News & Articles
Can Charlotte Re-Sort Itself?
Taiwo Jaiyeoba can’t help himself. Sometimes he still tunes into Charlotte City Council meetings. Call it an old habit the city’s former planning director can’t break. And he’s bothered by what he sees. Take a May meeting where the council was, once again, fighting about the city’s zoning rules.
After success of BLM mural, program seeks to creatively transform Charlotte streets
During last month’s protests, a Black Lives Matter mural became the symbol of Charlotte’s stance on racial inequality. Artists painted the message along South Tryon Street in uptown. Now, the city is using that mural as a stepping stone to improve the rest of Charlotte. Since the creation of the mural, there’s been a handful of vandalism including when a driver defaced it with tire marks.
Taiwo Jaiyeoba on How Planners Can Lead Through Zoning Reform and by Crafting Equitable Comprehensive Plans
Addressing systemic racism and entrenched inequity has become an imperative for many institutions. Planners are in a unique position to make a big course correction on equity through comprehensive planning — if they embrace the opportunity to lead.
2020 Charlottean of the Year: Taiwo Jaiyeoba
“History is fond of repeating itself … unless we alter its course! That’s what I’m committed to as our city’s Planning Director. Take steps to change the historical inequities in the growth and development of our city. #2040Plan”
Interview: Taiwo Jaiyeoba
Charlotte’s city government lacked a permanent planning director for more than three years until Taiwo Jaiyeoba’s first day on the job January 16. (Pronunciation: TIE-woe jah-ee-OH-ba.) He assumed leadership of the department at a time when Charlotte development continues to boom and the city is running behind on an effort to
CREW Charlotte June Luncheon (HYBRID): The 2040 Plan with Taiwo Jaiyeoba
Charlotte has been one of the fastest-growing cities in the country in recent years. This growth has established Charlotte as a vibrant and desirable city. However, this rapid development has also contributed to, and highlighted, many challenges that have faced our community for decades.
Taiwo Jaiyeoba is chasing something bigger than the 2040 plan
Jaiyeoba, Charlotte’s planning director, tells me he could tolerate all that. But then on June 17, his daughter Moyo, a rising high school senior, sent him a text. “Dad,” she told him, “my friends are saying it’s on social media that you may be fired.” That was the moment that made Jaiyeoba, 52, realize that the bitter debate over the 2040 plan, an aspirational document designed to guide Charlotte’s future, had become too personal.
Consultant: Rapid Transit Route Would Be A Boon For MATA
The Memphis Area Transit Authority is throwing its weight behind a new route that would connect Downtown to the University of Memphis area with a bus every 10 minutes. If approved, a new nine-mile bus route would bring attractive, high-tech bus shelters to parts of Poplar and Union avenues.