Briefing for Wednesday August 5: Primary election to shopping local on Etsy

Last week I was stopped at a red light on Kenilworth with a police car behind me. Immediately my mind went to my expired tag and the hope that somehow he might not notice it staring him in the face. I’ll take care of it as soon as I get back from the beach, I told myself.

The next thing I knew there was a knock at my window. I rolled it down, ready to get a ticket and instead was greeted by a uniformed officer saying (and I quote), “Hey sweet girl, just wanted to let you know someone’s going to write you a $250 ticket for that expired tag.” I sat there for a second and then asked, “I know. Are you giving me a ticket?” He shook his head and said, “Nah, I just wanted you to know.” If ever you are unclear on what white privilege is and how it works, this is a perfect example.

VITALS

Today’s Weather: 97. A few clouds. 0% chance of rain. 
Today’s Stat: $70. Spending limit per debit card per week on the North Carolina Education Lottery’s new gas pump lottery games that debuted at a dozen stations throughout Charlotte [Bell/Observer].
Today’s Job: Trade Finance Manager for Consumer Packaged Goods at Starbucks. Apply.
Today’s Charlottean: Mark Van Sickle, Chad McGowan, Bill Neurohr, Joe Hubbarth, Steve Anderson and Mike Krail, friends and co-owners of Legal Remedy Brewing Co., for bringing the first brewery to Rock Hill [Thomas/CBJ].

ORIGINALS

#VoteLocalCLT: A primer on Charlotte’s September 15th primary election
Charlotte will elect a new mayor and city council on November 3rd, but the primary on September 15th is even more important. Amy explains why the primary matters, which offices are up for election, who’s running and how to vote.

modPALEO ships “modern TV dinners” direct to your door with a focus on sustainability, nutrition and customer service
I got to tour behind the scenes at modPALEO, a pre-packaged food delivery service that supports Charlotte area farms by sourcing local food, to see how they prepare, market, package and ship their paleo, primal and vegetarian-friendly meals. I ate a beet noodle dish that was out of this world, wore a hairnet and really wanted to be best friends with founders Amber and Carter.

Pizza is always a good thing. Pizza for a cause is a guaranteed moment of pure happiness.
On Wednesdays, Wolfgang Puck Pizza Bar will donate $1 to Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina for every photo of a meal (or drink) from their restaurant shared on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram with hashtag #WP4SH. Do you need a better reason to eat pizza today? Nope.

Beyond the Kitchen: A conversation with Clark Barlowe from Heirloom
I love that Clark loves social media, is over the stagnant corporate restaurant scene, insists new chefs should work for free in the best restaurant they can find and completely hates salmon. Vanessa got all that plus his favorite restaurant in Charlotte, favorite food city outside Charlotte and more.

CLT Playlist: Live music picks for August 5 – 9
33 live music options for the weekend handpicked by Danny. Don’t miss River Slam at the Whitewater Center, especially JJ Grey & Mofro Friday night.

Support Charlotte small business owners by shopping by location on Etsy
Etsy has an excellent local search feature that lets you search online shops run by designers, artists and other small business owners in a given area. There are loads of Etsy shop owners here in Charlotte so I pulled together a teaser list of 20 shops to check out for jewelry, home goods, pet supplies and beauty products.

Oakhurst: 10 reasons you should love it
A proud resident submitted an op-ed on why she loves her neighborhood and wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. Among her reasons: beautiful trees, cool people, plenty of old buildings just waiting to be turned into breweries, and a community garden. Sold. 

Will it Waffle? Sunflour Baking Company cinnamon roll
For round 2 of #willitwaffleCLT, I put a giant sticky cinnamon roll in a waffle maker to see what would happen. I thought for sure this one would fail and my new waffle iron would be forever ruined. I was wrong. Check out the video.

TALKING POINTS

EpiCentre Kiosk Program bringing retail to Uptown’s nightlife hub [Thomas/Agenda]. The EpiCentre hopes to attract small business owners with sales stands for apparel, souvenirs and even car dealerships. Booths should roll out late this year or early 2016 and will likely rent for about $1,100/month.

Kindred listed among America’s 50 Best New Restaurants [Bon Appetit]. Joe and Katy Kindred brought their culinary experience at San Francisco’s Quince and Delfina back to Joe’s hometown of Davidson to open this wildly popular restaurant downtown. 

Elevation ranked #34 on Fortune’s 100 Best Workplaces for Millennials [Fortune]. The non-profit Christian church headquartered in Matthews employs 129 people, 73% of whom are of the millennial generation.

Park Road site targeted for big mixed-use development [Boye/CBJ]. Grubb Properties and Foothills Capital want to rezone a 10.7-acre property for residential, retail and hotel development. This would include 600,000 square feet of commercial space, 228,324 square feet of office space and up to 450 residential units.

Aaron Dodge, one of my favorite humans in Charlotte, invited Ted to ride in a Cruise Cart, drink coffee and discuss life and English muffins. Watch Charlotteans in CruiseCarts Getting Coffee. Next stop: Amelie’s Uptown when it opens in October? I volunteer.

– Katie