Charlotte City Council adopted a framework Monday night for its equity in government plan, which means it will consider racial and other inequities when voting on new policies. It’s an effort to prioritize disenfranchised residents.
Mayor pro tem Braxton Winston called it a living document that will guide the council going forward.
“How do we discern what is equitable as we make our own decisions,” he said. “Again, this is something that staff does not necessarily always feel comfortable doing, but we’ve charged them with this and we’re giving them more work to do to learn from us, to learn from the community and to, again, help future councils make more equitable decisions.”
Republican council members Tariq Bokhari and Ed Driggs voted against the framework.
“The difficulty I have with this is I think it still, as I felt our 2040 plan did, it conjures up a kind of us versus them situation,” Driggs said. “I don’t want to look like I disagree with any of the values that are expressed by this plan but I’m not sure this is a good way to go about it.”
Driggs said including the word “prioritize” in the plan appears to endorse taking something away from one group and giving to another.
“Maybe we should just say ‘support,’” he said. “We can all win here. There is no need to make this out to be a zero-sum game.”
One example of policy guided through a racial equity lens at the meeting is a decision this summer changing how residents can get speed humps on their streets. Previous policy only allowed homeowners to petition the city for those traffic controls. The new policy also allows renters to be part of the process.
Council advances Strategic Energy Action Plan
Five city facilities will be getting solar panels after the Charlotte City Council voted Monday night to award a $1.7 million contract to Renu Energy for engineering and installation at sites including Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police’s Central Division station, the police and fire training academy and the Government Center.
Council also approved nearly $28 million for up to 24 more electric buses. Charlotte has already added some electric buses and plans to have 18 in the fleet by the end of the year. Both expenditures are part of the city’s Strategic Energy Action Plan, which has a goal of 100 percent energy use from zero-carbon sources by 2030.
The full meeting can be seen here:
