Mecklenburg County is close to finalizing an agreement to overhaul Marshall Park and Second Ward. The proposed development would eliminate most of the 5.5-acre park and replace it with apartments and condos. Read more…

This article from the Charlotte Observer describes the latest redevelopment plans for the Brooklyn neighborhood area, which seeks to convert the “sterile government district to a vibrant, mixed-use quarter.”  Read more… 

 

The Charlotte Observer has an article about how urban renewal destroyed Charlotte’s Brooklyn neighborhood. The aim of the urban renewal federal policy was to provide residents with better housing, but the city never did build new housing for these displaced people, forcing them to relocate to black neighborhoods such as Biddleville and McCrorey Heights or white neighborhoods such as Smallwood, Seversville, Wesley Heights. Read more…

Jeffrey B. Leak, Charlotte Magazine

“Things weren’t perfect back then, with segregation and all,” my mother told me. “But when black folks were in Brooklyn that was a mighty good thing. We had our own homes, businesses, theaters, schools, and churches. Our family never lived in the neighborhood, but it was the place you wanted to go to.” Read more…