Pat McCrory

Dear Friends:

Today as I mark my last day as Mayor, I want to thank you for giving me the privilege to have served as the Mayor of the great City of Charlotte for the past 14 years. I will still be very much involved in local, state, and national issues and hope that our paths will cross often. I appreciate the teamwork that has helped to make Charlotte a great place in which to live, work, and raise a family.

I get sentimental thinking about all that has been accomplished and everyone that I have had the pleasure to work with, so I will close by attaching the editorial I wrote for the Charlotte Observer this past Friday.

My new contact email is pat@patmccrory.com. I look forward to keeping in touch with you and will soon update you on some exciting news about my activities in both the public and private sector.

God bless you and this great City.

Mayor Pat
www.patmccrory.com

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“We must walk the fine line between growth and the preservation of the values which brought many of us here.”

This comes from a 1961 political brochure of my Dad’s when he successfully ran for City Council in Ohio. Although my dad passed away a few days before I was sworn in as Mayor, his quote has been my creed and focus during my 14 years as Mayor -- always wanting Charlotte to have big city opportunities, while retaining small town values and quality of life.

Due to the incredible teamwork of leaders and citizens throughout this community, Charlotte has changed a great deal to address our rapid growth and I believe we have taken my dad’s advice and accomplished:

Center City becoming a vibrant area with over 10,000 residents, a Ritz Carlton and Westin Hotel, Time Warner Cable Arena, two grocery stores, incredible restaurants, a bowling alley, movie theaters and nightlife, as well as Johnson & Wales University and the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

The rebuilding of Earl Village, Dalton Village, Fairview Homes, and Piedmont Courts to make these housing developments viable neighborhoods that are safe for children and places where families can prosper.

Charlotte becoming a major economic hub attracting 18,697 new businesses and 257,000 jobs with newly located companies such as General Dynamics Armament, TIAA-CREF, Goodrich, Premier Health Services, and Shaw Group.

Charlotte Douglas International Airport becoming one of the busiest airports in the world with an international concourse that supports 2.1 million passengers and direct flights to 28 international destinations, with a third parallel runway.

Achieving one of the lowest homicide rates in Charlotte’s modern history, with 51 through November 2009.

Charlotte being recognized as one of the “Most Livable Cities” in America due to tree preservation, pedestrian-friendly roadways, and bike lanes.

South End, NoDa, Plaza-Midwood, and Wesley Heights being revitalized and emerging as highly desirable neighborhoods to work and raise a family.

Charlotteans being engaged through the Mayor’s Mentoring Alliance to get adults involved in the lives of our youth through mentoring

The funding and implementation of a 25-year transit plan that is a model for other cities and regions.

Beyond addressing growth, we have also worked to prepare this City for the next generation, through major infrastructure investment, such as water and sewer upgrades, and protecting our financial health. I vetoed many items I thought would bring fiscal harm to the city. Of my 24 vetoes, 16 were related to promoting fiscal responsibility. Now even during tough economic times, the City’s budget remains on sound footing.

Over the past decade, we not only addressed the impact of 9-11, but we successfully recovered from the 100-year ice storm, the 100-year drought, the 100 year-flood, and supporting Hurricane Katrina evacuees from New Orleans.

Two of the most poignant moments during my term as Mayor was to see the throngs of citizens who reverently lined the streets of the funeral route to honor police officers Sean Clark and Jeff Shelton, as well as the community’s effort to support the evacuees of Hurricane Katrina. Through these events I got to see the best of Charlotte and its citizens. More importantly, these events made us a better city because we pulled together to help each other.

Looking to the future, I remain very bullish about our great City. Charlotte is emerging as the “new energy capital of the U.S.” and is still very competitive in recruiting new jobs with our diverse economy of manufacturing, finance, health care, and transportation. Further, young talented entrepreneurs want to make Charlotte their home, giving us another competitive edge.

As I leave office, I will work with all citizens to ensure that Charlotte’s reputation for clean, ethical and efficient government continues. In the private sector, I will also remain engaged in issues of importance to our city, state, and nation.

Looking back at how much Charlotte has changed over the past 14 years, I believe my dad would be amazed, but more importantly proud, to see that Charlotte has continued its economic vitality while retaining its values for the benefit of generations to come. It has truly been an honor and a privilege to serve as the Mayor of Charlotte and I want to simply say thank you.

By Pat McCrory
Special to the Observer
Posted: Friday, Dec. 04, 2009


"We must walk the fine line between growth and the preservation of the values which brought many of us here."

This comes from a political brochure of my dad's from 1961, when he successfully ran for City Council in Worthington, Ohio. Although my dad, Mac McCrory, passed away a few days before I was sworn in as mayor, his quote has been my creed and focus during my 14 years as mayor - always wanting Charlotte to have big-city opportunities, while retaining small-town values and quality of life.

Due to the incredible teamwork of leaders and citizens throughout this community, Charlotte has changed a great deal to address our rapid growth, and I believe we have taken my dad's advice and accomplished:

Center City becoming a vibrant area with more than 10,000 residents, a Ritz-Carlton and a Westin Hotel, Time Warner Cable Arena, two grocery stores, incredible restaurants, a bowling alley, movie theaters and nightlife, as well as Johnson & Wales University and the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

The rebuilding of public housing projects Earle Village, Dalton Village, Fairview Homes and Piedmont Courts to create viable neighborhoods safe for children, where families can prosper.

Charlotte becoming a major economic hub, attracting 18,697 new businesses and 257,000 jobs with newly located companies such as General Dynamics Armament, TIAA-CREF, Goodrich, Premier Inc., and The Shaw Group.

Charlotte/Douglas International Airport becoming one of the busiest airports in the world with an international concourse that supports 2.1 million passengers and direct flights to 28 international destinations, with a third parallel runway.

Achieving one of the lowest homicide rates in Charlotte's modern history, with 51 this year through November.

Charlotte being recognized as one of the "Most Livable Cities" in America due to tree preservation, pedestrian-friendly roadways and bike lanes.

South End, NoDa, Plaza-Midwood and Wesley Heights being revitalized and emerging as highly desirable neighborhoods to work and raise a family.

The funding and implementation of a 25-year transit plan that is a model for other cities and regions.

Beyond addressing growth, we have also worked to prepare this city for the next generation, through major infrastructure investment, such as water and sewer upgrades, and protecting our financial health. I vetoed many items I thought would bring fiscal harm to the city. Of my 24 vetoes, 16 related to promoting fiscal responsibility. Now, even during tough economic times, the city's budget remains on sound footing.

Over the past decade, we not only addressed the impact of 9-11, but we successfully recovered from a 100-year ice storm, a 100-year drought, a 100-year flood and supporting Hurricane Katrina evacuees from New Orleans.

Two of the most poignant moments during my term as mayor were seeing the throngs of citizens who reverently lined the streets of the funeral route to honor police officers Sean Clark and Jeff Shelton, as well as the community's effort to support the Hurricane Katrina evacuees. Through these events I got to see the best of Charlotte and its citizens. More important, those events made us a better city, because we pulled together to help each other.

I remain bullish about our great city. Charlotte is emerging as the "new energy capital of the U.S." and is still competitive in recruiting jobs with our diverse economy of manufacturing, finance, health care and transportation. Further, young talented entrepreneurs want to make Charlotte their home, giving us another competitive edge.

As I leave office, I will work with all citizens to ensure that Charlotte's reputation for clean, ethical and efficient government continues. In the private sector, I will also remain engaged in issues of importance to our city, state and nation.

Looking back at how much Charlotte has changed over the past 14 years, I believe my dad would be amazed, but more important, proud, to see that Charlotte has continued its economic vitality while retaining its values for the benefit of generations to come. It has truly been an honor and a privilege to serve as the mayor of Charlotte, and I want to simply say, "Thank you."

After last minute negative attacks from the North Carolina Democratic Party directed towards Charlotte mayoral candidate John Lassiter, Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory is calling on the North Carolina Democratic Party to ‘keep their negative campaign tactics out of Charlotte.’

“Although I am leaving office, I will not stand by and watch those who have used the same negative last minute tactics in the past gubernatorial campaigns against Richard Vinroot and me to infiltrate our city elections.”

McCrory ended his remarks by calling on Anthony Foxx and the Democratic city council candidates to stop the negative campaign tactics. “The City of Charlotte has a history of positive elections, however, the North Carolina Democratic Party is sending out negative last minute campaign mailers. They are spending tens of thousands of dollars raised outside our city and bringing in surrogates who do not live in our city to work at our local precincts on Election Day. This is a state party in the midst of scandal and corruption. As a Mayor that has participated in seven clean elections with no hint of scandal or irregularities, I call on mayoral candidate Anthony Foxx and Democratic city council candidates to tell these outsiders to leave our city and to take their culture of corruption with them.”

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