MI-Connection workers installed new high-speed wires on South Street in Davidson during the system upgrade in 2008. (DavidsonNews.net file photo)

By ROBERT MAIER

A recent article in the New York Times (Dec. 4, 2011, “The New Digital Divide”) about why the US is ranked 12th among developed nations in Internet connectivity underscores the excellent reasons why Davidson’s mayor and town board (along with Mooresville) decided to purchase scandal-ridden Adelphia’s decrepit local communications network several years ago. The U.S. is dominated by just six Internet cable providers— like Time Warner, Comcast, AT&T. These providers are acquiring most remaining smaller systems without any federal oversight. We know what this means—prices will go up and quality of service will go down for those subscribers.

State legislators, including North Carolina’s, influenced by well-funded cable industry lobbyists, have made it easier to do this by outlawing local competition like MI Connection. In North Carolina, it is now illegal for a government entity to own a communications system. That’s like requiring the water system to be owned by a private company beholden only to its stockholders for whom profit is the only motive, and not providing water to homes that aren’t profitable enough. Read the full story

Kris Krider

Former Davidson planning director Kris Krider is headed to Kannapolis, where he has been hired for the same job by the town’s outside planning contractor. Read the full story on our REAL ESTATE & HOME page.

By DAVID BORAKS
DavidsonNews.net

After a year of work, consultants on Wednesday will unveil a funding strategy for the proposed Red Line commuter rail project from Charlotte to Mooresville. Their report will come at a meeting of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission at 5:30 Wednesday at Charlotte Mecklenburg Government Center in Charlotte.

Officials and consultants also will share their draft financing plan with local officials and citizens at a public meeting in Mooresville on Dec. 13. Read the full story

Life Fellowship Church, a large non-denominational congregation that currently meets in Davidson, is seeking zoning approval to build a 17-acre worship campus off I-77 Exit 28 in Cornelius. The $6 million project needs zoning approval, but could be started in 2012, the church’s lead pastor told CorneliusNews.net.

New signs like this one on North Main Street are planned for Concord Road crosswalks. (David Boraks/DavidsonNews.net)

The Town of Davidson plans to install brightly colored pedestrian signs in the middle of crosswalks on Concord Road in the coming weeks and has begun studying other measures to improve safety at all pedestrian crossings in town, public works chief Doug Wright told the Town Board Tuesday.
Read the full story

Updated Nov. 17, 10:24 a.m.
By DAVID BORAKS
DavidsonNews.net

Davidson businesses can begin using new and larger signs under planning ordinance changes Davidson’s Town Board adopted on Tuesday. Commissioners also authorized the town to rent the two vacant homes it owns, at Fisher Farm and off Beaty Street, and approved 2012 fees for everything from parks & recreation to planning to cemetery plots.

At meeting’s end, the board went into a closed session with its lawyer to discuss a legal matter – the recent lawsuit filed by CommunityOne Bank against the town seeking to overturn the September re-zoning of the former Davidson East site off N.C. 73 east of town. Read the full story

By DAVID BORAKS
DavidsonNews.net

CommunityOne Bank has filed suit against the Town of Davidson seeking to invalidate the Town Board’s September re-zoning of the 180-acre former Davidson East property, off N.C. 73 east of town.
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Davidson Lands Conservancy supporters went birdwatching at Sunday's Nature Fest at the Abersham site. (Rodney Graham photo)

Davidson Lands Conservancy picked a different kind of location for its annual meeting on Sunday: the former Abersham development off Grey and Shearer roads. Mecklenburg County recently purchased the 243 acres and plans to turn it into a park, so DLC supporters came for a preview. About 200 people were there for a nature hike, a bird walk, and the business meeting. Read the full story