‘Nasty-gram’ sends wrong message about Charlotte

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If a city wants to have a bustling economy, it needs to be perceived as a place where its leaders are professional and helpful.

An e-mail sent Nov. 1 from a board member of Charlotte Center City Partners, an organization that receives taxpayer money and whose goal is to help the central business district thrive, did not convey professionalism or helpfulness toward businesses.

Rather, through its use of the f-word and threats of boycotting, it sent the message that Charlotte can be a hostile place for a business.

Granted, Todd Trimakas, a co-owner of Trafk Media, broke city ordinances by using spray chalk and stencils to place ads on sidewalks in uptown, ads that supposedly wash away with the rain.

When David Furman found out about the ads plastered all over public property, he lost his cool and sent Trafk Media an e-mail — in a world where leaked e-mails and videos are spread all over the Internet everyday — with the offensive word and a pledge that as a board member of CCCP he “will pass your name to everyone i know, with the request that your business be boucotted.”

By the way, those are his spelling and grammatical mistakes, not mine.

I’m sure a lot of people would side with Furman, who said he was upset that city workers had to work overtime to remove the ads. A lot of people would also agree that it’s vandalism.

But I’m also sure that a lot of people reading that e-mail would be worried about the business climate in Charlotte. Let’s face it: whenever someone does or says something offensive, it can reflect poorly on the people or groups affiliated with that person. While I don’t judge people based on what their brothers or sisters or friends or co-workers say or do, the reality is that some people do form their opinions of others on those things, right or wrong.

That’s why I’m surprised that CCCP did not distance itself from Furman’s e-mail or publicly admonish him for writing it. Moira Quinn, CCCP’s senior vice president of communications, and Michael Smith, CCCP’s CEO, did not comment when a Mecklenburg Times reporter tried to get them to respond to the incident.

Some people could interpret that as CCCP supporting the way Furman handled the situation or sharing his sentiments, f-word and all.

In the least, CCCP could have issued a vague press release that didn’t mention the incident but said something like this: “The views expressed by CCCP members acting as private citizens outside of their capacity as CCCP members do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of CCCP as an organization.”

Jennifer Roberts, chairwoman of the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners and a CCCP board member, did respond to The Meck Times, saying she hopes that people don’t think of CCCP as an intimidating group.

That might make some people feel better, but it would be better if it came from Quinn, Smith or as an official response from CCCP as an organization.

Ironically, Furman’s e-mail has had the unintended consequence of calling attention to Trafk Media, potentially resulting in more clients for the company.

It’s irony that’s not lost on Furman, who said he needs to be more careful about whatever “nasty-grams” he sends in the future.

Editor Deon Roberts can be reached at [email protected].