Two Charlotte projects won grants from The Knight Cities Challenge to make it easier for people to navigate the city and engage with local government. Charlotte Center City Partners won with the proposal to fill in two sections of a walking path that runs along the LYNX line called The Rail Trail.
Right now, those areas just north of Remount Road are vacant with fences around them. People often walk close to the train tracks to get by. Erin Gillespie with Center City Partners says the $150,000 grant will be used to create a grove and field to connect the areas and make them safer for pedestrians.
“What we’ll be creating is a temporary, functional pathway through the landscape that exists on these two sites and we’re hoping that it’ll have a walk in the woods feel. It’ll be a really light touch to the site, but it’ll help you get across those two areas safely,” said Gillespie.
Your Move, Charlotte also won a $139,000 grant with the idea for a weekly podcast where government staff and millennials talk about local issues. The idea is to empower millennials to take part in civic life. Government staff will speak about their work and the audience can ask questions at a roundtable discussion.