.

“On top of that,” Clayton continued, “this bill would create a loophole large enough to drive a truck through, opening the door for foreign money to be spent on ballot initiative campaigns. After spending the last five months trying to overturn an election, the last thing North Carolinians need from the NCGOP is more of their extreme partisanship and dark money in our elections.”

Mayor Shuts Down Further Discussion of Help for Airport Workers

Earlier this month, we reported on the months-long campaign to ensure better conditions and living wages for workers at Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT). Near the end of Monday night’s Charlotte City Council meeting, Mayor Vi Lyles casted the tiebreaking vote denying a motion that the issue be sent to committee for further discussion.

Interim city attorney Anthony Fox has repeatedly insisted that state law limits the city from providing much recourse to airport workers because, though the city does own the airport, the workers in question are not considered city employees. Many of those campaigning for better conditions and wages are employed by ABM and Prospect, which are contracted by American Airlines to provide workers such as cabin cleaners, wheelchair operators and other positions.

Fox’s claims were in reference to demands from the SEIU and other advocates that the city pass a Charlotte Acting for Safety and Efficiency (CASE) ordinance that would set minimum standards for wages, benefits and training for workers employed by companies that the city permits to operate at CLT.

Monday night’s motion, however, was not to pass the CASE ordinance but was instead based on a request from some council members to explore options for how the city could change its procurement policy so as to ensure proper treatment of employees by companies the city works with during the RFP bidding process.

Council members Renee Johnson, Tiawana Brown, LaWana Mayfield, Victoria Watlington and Dimple Ajmera voted to further explore the issue while Malcolm Graham, Dante Anderson, Marjorie Molina, Edwin Peacock III and Ed Driggs voted to deny the motion.

James “Smuggie” Mitchell was absent from Monday night’s meeting, which left Mayor Lyles to cast the deciding vote.

“This is not ready to be placed on the agenda right now and we have to work a little bit harder … so I’m breaking the tie,” Lyles said.

PAVE Act Sent to Stein’s Desk

House Bill 948, aka the PAVE Act, passed both chambers of the NCGA and was sent to Gov. Josh Stein’s desk on Thursday, which means Mecklenburg County voters will have the chance to vote on a one-cent sales tax increase that, if approved this November, will fund the city of Charlotte’s wide-ranging transit plan.

If approved by voters, the new funding would be split across key transportation priorities: 40% for road improvements, 40% for light rail expansion, and 20% for bus service upgrades. A plan to fund a light rail extension from the Charlotte Douglas International Airport to Matthews was included in earlier drafts of the bill but later removed.

Sustain Charlotte praised the passage of the bill in a release on Thursday, pointing out that this week’s heat wave only emphasizes the need to confront our region’s single largest source of climate-changing pollution: the proliferation of cars and trucks.

“By moving this forward, our state leaders are affirming that every family and worker, no matter where they live or how they travel, deserves better access to opportunity,” stated Shannon Binns, executive director of Sustain Charlotte. “This tax will help fund transit, roads, sidewalks, and bike infrastructure, strengthening our economy, reducing congestion, improving public health, advancing equity, and protecting our environment.”