Placebook: It All Fell Down and It Rises Back Up

As I was driving to a meeting yesterday where I met with fellow young folks to brainstorm some new activities for downtown, I saw this strange cloud coming up from behind a bridge. I’d seen some strange clouds in the past few days, especially around the snow coming in. However, the cloud quickly got darker and I could see that it was coming from the ground. Even though the facility burned down and four firefighters were hurt, no one died and no other things caught on fire. Many other fire crews came in support and the fire is contained. My hope is that by the time this post goes live, it will be extinguished. Here’s the latest on the Greensboro downtown fire from the News and Record.

Even though that roof fell down (and the young man who I mentioned yesterday was identified as a friend to many on my Facebook timeline), I am thankful that I am falling up. Today is the end of my first month of Placebook. I want to thank everyone who continues to write great articles and share great articles, on their social networks. Be it known that there are some fun things to come, not just from what I talked about at my meeting, but around this space. Thanks for being a part of it and I hoped you all learn something. Now on to the news and a wonderful weekend.

NC News Round-up

A feature on what changes are coming to parking at Charlotte-Douglass Airport, including higher parking fees. Also, what’s going on at PTI here in Greensboro.

Charlotte’s Carolina Theater is coming back to life thanks to 5 million dollars from Bank of America. Also, Eric Frazier of The Charlotte Observer analyzes the Atlanta snow crisis in light of what could happen in Charlotte.

Winston-Salem’s Chamber now has an official program and initiative for young professionals

These Durham high-school students have started a real bank on their campus.

How we can begin to re-diversify the music scene and where we hold concerts and art shows, especially for lesser known artists.

National and World Round-up

The snowy owl in DC was hit by a bus. She’ll be ok. Unfortunately, a DC man died because the person who called for help did it by running across the street to the fire station instead of calling 911.

New York Mayor DeBlasio starts the process of dismantling stop-and-frisk. Anthony Weiner didn’t become mayor, but he’s now become a fan of bike lanes.

How much snow does it take to shut down school throughout the US. It depends. Sadly this school is shutting down lunches for kids who can’t pay. But this school has a principal who worked his way up from being a janitor at the same school.

Thanks to veterans courts in certain cities, vets struggling with substance abuse and mental health problems have a chance at rehab instead of jail.

How a sense of place and belonging can affect what’s on the top of your head. Also, we need a better measure of homeownership, one that is similar to moving away from the official unemployment count for labor-force participation.

An exhibit in London will explore what its rising skyline means for Londoners and architecture in general.

Who is liable when an Uber car hits someone and causes damages or death?

And finally for the weekend, I felt like I was missing out by not having my own Little Tykes Cosy Coupe(even though I did have the mini kitchen). Now, thanks to these guys, I could drive an adult sized one.