MR. KOJO NNAMDIThe city's population is bigger than Atlanta's, though not many people know it. Its airport, a major hub for US Airways, is one of the busiest in the country, and it boasts the nation's second-largest banking center after New York City. Charlotte, N.C. is the backdrop for this week's Democratic National Convention. And the city is basking in its 15 minutes or its three days of fame. While Democrats inside the convention arena make speeches about how to fix the economy, Charlotte has already succeeded in its own push for economic development.

MR. KOJO NNAMDIHaving weathered big job losses in the recession, the city is diversifying its business community and continuing to grow. Joining us to give some insight into what makes Charlotte tick and how the city is doing on day two of this convention is David Howard. He is a member of the Charlotte City Council. Councilmember Howard, thank you for joining us.

MR. DAVID HOWARDThank you for having me.

NNAMDIAlso with us in studio is David Swindell. He's a professor of public policy at UNC Charlotte. David Swindell, thank you for joining us.

PROF. DAVID SWINDELLThanks for having me.

NNAMDIIf you have questions or comments about Charlotte, 800-433-8850 is the number to call right now. David Howard, this is day two of the convention. How have Charlotte's preparations paid off so far in managing protesters, hordes of people trying to get in and out of the convention arena?

HOWARDI think it's been going great. First of all, Kojo, welcome to Charlotte.

NNAMDIThank you very much. Good to be here.

HOWARDThank you for not doing this remotely. Thank you for actually coming to the city. I appreciate that. For us, it's actually not day two. It's more like day five or six because the pre-convention activity started back last Thursday or Friday. So we've been preparing for this now for almost a year-and-a-half. So I think we're prepared. The protesters didn't show up en masse like they told us they would, so we have plenty of police presence and law enforcement presence to deal with that. And then the reviews that we're getting, other than the rain...

NNAMDII was about to say can we do something about that? Can you tell us whether it's not going to rain this afternoon like it has the last two days right into the night?

HOWARDWell, I can tell you this, that we've not had rain like this probably the last two years or so. So I think it has a lot to do with those hurricanes still and the remnants of them. So you deal with that, and you keep going. But once you got into the facilities, people have been having fun, so we're excited to have everybody here.

NNAMDIDavid Swindell, Charlotte is home to Bank of America, one of the biggest banks in the country, Duke Energy, the biggest energy company in the country. How is this 99 percent versus 1 percent theme playing in Charlotte?

SWINDELLWell, it's obviously one of the motivations between -- behind some of the protesters and why they've come to Charlotte to make a -- draw attention to that dichotomy of the haves and the have-nots. But as counselor Howard said, that there has not been nearly the numbers that we were anticipating, and I think the weather actually played to our advantage in that regard. So it's not been quite the distraction from the message that the convention has tried to portray.

NNAMDIAccording to the U.S. Census, Charlotte is the 17th largest city in the country. Its population is actually larger than Atlanta's, a fact that many people don't know. What are the challenges of the rapid growth that's taking place here, David Howard?

HOWARDWell, we actually -- we've always kind of looked to places like Atlanta and some other cities that size to gauge what we should be preparing for. And the one that jumps out to me, the most important, is traffic. Traffic has -- transportation has a lot to do with the quality of life that your citizens enjoy. So Charlotte has actually -- we have been trying to push for -- to develop a mass transit system that would be multimodal.

HOWARDWe're trying to put bike lanes in. We're trying to do everything we can to learn from the mistakes of people that come before us so that we can deal with that. But in addition to that, I mean, diversifying our economy, you know, going from just being a financial services sector powerhouse to also now energy and looking at some of those other emerging markets is what we're all about right now.

SWINDELLAnd, actually, I think that it's a testament to the success of a lot of what Charlotte has done over the last several years to attract something like the DNC to Charlotte because we've certainly suffered under the -- during the recession, but we've -- and we do have a relatively high unemployment rate. But the reason that we have a high unemployment rate is because we have a lot of people continuing to move to Charlotte because it is such a good place to live and to do business.

SWINDELLWe're creating a lot of jobs, but there's more people moving in faster than we're creating more jobs. And so it's keeping that unemployment rate looking as if it's really high, but we actually do have a very vibrant local economy.

HOWARDJust prior to the economy going bad, we had average of about 30,000 people moving here a year, and that didn't slide a lot. The professor is right. I think it slid down to maybe 25,000 last year. But, I mean, people are still coming in droves because our economy is still better than most.

NNAMDIWell, David Howard, you're a Charlotte native. You served on the Planning Commission before being elected to the City Council three years ago. How has Charlotte changed physically in recent years?

HOWARDOh, my Lord. Man, it is not the same city.

NNAMDIThat you grew up in.

HOWARDNo. As a matter of fact, if you've been downtown, just the street around Tryon Street and all the activity and energy around, you know, maybe 15 years ago, so at nighttime, you could see the tumbleweed rolling down the street. I mean, there was no activity downtown at all. And I have to give a lot of credit to one person in particular. Hugh McColl...

SWINDELLYeah.

HOWARD...the former head of Bank of America, made it his job to change that. And it was selfish 'cause he was trying to attract the top talent he could to his bank. But at the same time, between him and the former First Union and Wachovia, those guys transformed that downtown, and that has had a ripple effect across the whole region.

NNAMDI800-433-8850. What do you think is significant about the Democratic Party choosing Charlotte as the host city for its convention this year? What issues do you think will resonate most with North Carolina residents in this year's election? 800-433-8850. David Swindell, Charlotte is the country's second largest banking center, we said earlier, after New York. But it's also home to eight other Fortune 500 companies and, of course, NASCAR auto racing. How does the effort to diversify Charlotte's economy reflect the challenges of economic development across the entire country?

SWINDELLI think we lost one because they were bought up. They merged with another one. That was a good reach, I believe. But still being home to a number of Fortune 500 companies is important to -- as a measure of the quality of a place to do business in the community. It also is how you basically justify having professional sports teams 'cause that's how you pay for those facilities is by selling the kinds of luxury entertainment that those kinds of corporations buy. So it's important for defining who we are.

SWINDELLBut also if you look at the diversity of those kinds of businesses, that's also incredibly important as we move -- as we diversify away from such a central focus on finance. And we try to make sure that, you know, if in the future we hit another recession, another bump in the road that we don't take the hit that we did in the finance industry this time.

NNAMDIComing from the city, David Howard, that's also growing, the District of Columbia, in gentrifying, the major challenge that we have to deal with here -- and I'm wondering how you deal with it in Charlotte -- is who is being left behind and what you can do about those people, as generally known as the Least Among Us.

HOWARDWell, the great thing about Charlotte is that Least Among Us have always been the ones that have been the ones that came up with those new ideas of small businesses, and the atmosphere has been good for them to take the lead and to participate. The other great thing is that the financial sector, and some of these other industries who are developing, have a broad range of needs. So we have a great community college here, Central Piedmont Community College.

HOWARDAs a matter of fact, the president gave them a shout out during his State of the Union because of how flexible they are in making sure that they are, you know, going to this sector when they need to train. They're going to this sector when they need to train, and they're being really flexible. And I think in a lot of ways, Kojo, what the professor was saying is that Charlotte is the American story right now.

HOWARDWe took a hit. We took a bit -- a big hit, but we didn't stop. I mean, a lot of people told us, why are you going after the DNC? I mean, it's going to cost this community. But we saw the larger, you know, the larger good of going after it. And in a lot of ways, we're diversifying our economy, and we're trying to get it better. So in a lot of ways, we are the American story. So that's attractive to a lot of people, and we do try to make sure we take care of everybody involved.

NNAMDIWhen you look at an energy company like Duke, which is, in large measure, one of the reasons that this convention is here in Charlotte, and protesters look at it and they say, hey, huge major energy corporation. This should be the target of our protest. But you make the point, David Swindell, that Duke Energy is doing a lot of work with alternative energy.

SWINDELLYeah. They're investing a lot, doing a lot of research and development in alternative energy sources. They played a very big role. The CEO played a very big role in hoping -- bring the DNC to Charlotte. So it hasn't been quite the lightning rod that some people may have expected it to be. I think Bank of America has probably got more attention for that purpose.

NNAMDIWhat does Charlotte aspire to be in the future? How will it define its place in the so-called new south, in your opinion, David Howard?

HOWARDWell, I'm going to explain it. We want to find our place in -- on the world stage. A lot of what's happening right now at the DNC -- and our slogan is that we make it possible -- is that we've always been the little engine that could with that can-do spirit. They wanted to overdo expectations of ourselves. I mean, we were going after the NBA teams. Somebody said the only franchise we would get would be a McDonald's. Well, we showed them.

NNAMDINot if it can only start winning.

HOWARDWell...

NNAMDIBut that's another story.

HOWARDWell, that is -- that was...

NNAMDIWe have a franchise in Washington that's quite similar.

HOWARDWell, you know, but the other team went to the Super Bowl some years ago. So, I mean, you know, we know how to put a winning team on the floor. But I think we aspire to be -- we want to take our rightful place amongst those world class cities, whether it be in the financial sector, whether it be energy. I think what we want to be known for is a city on the cutting edge. Right now, we're making a big push to help entrepreneurs and that whole infrastructure that goes with that spirit become alive and willing.

HOWARDWe're supporting it. So I don't know, I'm not sure what the story will be in the end, but it'll be something that inspires us to be amongst world class cities.

NNAMDIWhen I said new south, David Howard said, what are talking about? New south brought new horizons, Kojo. We're talking about the world stage. Charlotte calls its downtown uptown, and its new light rail is proving to be a good way to get to the security perimeter around the convention center for us. How do the plans for the light rail expansion reflect the growth that's going on here, David Swindell?

SWINDELLWell, I think it actually ties really nicely into the kind of professional planning that we pursued here in Charlotte. We've created five transit corridors, and the light rail is a core element of that. And by creating those kind of corridors, you can guide development along those corridors so that we don't have the kinds of sprawl that you see in some cities, particularly southern cities, that create many of the problems, mainly the traffic congestion problems, air problems that Councilman Howard was eluding to earlier.

SWINDELLSo that's one of the ways that we're trying to learn from other cities by pursuing very specific kinds of plans to guide development as best we can. That transit program is a very important component of that overall plan.

NNAMDIAnd, David Howard, as I mentioned earlier, you served on the Planning Commission. Just how important is that light rail?

HOWARDOh, actually, I'm actually chair of the Planning Commission -- not the Planning Commission -- Transportation Planning Committee for city council now. So I've gone to the next level with that. The planning is everything. And I think you see evidence of that if you've had a chance to visit our downtown for the convention. One of the reasons why I think it works really well is that our convention center, our arena and the stadium and our light rail line are all conveniently located within blocks of each other.

HOWARDAnd that came out of great planning over the years. So you don't have to get on a bus to go away out to get to the activities. All of them are within walking distance, so I think that was a selling point which is evident, I think, to what you're asking.

NNAMDIHere is Dan in Finksburg, Md. Dan, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

DANYes, hi. Nice to be on the show. I wanted to raise the issue of public sector workers in the city of Charlotte. The Democratic Party, which is holding its convention, is traditionally the party of people who work for a living. And you got people right there in the Queen City who can't even get the legal right to have their union recognized. And it's been in the news. So I'm kind of curious to get to your guests' take on that tension?

NNAMDIDavid Howard.

HOWARDWell, I don't know if -- I think we've always had good working relationships with our workers. Our manager does everything they can to make sure that he's addressing the needs. I mean, just last year, as a matter of fact, during our budget process, our police and fire, we put together a special committee just to deal with their pay structure and their pension fund. And we came back with a report, and we got the support of the unions on both sides. This is not so much catering to one sector or the other. We want to make sure we treat our whole workforce fairly, and that's what we're trying to do.

NNAMDIDavid Swindell, we are running out of time, but it is my understanding that you are a fount of Charlotte trivia. How did the city get its name?

SWINDELLOh, it's actually a name for the wife of King George III from whom we declared our independence. In fact, Mecklenburg County where Charlotte is located is the name of the German district of where the Queen came when she married King George III.

NNAMDIAnd why did Mecklenburg County declare its independence from England a year before the rest of the country did?

SWINDELLIt's a bit of a legend, and it's unsubstantiated. We don't have a copy of the original declaration of the independence that supposedly was signed on May 24, 1775. But we've got a lot of historical suggestions that this may have actually happened. John Adams actually recalls when it arrived. Thomas Jefferson disagrees that it never happened. But the articles of independence, the Mecklenburg Declaration is a point of pride, and that it actually is why the date appears on the North Carolina flag.

HOWARDAnd that's our story, Kojo, and we're sticking to it.

SWINDELLThat's right.

NNAMDIWhich is probably why David Howard, who is a member of the Charlotte City Council, says, first the south, then the world, Kojo.

NNAMDIDavid Howard, thank you so much for joining us.

HOWARDThank you, Kojo.

NNAMDIDavid Swindell, thank you for joining us.

SWINDELLWith pleasure.

NNAMDIDavid Swindell is a professor of public policy at UNC Charlotte. And thank you all for listening. I'm Kojo Nnamdi.