Showing posts with label Charlotte North Carolina. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Charlotte North Carolina. Show all posts

Friday, November 26, 2021

Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles announces 2022 re-election bid

Charlotte, North Carolina Mayor Vi Lyles used a holiday greeting to also touch on her political future.

In a 30-second video posted to her social media pages, Lyles not only wished the community a Happy Thanksgiving but also announced that she will run for re-election in 2022.

“I’m so proud of our community for all of the good works that we’re doing – jobs and housing and so much more,” Lyles said.

November’s election featured no races from the city of Charlotte because of the census data delays that are in legislation. Due to the larger amount of population, these city elections were delayed to early 2022 in March or April.

In 2019, Lyles, a Democrat, was re-elected as mayor over Republican David Michael Rice.

Friday, August 16, 2019

African American Charlotte (NC) Mayor receives racist & threatening letter

Charlotte North Carolina Mayor, Vi Alexander Lyles and more than a dozen city leaders, all of them African American except for one, received a letter in the mail to their respective offices that was threatening and racist. Now, police are taking a close look.

The letter read in part, "...Each of you despicable BLACK democrats should be tarred and feathered and run out of town (my town) on a rail..."

Watch this story below.

Thursday, November 09, 2017

Several African American mayors elected on Election Day 2017

While much attention was payed to Democratic candidates that won governor's races in both New Jersey and Virginia, several African American Democrats won mayoral races throughout the country. This is not a list of all of them but a list of six of the more notable victories on Election Day 2017.

Melvin Carter

Voters in St. Paul, Minnesota, made history by electing Melvin Carter as the city’s first African-American mayor.

“This is the honor of a lifetime,” Carter said late Tuesday night. “Being able to carry a majority of the first-choice votes says to me loud and clear that St. Paul is a city ready for change.”

Vi Lyles

Vi Lyles was elected as Charlotte, North Carolina’s first female African-American mayor, defeating Republican candidate Kenny Smith.

“With this opportunity you’ve given me, you’ve proven that we are a city of opportunity and inclusiveness,” Lyles told a crowd of supporters, according to the Charlotte Observer. “You’ve proven that a woman whose father didn’t graduate from high school can become this city’s first female African-American mayor.”

Yvonne Spicer

Yvonne Spicer was elected the first mayor of the city of Framingham, Massachusetts. Framingham residents recently voted to become a city, relinquishing its status as “the largest town in America.” This vote altered the way the government will be run: with a mayor and a city council.

“This is a new beginning for Framingham. ... I promise you as your mayor, I will make sure that everyone at Framingham has a seat at the table,” Spicer told a group of supporters Tuesday night.

Jonathan McCollar

Jonathan McCollar will become the first African-American mayor of Statesboro, Georgia, defeating incumbent Jan Moore.

“It’s that the city was ready for change, he said Tuesday. “This is just evidence of the work from the people that were part of this movement.”

Brendon barber

Brendon Barber, a Georgetown, South Carolina, city councilman since 1998, will become the city’s first ever African-American mayor. The Georgetown native said his knowledge of the city and its municipal employees makes him well-positioned for the job.

Mary Parham Copelan

Mary Parham Copelan will become Milledgeville, Georgia’s, first female African-American mayor, beating incumbent Gary Thrower by just six votes.

“I along with each one of you know that we needed real change and real progress for our city,” she wrote on Facebook following her victory.

[SOURCE: HUFFPPOST]

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Protests erupt after black man killed in officer-involved shooting in Charlotte

Police say a person was shot and killed in northeast Charlotte on Tuesday by a police officer, sparking protests, CBS affiliate WBTV reported.

Following the shooting, a large crowd has gathered near the scene in protest.

The incident happened around 4 p.m. at an apartment complex. Officers said they were searching for a person with an outstanding warrant when they saw a person get out of a vehicle with a firearm. The man has since been identified as 43-year-old Keith Lamont Scott.

When the person got back into the vehicle, the officers approached. The report states that the person then got back out of the vehicle “armed with a firearm and posed an imminent deadly threat to the officers who subsequently fired their weapon striking the subject.”

The officers said they immediately requested MEDIC and began performing CPR, WBTV reported. The person was pronounced dead at the hospital.

WBTV reported that by 9 p.m., large crowds had gathered in the area of the shooting. Some were shouting at police, some held signs that read “Black Lives Matter” and “It Was A Book.” It appeared at one point the crowds were blocking patrol cars from moving in the street, and even climbing on top of them, according to WBTV.

At 11 p.m. large clouds of what appeared to be tear gas could be seen coming from the crowds of protesters after officers in riot gear were seen putting on gas masks.

Read more: Protests erupt after man killed in officer-involved shooting in Charlotte

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Patrick Cannon, mayor of Charlotte North Carolina resigns after corruption arrest




Patrick Cannon, who rose from public housing to become mayor of North Carolina’s largest city, was charged Wednesday by federal authorities who said he accepted tens of thousands of dollars in bribes – including $20,000 in cash delivered in a briefcase last month to the mayor’s office in a meeting where he solicited $1 million more.

Cannon, a 49-year-old Democrat who took office only four months ago, was arrested when he showed up at a luxury apartment in SouthPark for yet another payoff from what he thought were businessmen needing his influence in city matters, a source confirmed.

But after arriving, he learned who they really were: undercover FBI agents who’d been recording their meetings over the past three years, long before he launched a campaign for mayor in 2013.

Cannon resigned as mayor Wednesday night, capping an extraordinary day that included revelations of an illicit trip to Las Vegas and payoff negotiations at the Capital Grille – the same uptown steakhouse that figured in the region’s last major political scandal. It was there that former N.C. House speaker Jim Black of Matthews, also a Democrat, took bribes from a group of chiropractors seeking help with legislation.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/03/26/4797153/mayor-cannon-resigns-after-corruption.html#.UzOHNfldWSo