Writing Samples
Sample 1:
Carter Work Project and country music stars building 27 homes in west Charlotte.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - More than 1,000 volunteers are in Charlotte this week for the annual Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project.
The project is dedicated to helping Habitat for Humanity build homes for people.
Former President Jimmy Carter, who celebrated his 99th birthday over the weekend, will not attend this year. Instead, the event is being hosted by country music stars Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood.
This year’s Carter Work Project is special for several reasons. It’s the first year of the event since 2019, delayed because of the pandemic and the former president will not be in attendance for the first time.
Roughly 1,000 volunteers are building houses in west Charlotte.
“This means everything to me and the fact that Carter Work Project has taken the time to help me is absolutely awesome, it’s a dream come true,” said Keea Carroll, a future homeowner.
Lea Woodward, a volunteer from Ally, said, “we’re going to be here every day, we’ve got 40 volunteers coming out, so I’m just shift one out here supporting the community, and I told her every nail I put in there was with love,”
Keea Carroll is one of the future homeowners that will call The Meadows at Plato Price home.
The former site of an all-Black school called Plato Price School.
“Typically, rent is supposed to be 30% of the income and currently where I live, it’s about half of my income that I make a month, so it’ll be much more affordable for me and my family,” said Carroll.
Volunteers will work on 27 homes in the neighborhood, with eight finished by the end of the week.
Some of the volunteers include the new hosts of the project Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood.
“You get to work with the homeowner which is the greatest gift ever and you get to see results while you get to love people you’ve never met before,” said Garth Brooks.
The famous country music couple said hosting this event is honoring the work of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter.
Trisha Yearwood said, “there’s no way I can overestimate how important their work has been and will continue to be for this.”
Brook added, “we’re not taking the place of the Carter’s, we’re here to honor them, honor their legacy and we made a deal with Jonathan and all of Habitat that as long as it’s called the Carter Work Project, then me and Miss Yearwood would be honored to host it.”
Future homeowners are thankful for the extra help this week from the volunteers in partnership with the Carter Work Project.
Carroll said, “I’ve put in a number of hours here, but it looks like maybe it’ll be completed sometime next year, I’m thinking March, maybe.”
This marks the second time the Carter Work Project has come to the Queen City, the first time in 1989 when 14 homes were built in Optimist Park.
“President Carter believed as long as there’ one person on this planet without a roof over their head, Habitat’s job is not done…. I have to agree with that,” said Brooks.
The roughly 1,000 volunteers this week will help accelerate construction on the site by more than a year.
The entire 39 home project in The Meadows at Plato Price is scheduled to be complete in 2025.
Sample 2:
Experts pushing for changes to state code after deadly SouthPark construction fire.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - Construction sites are popping up across the Charlotte area, and if you look closely you will notice something similar about most of them.
New apartment complexes in our region are primarily wooden structures, much like the construction site in SouthPark that caught fire two weeks ago, killing two workers.
According to fire experts, construction sites are already prone to fires but the risk increases with wood frame structures.
Following the massive blaze in SouthPark, people in the fire industry are pushing for changes at the state level.
WBTV learned that changes to North Carolina fire codes take time and are usually updated several years apart.
The Chief State Fire Marshal for North Carolina said Charlotte’s deadly fire will likely lead to more changes.
“What we know is that all buildings under construction have a higher risk of fire,” Jonathan Hart, the technical lead and principal engineer for the National Fire Protection Association, said.
Wooden structures add to the risk because they’re more flammable. Experts also said construction sites usually lack fire protection and there is a lot of flammable work happening inside.
“There’s always things taking place during construction, if it’s welding, it could be heating during the winter, then of course you have the natural conditions of wind and storms,” Brian Taylor, the Chief State Fire Marshal for North Carolina, said. “We’re very concerned in trying to learn all we can, not only locally, but nationwide at what we can do to improve, prevent and educate on these fires in the future.”
Taylor said the Fire Code Revision Committee will look at adopting a fire code from the National Fire Protection Association known as 241.
“What we have is a standard, NFPA 241 which provides criteria and requirements for how we can protect the site, the workers and first responders who are going to respond to a scene if there is an incident,” Hart said.
The National Fire Protection Association believes codes adopted by the agency can help with fire safety.
The safeguard list recommendations for tall wood construction sites. Some safeguards include having a fire prevention program manager who understands the construction site, the risks, hazards, and has a plan to deal with a fire if one happens.
National Fire Protection Association codes are updated every three years.
“We are currently, today we’re on the 2015 ICC code, so we are behind and it’s because the codes are adopted over the years,” Taylor said. “We hope to make [some changes] next month. The commissioner, I know our staff and I know they will ask for that.”
The Fire Code Revision Committee will meet on June 6 and any additions will go before the Building Code Council a week later.
If the new code is adopted, it would be added as a revision of the 2025 fire code for the state.
Sample 3:
Concern continues over proposed Piper Glen development despite changes.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - People living in the Piper Glen area of Charlotte are rallying support to stop a proposed development that would bring hundreds of new homes to the area.
The proposed development known as Sutherland would be built on 53 acres between Rea Road and Elm Lane in south Charlotte.
There are strong feelings about this proposed development. People are signing petitions over concerns about traffic, the environment and density of this project.
The developer said he has decreased housing on the property by 40% since February.
“We believe this is an achievable request; 640 units is quite an accommodation from where we began and it brings a new housing type to the area,” Russell Ranson, a partner at RK Investors, said.
The original proposal called for 1,100 housing units on the 53-acre site, but RK Investors made changes based on community input.
Hundreds packed a community meeting Thursday night at St. Matthew Catholic Church. The developer gave an update and community members voiced their thoughts on the project.
“We’re giving up biodiversity, adding traffic, adding road work,” said one man in the crowd.
Community members had a ton of questions for the developer, including one lady asking, “Is this the highest and best use for this property?”
Kim Hombs, who is against the proposed development said, “we just want to see the rezoning stopped, no rezoning.”
The $300 million development would be built in three phases over six to 10 years.
Including town homes, apartments, and an option for age restricted homes for people over 55.
“It’s a mix of single-family attached townhomes and apartment homes, all very luxurious in nature,” Ranson said, " “we would be bringing obtaining housing units that don’t exist today for workers just starting out, today you need to spend close a million dollars or more for a single-family house and while our apartment homes will be luxurious in nature, the rents will be more achievable.”
While the developer wants to improve the area with more choices in homes, people living in the area are opposed to it.
“The density around here is fine for the number of population we have around here,” Bill Hartigan, who live in the Piper Glen area, said. “Another 600 units and mess, it’s just an overall concern for us.”
Neighbors also cite environmental concerns, more traffic and fear the developer will take down too many trees.
The developer said the community would add about 2% to traffic so they’re including road improvements around the area.
Ranson said, “I think many of the changes we’re making from traffic improvements to greenway betterments for those existing residents and our newcomers.”
One man in the crowd yelled, “the win is not for anyone here!”
Charlotte City Councilmember Ed Driggs attended the meeting and said, “there is still a lot of opposition to the type of housing that he’s talking about, that’s why I say we have a lot of work to do still before we can resolve what he wants to do and what the residents are willing to accept.”
Although this is months away from city council approval, people want alternatives.
“A new park for the city, a green space just like it is today,” Hartigan said.
A decision by city council on the proposal is not likely until December 2023 or January 2024.
If given the greenlight, construction would start by the end of 2024.
Links to published work:
JCSU students excited ahead of Beyoncé's tour stop in Charlotte
https://www.wbtv.com/2023/08/09/jcsu-students-excited-ahead-beyoncs-tour-stop-charlotte/
CMPD: Fatal overdoses in Charlotte up 20% over same period in 2022
https://www.wbtv.com/2023/08/21/charlotte-mecklenburg-police-speak-fentanyl-awareness-prevention/
Pretrial Integrity Act to change bond process in NC
https://www.wbtv.com/2023/09/27/pretrial-integrity-act-change-bond-process-nc/