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FRANCES HAITHCOCK
As the interim superintendent until the system finds a replacement for Jim Pughsley, Haithcock had a school system struggling with its public image dumped in her lap. Voters then voted down the school bond package by an historic margin. Despite all of this, Haithcock has managed to keep the wheels on and the train moving forward. (Servatius)
HOMELESS SHELTER
Charlotte's only shelter devoted solely to shielding homeless men from the cold had few fans. It was a crumbling, smelly building on West Fourth Street that by many accounts should've been shuttered years ago. So its temporary denizens welcomed the new location, except for one not-so-minor detail: its location. The building, three miles north on Statesville Road, puts it far from the area most homeless people congregate and, incidentally, far from the view of downtown button-down types and Johnson & Wales students. But it did open on time, and considering recent frigid nights, that's a good thing. (Shugart)
INDEPENDENCE INTERCHANGE
In a state where road improvement projects are usually started decades after their initial schedule, any major road opening is an historic event. The state launched its plan to turn Independence Boulevard into an expressway to Matthews in 1989, so the opening of the Independence Interchange at Albemarle Road was really right on schedule. Next up -- an interchange for Sharon Amity. Work on that is scheduled to start in 2012, which means you can look for construction crews to break ground sometime around 2022. (Servatius)
NORTHLAKE MALL
Wow, just what we needed: another mall! But something had to take up the slack of Eastland's decline and SouthPark's ascent into swanky separatism. Enter Northlake Mall, 415,000 square feet of shopping excess complete with a 14-screen AMC Theatre to serve the growing North Charlotte area's active year-round lifestyles and rich historic traditions. (Calloway)