Council member Graham pushes service and assertiveness 

HERBERT L. WHITE | THE CHARLOTTE POST

Charlotte City Council member Malcolm Graham  told reporters last week the proposed I-77 South toll lanes shouldn’t be built to disadvantage lower-income communities.

Malcolm Graham wants a Charlotte budget that delivers on safety and manages growth.

Graham, who represents District 2 on City Council, shared his views on challenges and initiatives in west Charlotte in a 30-minute media availability on Jan. 9. Graham, who chairs the city's Budget, Governance and Intergovernmental Relations Committee, is a member of the Safety and Transportation committees. Responses are edited for brevity and clarity.

On collaboration with Mecklenburg County to deliver social services, code enforcement, mental health and substance abuse outreach along the Beatties Ford Road corridor:

“We’ve done a lot of work on Beatties Ford Road, specifically targeting Catherine Simmons [Avenue] … working in conjunction with Mecklenburg County focusing on [using] the New York analogy we’re trying to fix the broken windows in a very narrowly tailored corridor to provide better quality of life. 

“The city buying property on Catherine Simmons in November that we’re going to transform into affordable housing – we will continue to bear down on those types of initiatives. If they can work on Beatties Ford Road, it certainly can work throughout the city, I believe.”

Prioritizing public safety and reducing crime:

“I want to be a lot more assertive. The first murder of the year occurred last week in District 2, and one of the [TV] stations … interviewed a resident, and the resident said, ‘You need to be a lot more assertive.’ If you do the crime, you got to do the time, and I want this council, from my perspective, to be a lot more assertive in terms of loitering, panhandling, those types of issues that really impact the quality of life, the perception of crime in our community.

“I want to run people to services for sure, give them the help that they need, whether it’s substance abuse or mental health, wellness, housing, workforce development opportunities, but we do all of that, and folks are still breaking the law, I think we need to be very assertive in enforcing the laws that are already on the book.

“I think we have an opportunity to, under [Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police] Chief [Estella] Patterson leadership and working in conjunction with the city attorney’s office, really even cracking down on businesses and landowners who buy property and lease them to those who are selling drugs. We just need to be no tolerance on a wide variety of issues moving forward.”

On potential I-77 South toll lanes and the impact on communities: 

I'm a member of the Transportation Committee, and lots going on there. In particular that’s impacting District 2 is all conversations about the expansion of I-77 South residents along the Beatties Ford Road corridor are extremely concerned and frustrated regarding both of the plans that have been produced thus far by [North Carolina Department of Transportation] that really, from my perspective, continues to put burdens on Black and brown communities as relates to infrastructure and road widening. 

“I 77 has a long history in reference to that, we don't need to repeat those type of mistakes that we've made in the past. 

… “I want to create an environment where residents can be heard. I want to create an environment where folks can have the opportunity to communicate with one another, and that we can talk to NCDOT and have a relationship that’s mutually beneficial, because two things can be true at the same time, right? I-77 South probably does need to be widened, but it shouldn’t be done at the expense of black and brown communities.”

Constructing a fiscal year 2026 budget that reflects city priorities:

“I think we have taken several really good steps forward that demonstrates that we acknowledge that Charlotte is one of the fastest growing cities in the country, so growth and development is really important in intergovernmental relations in the budget. I’m not a finance guy, I’m not a CPA, so I’ll be leaning on some of my colleagues for sure, but obviously, dealt with budgets at the state level as well as the local level for decades. 

“Our budget cycle will be challenging at best. No prediction about what’s going to happen. We’re going to follow the [city] manager's lead as he presents the budget. Council has already gotten our schedule for our budget workshops, so we do our budgets as a whole. All the council members, not just the committee members, will be working on and receiving input within the budget.”

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