theCLog

Every year I’m amazed by our city’s generosity during the holidays. We band together to make sure poor kids get toys from Santa, we donate through work, church and at the entrances of shopping malls. Also, every year, I wonder why we can’t be this generous year ’round?

Here’s my challenge to you: Every time you go to the grocery store, look through your pantry for non-perishable foods that your family isn’t going to eat. Set them aside.

Every time you go to to the pharmacy or a box store for paper goods, buy an extra package of toilet paper, an extra tooth brush, an extra box of bottle of cleaner. Set those items aside.

Once a month, haul those “extras” to the food pantry nearest your home.

In this second, though, I urge you to give cash to Loaves and Fishes, Second Harvest, Food Pantry, the Urban Ministry Center …

For the first winter in its 34-year-history, Charlotte’s Loaves & Fishes pantry program is worried it may not be able to meet the needs of the community’s hungry.

The network of 18 Mecklenburg County food pantries is seeing record numbers of clients due to the recession, and a survey released Wednesday showed over a third of the clients are first-time visitors.

As of Oct. 31, Loaves & Fishes has served 81,717 clients this year, compared with 57,420 during the same period two years ago.

“That’s a 42 percent increase,” said Executive Director Beverly Howard. “I’m not one to cry ‘wolf,’ but this is the most serious crisis Loaves & Fishes has ever faced.”

Currently, over half the shelves are empty at the agency’s warehouse off Old Pineville Road in south Charlotte. Several major food drives are now in progress, and Howard hopes they’ll supply the agency’s holiday needs. Late winter is when problems may arise, she says. None of the 18 pantries will close, but potential cuts could include limiting what families receive or doubling the time they must wait between visits.

Read more from The Charlotte Observer.

Homeless in the Queen City:

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OK, maybe not everyone — but Environment North Carolina would like to see a lot of solar panels installed in our state. Plus, they say Mecklenburg County is a great place to get started with their solar aspirations. Oh, and make it snappy.

The big snag, as always, is money. Though, if the state — and especially Charlotte — wants to become an alternative energy leader, I’m sure they’ll find a way to step up supply — which will lead to lower prices — to meet rising demand.

An environmental advocacy group that says North Carolina’s greenhouse gas emissions are rising proposes a solution: Putting solar panels on nearly 700,000 rooftops.

Environment North Carolina, in a report to be issued today, says that based on current solar energy development in the state, the sun could supply at least 14 percent of the state’s energy needs in two decades.

The group’s report identifies Wake and Mecklenburg counties as having the greatest number of rooftops suitable for solar panels.

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The goal set out by Environment North Carolina would require the state to develop 13,900 megawatts of solar energy, which would make this state nearly equivalent to the 14,730 megawatts of solar energy currently available worldwide.

Megawatt for megawatt, solar power is the most expensive form of electricity today, but green energy advocates say planning can’t be based on current costs.

“The cost of solar power is coming down, while the cost of dirty energy is going up,” said Elizabeth Ouzts, state director for Environment North Carolina. “In the not-too-distant future, the cost of solar will be cheaper than building a new coal-fired power plant.”

The solar report comes a day after the group released a study saying North Carolina’s greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere have risen 39 percent from 1990 to 2007. The data come from the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s “State Energy Consumption, Price and Expenditure Estimates.”

The rise in emissions is caused by more cars on the road burning more fuel, and more electricity being generated by the state’s 45 coal-burning units.

Read the entire Raleigh News and Observer article here.

Further reading:

• N.C. to get $950K for green jobs
• Report details ‘coal’s assault on human health’
• IRS Disclosures Show Extent of Oil and Coal Groups’ Outreach
• Doctors call for cleaner coal
• Local firms get grants for green projects

“You know what a green economy is? It’s jobs and opportunity.”

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As well they should be. He was elected to do the bidding of the people who voted for him, and he’s failed in that charge. So far, the first-term U.S. House of Representatives Congressman has voted against cap-and-trade and, probably most importantly to Progressives, health care reform.

Want to share your thoughts with Rep. Kissell? Here’s his contact information.

Want to run against him in the next election? Get in line.

Nearly two weeks after U.S. Rep. Larry Kissell bucked his party and voted against health care legislation, June Mabry’s phone line is still burning up with calls from angry Democrats.

“They feel like they got hit in the gut,” says Mabry, 8th District Democratic chair. “There are people telling me they want their money back.”

Kissell, of Montgomery County, was one of 39 Democrats who voted against the health care bill that passed the House by five votes this month. He was one of just eight from a district that President Barack Obama carried last year.

It didn’t take long for the backlash to begin.

The liberal group MoveOn.org has been running a TV ad in his district that applauds congressmen who “stood tall” to support the bill. “Our representative, Larry Kissell, stood small,” it says.

Read the rest of this Charlotte Observer article here.

Here’s MoveOn.org’s ad:

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The “sexy pilgrims” of PETA …

… descended on Uptown Charlotte today, handing out “Tofurkies” …

… to promote the joy of a meat-less Thanksgiving. Here’s what Kristina Addington, campaign coordinator for PETA, had to say about today’s effort:

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What a bitch.

Besides, “nice T & A,” what was McCain thinking when he chose Sarah Palin to be his running mate?

In her new book, former Alaska Gov.. Sarah Palin describes the push-and-pull between John McCain’s campaign headquarters and her plucky “B” team on the road. As Palin recounts it, her natural instincts to reach real voters and reach out to the press were frequently foiled by an overprotective senior staff, led by strategist Steve Schmidt, that did not trust her.

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Palin would wake up that morning in New York. A few days before the trip, Palin decided that she wanted to slough off some of the local interviews and spend the morning cooking with Rachel Ray, the host of a popular syndicated television program.

She instructed a top aide to inform headquarters that the Dover rally would have to be canceled.

The response from McCain’s headquarters was firm: absolutely not.

“She says she wanted interviews [with the press], but pushed back against the interviews that were scheduled,” a campaign aide who worked with Palin said.

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Palin’s team balked at allowing former Massachusetts governor Paul Cellucci to shake Palin’s hand as she exited the campaign bus.

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Palin wasn’t fond of letting outsiders on her campaign bus, and Recher reportedly vetoed a ride-along with Schonda Schilling, the wife of Boston Red Sox player Curt Schilling. Carla Eudy, the campaign’s scheduler, had added Schilling on the passenger manifest for the ride from Laconia to Salem.  But at the last minute, Schilling was told that she wouldn’t be able to ride the bus and had to find her own transpiration to Salem.

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On October 26, after a long day of stumping in North Carolina, Palin issued an edict to her traveling staff.

“We were informed today that she no longer wishes to do talk radio interviews in the car. It’s too distracting,” wrote a senior Palin adviser, in an e-mail to senior headquarters staffers.  ”We were informed today that she no longer wishes to do TV or print interviews post-rally. She’s drained. We were informed of her displeasure that her host and US Senator Richard Burr was allowed to ride the [Straight Talk Express II] with her.”

He ended the e-mail: “I don’t know what else to tell you.”

Read the entire article from The Atlantic here.

Hilarious:

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Don’t you like how politicians think they can pull an entire demographic out of their homes to vote for a candidate or issue? What are we, puppets?

Mr. Edwards, you can’t even keep your johnson in your pants or do something as simple as telling the truth — what makes you think you can sway Southern white voters one way or another?

John Edwards tried to cut a secret deal with President Barack Obama and perhaps Hillary Clinton during last year’s primaries, offering his endorsement in exchange for the vice presidential nomination, according to a new book by Obama’s campaign manager.

Edwards’ camp made the offer shortly before the S.C. primary, when Obama and Clinton had split early contests and Edwards apparently believed he had “maximum leverage” to help deliver Southern white votes to whoever would give him the No.2 spot on the Democratic ticket, according to David Plouffe.

In “The Audacity to Win,” Plouffe writes that Obama ruled out any deals. Obama went on to win the S.C. primary and got Edwards’ endorsement in May 2008.

You really should read the rest of this Charlotte Observer article. Click here.

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Bank of America isn’t the only banking show in town.

While many of his peers are hunkering down in the financial crisis, U.S. Bancorp chief executive Richard Davis is on the offensive.

This spring, for instance, the Minneapolis-based bank announced plans to open a new capital markets and corporate banking office in Charlotte. On Monday, Davis, 51, was in town to meet employees, visit with clients and check out a trading floor set to open Monday in the bank’s Hearst Tower offices.

The bank has nearly 150 employees here in corporate banking, capital markets and a corporate trust business purchased from Wachovia Corp. in 2005. It has said it’s adding a total of about 70 employees here by the end of next year, although Davis said the number could be higher. He said he hasn’t put a cap on hiring here, led by former Wachovia bankers Jim Kelligrew and Dee O’Dell.

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In addition to Kelligrew’s investment-grade bond unit and O’Dell’s Southeast corporate banking business, the Charlotte office has also added employees with expertise in syndicated loans, compliance and municipal bonds. The bank could also make hires in commercial real estate, portfolio management and treasury management.

In retail banking, U.S. Bank recently hired a Wachovia executive, Becky DeGeorge, who helped the Charlotte bank become the leader in customer service among large banks. She will remain based in Charlotte, although U.S. Bank doesn’t have any retail banking locations in the Carolinas.

Read more from The Charlotte Observer here.

In slightly related news:  Wells Fargo workers pledge $42M

Just remember to take everything big bankers say with a grain of salt shot of whiskey.

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Say Griffin Brothers and I think oil changes and tires, not recycling and alternative energy.

Say the words reclamation center or landfill, and you might think of recycling. But alternative energy?

Yet, that’s just how Mike Griffin looks at his family’s North Mecklenburg C&D Recycling Center on Holbrooks Road. Griffin Brothers already produces one form of alternative energy – wood – and in just a few years, it could tap the sun with a solar energy farm.

Griffin Brothers is recycling half of the construction debris – measured by weight – trucked to the center. The two largest sources of recycled material are wallboard that is reused from construction projects and “clean wood” leftover at building sites.

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By grinding up the leftover wallboard, Griffin Brothers gets gypsum dust, which it can sell to fertilizer makers, and bits of gypsum-encrusted paper, which provides a great floor covering in large chicken houses.

The company also recycles pieces of concrete block, bricks or stone, grinding them into large and small pieces that construction companies can use for riprap, to stop erosion, or in building roads.

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And if the town [of Huntersville] allows Griffin Bros. to also fill 2 to 3 acres of land between its two existing fill sites, the company has plans to use all that land – once finished – for a solar farm. Mike Griffin said the company’s research shows such a field could produce a “significant” amount of electricity.

Read the entire Carolina Weekly Newspapers article here.

RocketBoom covers construction debris recycling:

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If you’ve been screwed by Vonage, you have until March 16 to file a claim by calling 1-877-5-no-scam.

Telephone company Vonage will refund customers and pay $3 million to North Carolina and 31 other states under a settlement involving the company’s cancellation policies.

The N.C. Department of Justice will use the settlement to enforce consumer-protection laws.

The settlement requires Vonage to make refunds to eligible consumers who filed complaints regarding unauthorized charges after January 2004. According to N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper’s office, 65 North Carolinians have complained to the consumer-protection division about Vonage’s customer service and cancellation policies since 2007.

Read the rest of this Charlotte Business Journal article here.

Former Vonage customer goes all “Office Space” (the movie) on their Vonage modem:

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Charlotte’s new CATS CEO is from Los Angeles. Here’s hoping she brings some good ideas to keep our public transportation facing forward and marching into the future.

Carolyn Flowers, chief operating officer of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, has been tapped as the new director and CEO of CATS.

Charlotte City Manager Curt Walton announced her appointment today.

Flowers, who will have a base salary of $197,500 a year, will start her new job in January.

In her current role, Flowers oversees bus operations, the Freeway Service Patrol and call box programs for MTA, where she manages an annual budget of $900 million and more than 6,000 employees.

Flowers will replace CATS director Keith Parker, who left this summer to run the San Antonio transit agency. She was picked from the 70 candidates who applied for the job. Seven were interviewed as finalists.

Read more at Qcitymetro.com.

In related news: It’s the Lynx system’s 2nd birthday and streetcar meetings begin tonight.

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