Quick hits: USDOT awards money for high-speed rail, and N.C. youth are not engaged

USDOT awards $26.1M to Atlanta-Charlotte high-speed rail

"Atlanta Rep. Hank Johnson (GA-04)announced this week that the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) is awarding the Atlanta-Charlotte high-speed rail (HSR) line a $4.1 million grant. The grant is to be split amongst the three states involved in the project: Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. Funds will be allocated towards an intermodal high-speed intercity rail corridor study, where Georgia will act as the lead state, according to the Examiner.

"The Atlanta-Charlotte HSR line is also receiving a $22 million US DOT grant, amounting to a total of $26.1 million. The multi-state funding is geared towards improving the nation's rail infrastructure and creating an efficient high-speed intercity passenger rail system.

"A high-speed rail system is intended to act as an alternative transportation mode to the nation's highway network, thereby easing traffic congestion. Other benefits of HSR include fostering economic development and creating jobs, enhancing livability in both urban and rural communities, reducing dependency on foreign oil, and alleviating air pollution. ..."

Report finds N.C.'s youth not engaged

"The North Carolina Civic Health Index 2010 indicates that the state has the potential to flex its civic might, but there are serious gaps in civic participation that are cause for concern, said Kelley O’Brien, director of the North Carolina Civic Education Consortium. The consortium is based in the School of Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. O’Brien shared the results of the index recently at the North Carolina League of Municipalities’ 2010 Youth Summit in Winston-Salem.

"North Carolina is one of 13 states and four cities that partnered with the National Conference on Citizenship to assess state and local civic health with the purpose of documenting — and ultimately improving — civic engagement. The index includes recommendations for individuals, policymakers, educators and community organizations about ways to improve the state’s civic health. ..."

Quick hits: One more season for 'One Tree Hill,' and Screen Gems (sorta) moves to Atlanta

Some Wilmington-area entertainment news for ya ...

An eighth and final season for 'One Tree Hill'
"It's unconfirmed, but insider rumblings have begun that the Wilmington-filmed ‘One Tree Hill' may return for an eighth -- and yes, final -- season," says the Star-News.

"E! Online and Entertainment Weekly are reporting that CW execs are 'strongly considering' giving ‘OTH' a 12-episode run. Though only a half season, it would provide the show with ample time to wrap up its storylines.

"An official announcement is expected to come at the CW's annual fall TV programming lineup on Thursday, May 20. ..."

For those that don't watch the show, last night's episode (which I can only guess is the season finale), was perhaps the most shocking season-ending episode of any show I've ever watched. And yes, I'm not ashamed to admit I watch it. Good writing; good cast; good show.

Screen Gems opens Atlanta studio for more 'urban' settings

"The North Carolina studio where such stars as Michelle Williams and Chad Michael Murray got their start is expanding to Atlanta, partially because movie companies have asked for cityscapes that Wilmington can't provide.

"EUE/Screen Gems has begun the process to lease the former Lakewood Fairgrounds in Atlanta for a new studio lot called the Georgia Film and Television Center," says the AP. ...

"EUE/Screen Gems plans to build a sound stage of up to 40,000 square feet, about the same size as Wilmington's "Dream" Stage 10 which opened a year ago, said Bill Vassar, the executive vice president of the Wilmington studio. ...

"Vassar said that movie and television producers had asked EUE/Screen Gems to consider building in Atlanta for several reasons, including that they need cityscapes for some productions. Wilmington works well for country and suburban settings, but it does not have a background that substitutes for large urban settings.

"NBC, Vassar said, had 17 pilots this year that were all based in big cities. None came to Wilmington because it could not stand in for such places as New York or Chicago. ..."

Oh, snap! Atlanta mayor throws down the gauntlet

Apparently, Kasim Reed, the mayor of Atlanta, has taken issue with those that suggest Charlotte -- not "Hotlanta" -- is the capital of the South.

"Reed conceded that Charlotte has made gains – especially in the realm of high-speed rail. In January, North Carolina’s commercial center received a $545 million slice of federal stimulus money for rail," writes the AJC's Jim Galloway.

“They had a good day,” the mayor said, according to my AJC colleague Eric Stirgus.

But laying braggadocio aside, Reed said Atlanta was, in fact, in danger falling behind Charlotte if the city and state don’t make strides on transportation, education, water and the arts.

Reed compared the situation to the early 1960s when Birmingham was the southern leader in commerce, but lost that title to Atlanta because of its attitude on civil rights. ...

Atlanta, the mayor noted, was more progressive. “Birmingham has never caught up since,” Reed said. ...

Wanna compare cost of living between, say, Burlington and L.A? Now you can!

Thanks to the folks at the Center for Carolina Living, I am now aware of Bankrate.com's Cost of Living comparison calculator, which can be found here.

Thinking of moving to the Left Coast but not sure if your Alamance County lifestyle will be drastically impaired? Well, compare and find out.

(In case you're interested, someone living in Burlington and making $50,000 a year would need to find a job making $73,000 just to enjoy the comparable lifestyle in Los Angeles -- a 47-percent increase. After all, movies cost $3.54 more in "Hollyweird" than they do in Burlington.)

Some of the comparisons may surprise. For instance, someone (still making $50,000 a year) in Raleigh could actually take a 5-percent decrease in income and still maintain the same standard of living in Atlanta, but that same person would only be able to accept a 3.79-percent decrease to enjoy the same life ... in Akron.

Note: We have absolutely nothing against Burlington, L.A. or Akron. Just randomly chose them as examples.

(Image from vintagecalculators.com)

Charlotte (literally) giving Atlanta a run for its money

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ("Covering Dixie like the dew") has a nice piece on the burgeoning rivalry between Charlotte and Atlanta as they battle to see who is the "King of the South." Clearly Atlanta has been the unofficial capital of the South for many, many years. But the Queen City is making inroads in many ways.

From his 15th floor City Hall aerie, Mayor Pat McCrory sees what Atlanta’s missing.

To his left sits the soon-to-be-completed NASCAR Hall of Fame. Straight ahead is the headquarters for GMAC Financial Services. And, running up the spine of this slim and sleek city, rolls a Euro-sleek light-rail train.

Atlanta offered big bucks for NASCAR, tried to land GMAC and has suffered a long, unrequited romance with light rail. Charlotte, like a feisty, undersized boxer, punches above its weight.

“We could’ve easily become a Knoxville, Greensboro or Richmond,” McCrory said. “Instead we compete, fortunately, with Denver, Dallas and Atlanta.”

Charlotte, the Queen City, maintains pretensions of one day surpassing Atlanta as economic King of the South. Sam Williams, head of Atlanta’s Chamber of Commerce, says dream on.

“We don’t really compete tooth-and-nail with Charlotte because the companies we go after (are) in the international trade, logistics and biomedical fields and they’re not looking to go to Charlotte,” he said. “Dallas, Tampa and northern Virginia — those are our consistent competitors.”

Williams is most likely right. However, Charlotte is closing the gap. It has better (and by better we mean less-congested) traffic, a more reliable mass transit system and -- let's be honest -- the better reputation as the safer place to live. (Though it is all relative; most North Carolinians consider Charlotte too big and too dangerous with too much traffic. Atlantans probably consider Charlotte small and backwards.)

Charlotte also has an advantage over Atlanta: the ability to watch her and see how NOT to do some things.

“We’ve had the opportunity to learn from Atlanta’s mistakes,” McCrory said in a recent interview. “We’ve seen how to grow and how not to grow. We’ve seen what works and what doesn’t. We’ve had the advantage of growing up second.”

And, for the foreseeable future, that’s where Charlotte will remain. With nearly three times the population and a much more diverse and global economic base, Atlanta won’t relinquish its top-dog crown anytime soon.

Charlotte will bide its time, happy with its steady rise from textile town to banking capital. It too experiences bigger-city growing pains. The recession gobsmacked the city’s financial industry. Charlotte must get its economic house in order.

But once it does …

“Clearly the gap has narrowed,” said John Connaughton, an economics professor at UNC Charlotte. “Will Atlanta always be bigger? Yes, during the lifetimes of most of the people here today. Long term? That’s anybody’s guess.”