PlazaMidwoodGuy

A reporter from News14 Carolina did a piece this evening on the burned out lights along I-77. In the story he says that they contacted the NCDOT and they promised that they would send out technicians next week to check out the problem. Give me a friggin' break! First of all, the reporter presents this story as though our dark freeways are a recent development, as opposed to an ongoing issue dating back WELL into the 1990s. Second, the fact that anyone at NCDOT would respond as though this was news to them is beyond belief!!

I checked out the new Tar-jay this evening and I must say I'm thrilled to have one in the city. No longer do I have to drive to cookie-cutter suburbia to get my Target fix!

The burnt-out lights on Charlotte interstates have been a pet peeve of mine for YEARS. This is a problem that goes back well into the 1990s, if not beyond. There are middle school aged kids out there today who've probably never seen a working streetlight on Brookshire Freeway! All we ever get in Charlotte are excuses from NCDOT. It's all about money - I understand that. But the problem I have with the whole thing is the state sees the lighting as some sort of a luxury. Well, it isn't. Lighting highly congested urban highways - especially the interchanges - is a safety issue. Period. At one point a couple of years ago, I actually called NCDOT to complain about the problem and was told that they only had one person responsible for changing burnt-out lights along Charlotte highways and it was just more than he could keep up with. One person!! As Miesian Corners said earlier, the I-77/Brookshire Freeway interchange is a horribly designed monster (as is pretty much the entire I-277 loop, with its entrance and exit ramps every few feet). The blind curves, overgrown shrubbery and suddenly vanishing lanes are a hazard to begin with, but the fact that NOT ONE SINGLE LIGHT illuminates any of this at night time is beyond irresponsible on the part of the state. While driving from 77 southbound and exiting onto Brookshire eastbound at night, I oftentimes put my high beams on just so I can see a few feet in front of me. Combine the lack of lighting with the aforementioned absence of decent lane striping and imbedded reflectors in the pavement and you have yourself one huge highway safety hazard. And God forbid it's raining at night - just do your best to figure out where you think the lanes are and try to stay out of the path of other cars and that's about the best you can hope for. But it's not just the I-77/I-277 areas that are a problem. Drive the length of Interstates 77 or 85 in Charlotte at night and notice that there are miles and miles and miles of inoperable lights - many of them relatively new. Most overhead directional signs have also gone dark and I've pretty much given up hope of ever seeing one of them illuminated again in my lifetime. The fact that NCDOT has let a basic safety aspect of this city's highways fall into such a pathetic state of disrepair is a disgrace!

As a long-time PM resident, I'm all for a total demolition of our Harris-Teeter at Central and The Plaza. I tend to shop at the Cotswold and East Blvd. Teeters frequently and there is simply no comparison. The PM Teeter might as well be a Bi-Lo from a quality standpoint. They're constantly out of basic items that I never have any trouble finding at their other stores. While I realize they lack the space of most other HT's, they stock too many items that don't sell and not enough of the ones that do. Needless to say, we need that grocery store in Midwood and I want to (and will) support it. But I think the company needs to realize that Midwood is woefully underserved by the current store and get off their duffs and do something about it...sooner rather than later.

Interstate litter pickup is the responsibility of the NC Dept. of Transportation. They don't do a very good job of litter cleaning or grass-mowing along interstates in our area, nor can they seem to keep the highways or the overhead road signs lit. It may be Charlotte's problem, but it's not Charlotte's fault. Trust me, we don't like it either!

^^I feel your pain on that one, Voyager, but you're basically wasting your breath with Mayor McCrory. He will NEVER support gay and lesbian issues in this city. Period. And unfortunately most of Charlotte's voting public either doesn't care enough about his stance to vote him out of office or they fully support his attitude. I would like to think that a barrage of emails, complaints, etc. from the community would change his mind and at least get him to remember that he was elected to represent ALL Charlotte residents, not just the straight ones, but it just ain't gonna happen. If anything, the pressure on him would need to come from corporations (Wachovia, Bank of America, US Airways) as well as individual movers and shakers in the community before it would even register on his radar. As it is, he knows full well that he can be openly anti-gay and hostile to our community and that it won't harm him one bit politically. Quite the contrary....as a Republican he is basically REQUIRED to toe the party line, which means that anything perceived as support for the gay community by him would be political suicide. Of course, he says that he won't attend the annual HRC Gala or issue a welcome statement for it because he doesn't "agree with the politics." But I don't buy that argument. If the NAACP, a group whose politics one could also assume he doesn't agree with (with its traditional support of the Democratic Party) decided to have a state or national convention in Charlotte I guarantee you he would welcome them with open arms...if only for appearance's sake. But gays and lesbians? Fugeddaboudit.

I will say, however, that the fine folks at CCC Partners seem to have gone out of their way to avoid using the word "gay" on their info page regarding Pride Charlotte and they certainly didn't waste much space describing it.

That's certainly good news and I'm happy to hear it! For once I feel like the fact that I fired off a terse email to someone actually helped get results! Lord knows I fire off terse emails to people all the time and it never does any good. Thanks to everyone who contacted the CCCP to let them know how you felt about this situation! I wonder if some of the more conservative powers that be within the organization (or at the City of Charlotte.....Mayor McCrory in particular) are now a bit displeased about having Pride added to the calendar of events. And if they truly are upset by it, then do forgive me but I can't help but feel a little schadenfreude (best translation: "malicious joy") over the whole thing.

I'm in total agreement! However, until the City of Charlotte gets out of its 1970s mindset and changes the current zoning laws that continue to allow such suburban style development in urban areas, far too many businesses will take the easy way out and build this way. This CVS, the Eckerd in Myers Park and the one at the corner of South and East, the absolutely tragic Bojangles at 3rd and Charlottetowne, the Blockbuster at East and Kenilworth all come to mind as perfect examples. While I would love to think that businesses would be more conscientious about the wishes of a given neighborhood when considering how to build, the reality is that far too many of them won't do it unless REQUIRED to. So, while I point the finger of blame partially at CVS for its Plaza-Midwood site, I have to put most of the blame on the city.

I stand corrected...well partially anyway. It's true that many of the freeways in those areas have no lights at all, but the same can be said for parts of Charlotte's interstates. Not all sections have lights. The point is that the lights we DO have don't work and haven't for years and the state doesn't maintain them.

I read that and agree that it's (basically) good news. The fact that the state is even bothering to address the issue is a positive sign and I'm all for lighting that is both functional and "green." However, Dr. Traffic states that the lights on I-277 have been burned out for months. Not true -- they've been burned out for many years....most of the last 10 years, at least. Same goes for the lights on the section of I-77 that runs by uptown. Frankly, I can't even remember the last time there were functioning streetlights at the Brookshire/I-77 interchange. And the lights for overhead freeway signs? Forget it. While NCDOT sat around watching the lights burn out on Charlotte interstates for the last decade without bothering to maintain or repair them, we've now gone dark along most of I-77 south of uptown and the majority of I-85...even on the recently widened section from University City to the Cabarrus County line, and those lights are brand-spanking new, comparatively speaking. NCDOT seems to have the attitude that freeway lighting in congested urban areas is some sort of luxury, as opposed to basic safety concern. Of course, as I've stated before, you won't see many burned out freeway lights in the Triangle or Triad. It still amazes me that it is taking YEARS to address this problem. I know I know....money is tight. Well what was the state's excuse way back in the 90s when this problem started....BEFORE there was a budget crunch?

I'm just hoping they straighten out that sharp and completely unnecessary jut-out in southbound Kenilworth just before you get to Baxter. You're driving down Stonewall, curve to the right where it becomes Kenilworth and the curb does this sudden bend to the right and you have to jerk your car over to stay in the lane. It's been this way as long as I can remember and I've never understood why it hasn't been addressed -- it's dangerous. I would have thought this would have been straightened out with all the re-working of Kenilworth.

I'm sorry, but I guess I'm the only one who's less-than-thrilled about Steelhaus. First off, for all of its "strong" exterior appearance (which I DO like and appreciate because it's not the typical Charlotte red brick), it's a stick-built project. Second, no matter how pretty they make the new McDonald's, it's still a McDonald's and Steelhaus is always going to look right down into its parking lot. I can picture myself as a Steelhaus resident lying in bed at night unable to sleep because A) the ceiling above my head is creaking because my neighbors are walking around on their floor and I can hear each and every one of their footsteps, and B) every 45 seconds I hear, "ssshhkk! Welcome to McDonald's. May I take your order?"

Thanks for that info, dubone. With any luck I may someday drive on it in my lifetime.

As a Union County native who visits family in that area, and as someone who drives to Wilmington from time to time, I know what a challenge it is to get from Charlotte to the other side of Monroe. It is by far the worst part of the drive to Wilmington and I NEVER use Hwy. 74 in Union because it's just too congested. Frankly, the road has never exactly been a treat to drive. I remember my parents cursing it and doing their best to avoid it even in the 1970's. But it has obviously gotten much worse over the last few years and the Monroe Bypass would seem to me to be the only hope of ever getting through the bottleneck that is Union County. I agree that making it a toll road would help keep development down on the bypass somewhat. Then again, Union County is such a development whore that it makes Mecklenburg look virginal by comparison. I mean, do they ever say "no" to developers? What kind of development pressure would the bypass face and would the county's powers that be even attempt to resist it? Luckily, since I know so many back roads through Union County, I tend to get through there with a minimum of pain when I visit family or to go to Wilmington. But I dare not share my secrets because then all the rest of you will start using those roads and crowd them. And no my secret is NOT Hwy. 218. Far too many Charlotte folks have discovered that one already and, while better than 74, if you get behind Maw-Maw in her Buick LeSabre or Farmer Joe in his old pick-up truck doing 35 mph you're pretty much screwed, since there are so few passing zones to get around them. On a side note, I wish they could build a bypass around Wadesboro, as well. While not nearly the nightmare of Monroe, it's still a shame that all that traffic is funneled right through that little town with numerous traffic lights and houses not even 10 feet from the highway!

Well, tell her we won't hate Raleigh with a passion by judging the entire city for Capitol Boulevard and Garner if she won't judge Charlotte for South Boulevard and Pineville.

I just returned last evening from a weekend in Atlanta, where I attended the Gay Pride parade yesterday afternoon (in the seering heat, I might add). And even though I visit that city fairly regularly, I always come away amazed at the incredible contrast between Charlotte and Atlanta when it comes to the whole gay/lesbian thing. While there are so many similarities between the two cities (New South attitude, Southern culture, civic boosterism, pro-business environment, etc.), Atlanta is light years ahead of Charlotte when it comes to the issue of tolerance and inclusion of gays and lesbians. I can only dream of a gay pride parade in Charlotte that included a large segment of our local elected officials! (Can you see Bill James on a rainbow float?) And how disappointing to me as a North Carolinian that the contingent of protestors at the gates of Piedmont Park with their incredibly mean-spirited anti-gay messages, as well as the preacher who had set up a loudspeaker along the parade route to shout hateful things and harrass the crowd, were from none other than Concord, NC. Of course, as a native of this area, I realize that Charlotte is more like other Southern cities on this issue and Atlanta is more of the exception. But it gives me hope that at least some of that feeling of inclusiveness, and less of Charlotte's "uptightness" about gays, can make its way up Interstate 85 to the Queen City.

On June 14, I received the exact same response from Darrah Dorgan that fulcrumsf got. And I agree that the tone of the letter hints that THEY weren't the ones causing the hitch in the Elizabeth location and also that the door remains open for the possibility of it going forward as originally planned. One can only hope.

Welcome to road building in NC. More specifically, welcome to road building in Charlotte when the money comes from NC.

I was through there last night and noticed the parking lots were roped off and most, if not all, of the apartments are now vacant. So, this tells me that some progress is being made. At least something is finally happening there!

Thanks for that info. I just sent the 3 of them an email begging them to reconsider the Elizabeth location. One of the points I made was that income demographics alone shouldn't be used to decide a store location. While I have no doubt that a SouthPark store would do fine, I just think a store in Elizabeth would be an ideal, centrally-located spot to draw from Uptown and the "in-town" neighborhoods. Of course, I also reminded them that they would pretty much be the only game in town where grocers in Elizabeth are concerned.

The parking garage and the exterior of the Target are obviously nearing completion, with opening scheduled for October 14. But what about the Home Depot Expo? What's the latest timeline for it?

I saw that a few weeks ago and was sort of saddened by it, partly because it made it even more "real" that Anderson's is gone, but partly because we're well on our way to having a Starbucks on a corner in every neighborhood. While there are certainly worse companies on the planet than Starbucks, and I'm not someone who boycotts them, I would've preferred to see a local, independent coffee shop open there instead of a mega-chain.

I'm reserving judgment on their level of "green" until I see how many trees the builder cuts down - and how many they save - on that VERY wooded parcel of land.

I understand that totally. And again, don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled to see them in PM!