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On the Level: Kenny Smith knows real estate, but wants to talk politics (access required)

By Tony Brown, Staff Writer
Published: March 13,2013

He’s a relative youngster, 39, and he’s a novice politician running for his first public office, but Kenny Smith has already learned the ABC’s of politics: Always Be Campaigning.


On the Level: Bob Freitag, a former property insurance ‘guy’ who now works representing policy holders (access required)

By Tony Brown, Staff Writer
Published: March 5,2013

Property insurance companies are in the business of selling a product they don’t want anyone to actually use. Bob Freitag knows this because he used to be in the property insurance business, with Allstate.


On the Level: Walter Fields, land-use consultant (access required)

By Tony Brown, Staff Writer
Published: February 26,2013

Walter Fields dishes dirt about dirt. As one of the region’s most well-known land-use consultants, he’s got an opinion on just about everything related to development.


On the Level: Bridget Dixon is drafting zoning policy for Charlotte beer-makers (access required)

By Tony Brown, Staff Writer
Published: February 19,2013

It was 10:30 a.m. in a cubicle on the eighth floor of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center. So there was no beer. About 50 people work in the Charlotte planning department, but we specifically wanted to talk to the beer-lady: Bridget Dixon. We wanted to know why she worked for the department from 2003 to 2006, left, and then came back. And we wanted to talk about beer. Good beer.


On the Level: Charlotte City Councilman Andy Dulin (access required)

By Tony Brown, Staff Writer
Published: February 11,2013

"All of these rules and regulations are well-intentioned, but it’s just gone too far -- despite my 'no' votes," Dulin said. "It’s added too much more costs to the costs of development, especially the tree ordinance and the post-development design guidelines."


On the Level: Jim Williams, AIA Charlotte 2013 president (access required)

By Tony Brown, Staff Writer
Published: January 28,2013

"The last two or three years have been tough on contractors and designers," he said. "There haven’t been jobs for new professionals coming out of schools, and people have been losing jobs, too."


On the Level: Wayne Herron, Cornelius’ new planning director (access required)

By Tony Brown, Staff Writer
Published: January 22,2013

"The first thing I’d like to do is update the land-use plan," he said. "It has not been updated since 1999."


On the Level: Roger Cobb, Selwyn Property Group vice president (access required)

By Tony Brown, Staff Writer
Published: January 8,2013

At 46, Cobb is starting all over again, going from commercial real estate to commercial real estate while staying in the town he has called home for all his years except the four he spent in Chapel Hill.


On the Level: Land-use attorney Collin Brown is moving up representing developers in rezoning cases (access required)

By Tony Brown, Staff Writer
Published: December 28,2012

At 35, Charlotte land-use attorney Collin Brown is moving up, literally and figuratively. As the Charlotte area comes to grips with development and density issues, you can often find Brown advocating for developers at public meetings, which are just as often packed with protesters.


On the Level: Rick Judson, principal manager of Evergreen Group and 2013 NAHB president (access required)

By Tony Brown, Staff Writer
Published: December 26,2012

Rick Judson is no longer simply principal manager of Evergreen Group. Starting in January, he'll also be the president of the D.C.-based National Association of Home Builders, the first builder from Charlotte to occupy the office and only the third from North Carolina.