Council Quickies: Violence Prevention and Arts Funding

Charlotte City Council held a business meeting on Monday night, beginning with a presentation on violence prevention measures happening at the city, county and hospital levels that led to an in-depth discussion among council members. Council also voted on a new governing structure for arts funding, among other agenda items.

On the Agenda:

• Violence As a Public Health Crisis
• Arts, Science, and Culture Council Governance Board
• Other Business Items

Violence As a Public Health Crisis

Monday night’s meeting began with an action review presentation titled Violence As a Public Health Crisis that provided an overview of Mecklenburg County’s Violence Prevention Plan, Atrium Health’s Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Program, and the city of Charlotte’s Alternatives to Violence program.

Dr. Raynard Washington, director of Mecklenburg County Public Health, began with the county’s plan, which was put together in 2022. 

“The Way Forward” is a five-tear countywide violence prevention plan with a goal to reduce shootings and homicides by 10% each through community programming such as its Gun Violence Awareness Month educational campaign that distributed 1,140 gun locks to encourage secure gun storage and increase awareness of gun safety.  

In its first 3 years, Atrium Health’s Project BOOST violence prevention program has encountered 270 patients, most of whom were gunshot victims, and enrolled 131 of them. Less than 12% have come back to the hospital and 69% have made progress toward goals set based on Social Drivers of Health Needs.

Dr. Raquishela Stewart with Charlotte’s Housing and Neighborhood Services led a presentation on the city’s Alternatives to Violence programs. Last month we reported on the most recent launch on Nations Ford Road.

Stewart stated that ATV teams have hosted 76 community activities with 3,500 residents. Staff has logged 6,500 canvassing hours and 139 interruptions, engaging 84 participants and 4,800 key individuals. 

Stewart highlighted one community event in which ATV team members hosted a midnight basketball game last summer with participants representing all three sites across the city (Beatties Ford, West Boulevard, Nations Ford) that went smoothly and successfully.

Read more: New Alternatives to Violence Team Launches on West Boulevard

“Despite our best efforts, in the eyes of the public we still are falling short,” said Malcolm Graham. He added that the presentations look great but what people were seeing on the news was a woman gunned down at the Ella B. Scarborough Center on Friday and a deadly shootout in a gas station on Freedom Drive over the weekend.

Graham said he had a constituent text him during Monday night’s presentation complaining about open-air drug sales on a city-owned lot on Beatties Ford Road just a block from the CMPD station.

Ed Driggs said council is “dodging a question” as there are difficult decisions to be made regarding harsher enforcement, which will in turn bring up tough questions around discrimination and targeting certain populations. 

“I don’t think there is a completely painless way to tackle this,” Driggs said. “I am grateful for every instance of intervention and every life that can be saved but I’m not seeing from the data and I’m certainly not hearing from [constituents] that they are encouraged by what they are seeing.” 

“Two statements can be true at the same time,” said Tariq Bokhari. “A lot of people can be doing a lot of great work and violent crime is at unacceptable levels.” He wants to seek more scalable solutions while continuing the work that’s being done.

Bokhari suggested a “Charlotte’s Most Wanted List” so that when a repeat offender who’s been in and out of the justice system dozens of times is re-arrested it can be red-flagged for the DA and the magistrate so they’re not released quickly to continue racking up offenses.

LaWana Mayfield said that as long as the city continues to become more unaffordable for people already struggling financially, we will continue to see issues. She said the conversation starts in the home. “It takes a village, and let’s be honest, our village has been scattered.”

Multiple council members decried the fact that CMPD has just 1,900 officers to serve a population of nearly 1 million during Monday night’s discussion.

City staff will spend the next 45 days working to create a collaborative plan with violence prevention and enforcement strategies that council can vote on in March to continue their anti-violence work. 

Arts, Science, and Culture Council Governance Board

Council on Monday voted on the structure for a new Arts, Science, and Culture Council (ASCC) Governance Board, which will distribute allocated grant funds related to the local arts.

The proposed ASCC Governance Board will consist of 17 members: five county appointees, five city appointees, three Foundation for the Carolinas appointees, two appointees from surrounding Mecklenburg towns, and two appointees from the ASCC Grants Committee.

According to the city: “The ASCC Governance Board will also appoint cultural professionals with subject matter expertise to be charged with making funding and programmatic recommendations to the ASCC Governance Board for consideration.”

“The disconnect is, who’s really accountable for this governance board?” asks LaWana Mayfield. “What this recommendation tonight is saying is that our five appointees alone … that in essence is our way of making sure the city’s expectations are heard.”

Dimple Ajmera asked why the $2 million that was reserved for individual artists and independent arts organizations in last year’s budget still hasn’t been allocated. 

City manager Marcus Jones told Ajmera that the original plan was to task Charlotte Is Creative with allocating those funds but that was stopped by council members, who asked that an RFP be put out, which is now holding up the process.

“I don’t want to do nothing, I don’t want to continue down the same path, but this [governance board] feels like reinvesting in the same approach we were taking before except now we have less opportunity to have a direct decision-making space,” said Victoria Watlington. 

Despite many unanswered questions from multiple council members around how the plan will be implemented, some reluctant Yes votes helped the vote pass and the city will move forward with the new Arts, Science, and Culture Council Governance Board. Only Watlington and Renee Johnson voted No.

Other Business Items

Council heard about a Charlotte Water project to build and maintain a 5,900-foot wastewater sewer line through Davidson that will serve as “backbone infrastructure” to open up development in that part of the town, as was requested by Davidson Board of Commissioners in 2016.

Council was set to approve condemnation by eminent domain of six parcels off Shearer Road owned by three families (36+ acres total) as part of the consent agenda but it was pulled for separate vote after an attorney representing the three families spoke asking council to deny the transactions.

Council members appeared unclear on the implications of the vote. The original motion to move forward with the deal failed before a second motion to defer the decision until the next business meeting (Feb. 24) passed.

Council voted to annex a 12.68-acre parcel in northeast Mecklenburg County, located west of Interstate 485 along Rocky River Road and John Russell Road, to facilitate the development of 115 multifamily attached units and 9,000 square feet of commercial space.

Council approved the annexation of 23.54 acres located along the west side of Steele Creek Road and the south side of Parkside Crossing Drive in southwest Charlotte to facilitate the development of 143 multifamily attached dwelling units.

The final annexation of the night was the biggest: 70 acres located west of I-485 along the west side of Dixie River Road, north of Westbound Drive. Part of the larger River District project, this “River North” site will include 167 single-family homes and 261 multi-family units.

Council approved a $5.1-million Housing Trust Fund allocation for the acquisition and rehabilitation of the existing Sharon Pointe Apartments, a 190-unit complex behind East Town Market near the intersection of Sharon Amity Road and Milton Road, to serve as naturally occurring affordable housing.

A 20-year deed restriction will preserve the 190 units to remain at the following average median income levels: 57 units at or below 30% AMI, 95 units at or below 60% AMI, and 38 units at or below 80% AMI.

Charlotte City Council will gather for a zoning meeting on Monday, Feb. 20.