Public Conversations

Catholics reacted to the surprising news that Pope Benedict announced his resignation Monday morning. We spoke to a few of them after the noon mass on Monday at St. Peter's Catholic Church.

Kevin Barto says his coworkers and friends have been asking him all morning about what this means for the Catholic Church. He says it's not easy to say what Pope Benedict's legacy will be because he was in the role for such a relatively short amount of time.  

WFAE listeners have e-mailed me about how we should probably change the title of this podcast. They find it offensive. One listener says it reminds him of  "small, off-the-beaten path, lonely, dismal, dark places" and surely, surely, it's not Charlotte that President George Washington was talking about. 

• 49: Percent of tree canopy lost between 1995 and 2008
• One: Public tree for every seven residents
• $11.83: Amount spent per person on its street trees
• 215: Tree species in the city's inventory. Predominant tree species are willow oak and crapemyrtle
• $166: Total benefits of an average street tree
• 28: Million cubic feet of stormwater intercepted annually 
• $2.1: Million dollars in stormwater management savings
  

Mayor Anthony Foxx says the city needs to focus on getting the streetcar and nearly $1 billion capital budget plan approved in order to create more economic opportunities and see Charlotte grow in the future. He spoke at the City Council chamber on Monday morning in an annual state of the city address.

Original estimates placed the economic impact of the DNC in Charlotte between $150 million and $200 million.  We'll know today if it came close. WFAE's Julie Rose reports:

Charlotte tourism officials have been known to over blow predictions of economic impact for various conventions, so they hired an outside firm to come up with a credible number for the DNC. 

Charlotte is ranked third in the nation for paying its bills on time. Not just any bills – pension bills. That's according to a new report by The Pew Charitable Trusts. They found that the country's largest cities have an unpaid tab of more than $200 billion when it comes to retirement benefits promised to employees. And it turns out Charlotte has been preparing for retirement relatively well when it comes to pension plans.  

One indicator of how well you've settled into a place is gaining a sense of the city's "celebrity" culture. Admittedly, I'm nowhere close. So I need your help ... 

I'm working on a list of local celebrities that newcomers to Charlotte should be familiar with (in case you run into them on the street!). Here's what I have so far: