It happens here: Consumer-centric Innovation in Charlotte and beyond

flickr photo credit: james willamor

I attended a live taping of Charlotte Talks/WFAE Public Conversation and the topic, “Charlotte: On the way to Becoming…” stirred up wonderful dialogue about Charlotte’s future and quality of life through real estate, the environment, industry, and diversity.

The panelists shared rich, colorful examples to illustrate how a few short-sighted decisions can negatively affect the shape of the feel of a city.  But Mayor Pat McCrory also told a positive story about the brave effort to ensure the transit system (CATS and LYNX,) was always clean and free of advertising.  In doing so, they sacrificed a big revenue stream, but knew that people would feel safer if buses and light rail cars were clean and clearly branded.

The need “to feel safe” is emotional, and it’s not always obvious how that that manifests itself in a brand or solution.  And it was probably difficult to calculate the ROI for developing (or in this case, not developing) that feature.  In hindsight, however, it’s easy to see how the choice positively affects ridership in the long run.

Listen to the whole taping here.