fortyniner

Cougars? You've got to be kidding. The Cougars were based in Greensboro, playing there, in Raleigh, and in Charlotte. Hornets is unique to Charlotte. Even our old baseball team used the name before the Knights came into existence. The Hornets, prior to George Shinn's greed and threats to move the team, were fun to watch. Great teal colors. Good music at the games. Even WBT's broadcasts ended with the "We love you, Charlotte Hornets" song (I believe it was written by Maurice Williams). Certainly bring back the Hornets name and colors, and Hugo the mascot. That alone will not make the team better, but it will help energize the fan base. I, as one Charlottean, don't like orange. I'll bet there are plenty more out there that feel as I do.

Whatever the corporate name is, there is and has been a Rose's store at Abbey Plaza in Belmont. Take the first exit on I-85 after crossing the Catawba into Gaston County. Go left at the light at the end of the exit ramp. Rose's is less than 1/4 mile on the right.

Per this weeks County Commissioners' meeting, they are only funding the CPCC parking deck enough to pay for contracts and equipment orders already in the pipeline. After that, the project will go dormant until the economy recovers (years, maybe?). The parking lot (Lot 3) near the creek won't be removed until the deck is finished. (At least the commissioners directed staff to include the "shovel-ready" deck in the county's federal stimulus wish list; reps from the county go to DC next week to deliver their list of stimulus projects.) Assuming this project isn't picked up by Uncle Samta Claus, concrete equipment and such may be stored on a part of Lot 3 for the INDEFINITE future. The total amount to be spent will be $5 million, with the balance of the $20+ million deck held back until the all clear is sounded on the economy (again, years??). Outside of Midtown, this is probably the key link in the whole Sugar Creek greenway. Hopefully, the feds will help out. Who knows? Per this weeks County Commissioners' meeting, they are only funding the CPCC parking deck enough to pay for contracts and equipment orders already in the pipeline. After that, the project will go dormant until the economy recovers (years, maybe?). The parking lot (Lot 3) near the creek won't be removed until the deck is finished. (At least the commissioners directed staff to include the "shovel-ready" deck in the county's federal stimulus wish list; reps from the county go to DC next week to deliver their list of stimulus projects.) Assuming this project isn't picked up by Uncle Samta Claus, concrete equipment and such may be stored on a part of Lot 3 for the INDEFINITE future. The total amount to be spent will be $5 million, with the balance of the $20+ million deck held back until the all clear is sounded on the economy (again, years??). Outside of Midtown, this is probably the key link in the whole Sugar Creek greenway. Hopefully, the feds will help out. Who knows?

Remember, the North line is not Light Rail. It's commuter rail. The Northeast line would be Light Rail. After the experience in Los Angeles last week, I would be inclined to do that project right and add a dedicated track. Hard to justify financially, given the scheduled number of daily runs.

Hopefully, a "Yes" vote will be announced by the chancellor this morning. With all of the negative economic news (especially this week) and the possible loss of the Wachovia HQ, this could be a shot in the arm. I think after the 5 year waiting period, real college football in Char/Meck will be a success (at least off the field) and another magnet for newcomers and a real ammenity to long-time residents. It would be a boon for University City on game days, and for restaurants and hotels around the area. Anyway, I'm hopeful for a dose of positive news!

I AGREE Billy Graham Pkwy. isn't the highest priority. As for not turning it into an expressway, a la Wendover and Cone in Greensboro, it's already limited access, with the only driveways being an exit only at CharlottePark and the Billy Graham Library. I don't see how eliminating the intersections with traffic signals would change anything, other than avoiding potential car crashes. BTW, BGP is one DARK road at night. I'm sure it would be just as dark, if it were located in Raleigh. LOL. I don't live in the northern part of Mecklenburg, but I would think Mecklenburg residents in the north would agree I-77 north is the most urgent. That road is a parking lot almost every time I head in that direction. It would also seem to be fair to the developer who is widening a portion of the highway. Let's help those who help themselves. Or has Mr. Murdock or Martha herself ordained I-85 as the top priority? The same argument I raised above would apply to I-85 and the money he has poured into K-Town. I just think I-77 North would help more Mecklenburg tax payers. Maybe by not improving I-77, we will have a self fulfilling prophecy, and many northern Meck residents will feel shafted and move elsewhere in the region. I'm not saying I-85 isn't the state's backbone or isn't important; I just feel I-77 improvements will help more Charlotte/Mecklenburgers. I'm just feeling a little parochial about this one.

There is also the "somewhat impending" plan to open the shoulders of I-485 South to traffic. If any of these so-called "excess funds" were to be used to widen I-485 South, wouldn't that just make the plan to use the shoulders irrelevant, and a waste of time and dollars? Originally, Billy Graham Parkway was supposed to be limited access, with interchanges, not traffic signals. The State decided to save some money and only the Tyvola interchange was ever built. Are any local officials ever going to call the State's hand on this one? What about Brookshire Freeway? It was supposed to be a freeway all the way north of I-85. Instead, we have the Bellhaven Blvd. merger with the Brookshire. What about the freeway entrance from I-85 to the airport terminal? Charlotteans need to demand what is already rightfully theirs be built. I do agree the MOST pressing needs are I-77 widening (north, then south), and I-85 widening to the Yadkin River. The CDOT needs to send the NCDOT a bill for past due late charges!

Since no announcement of the project has been made, of course pricing hasn't been discussed. I am only conjecturing that units in the Trump would be high quality, and you get what you pay for. I doubt a large chunk will go as Section 8 housing. This would be a project where just the Trump name would increase the value, at least in many buyers' opinion. It would be great if the units were to be competitively priced, relative to other uptown condos; I just am of the opinion that they would be a higher quality project, and priced to reflect that. It's only my guess, and I have no insider knowledge to base it on.

Given the history of earthquakes in Japan, it's not so surprising people don't want to be so stacked up there. Land intensive projects such as Beazer's Morehead fiasco don't have the same wow factor as a beautiful highrise, and Trump has a rep for wow projects. On one hand, the current mortgage woes and shrinking economy might delay this project longer. On the other hand, the delays or cancellations of some of the other uptown projects may make the Trump an easier sell. By the way, his project is for people who have plenty of financial assets, and just in the last day or so, I've read that the super rich are getting richer. I still have not given up on the Trumpster's Charlotte Adventure.

I wonder what Ghazi's side of the story is? Based on the info in the Big O, I would hope the parties make nice, take the matter to an arbitrator, and get on with the condo tower. I would hate to see this scrapped, and it would detract from the glitter that will make Epicentre exciting. As thise contracts start to expire, time is of the essence, if the project is to be saved.

I went there Friday about 12:45pm. Due to a lot of factors, traffic was horrendous. Parked on Level 1 with easy entrance to the store. The staff I spoke with were well trained and friendly. The store layout was slightly different, but you would feel "at home" there. Not a big difference from most any other Best Buy. When Metropolitan construction ends, I hope it will be easier to get around on Kings Drive. I only wish it were even closer in to uptown. My bad for the timing of the visit, but I was meeting an uptown worker friend for lunch at Arby's and we decided to squeeze in a visit to the BB. I like the urban vibe and enjoyed avoiding those seas of asphalt the other stores have. Now I'm waiting on the Lowe's in South End to debut.

That was the point of my question. Do you feel that to cut the initial capital costs, the (proposed) northeast line's stations would only be built for 2 car capacity. It makes all the sense in the world to build them for 3 car capacity, I just wonder if we will, and would it make any difference to the feds who may be funding a portion of the line?

In order to cut costs, the existing south blue line stations were designed to handle 2 cars, but were originally planned to handle 3 cars. I imagine to make the northeast blue line more palatible to the feds, those stations will also be designed for 2 cars. I would hope if that is the case, the design of the stations will be such that major re-engineering won't be needed to expand them in the future to 3 car capacity. Given the success in ridership for the south line, there are times now when 3 car trains would make sense. I understand the carrying costs mentioned above, but in the event of any accident which would put 2 cars out of service (which the Observer mentioned a couple of weeks ago about an accident being "overdue" even now) perhaps we should exercise the option to keep 2 more cars, which rather than sitting idle, could also be used to increase capacity now on the single car trains. Does anyone know if the proposed northeast line would in fact have 2 car maximum capacity at the stations?

In Birmingham, the Belk store at the Summit (formerly Parisian) is going to be a "flagship" store. How many flagship stores can a chain have? I would have thought only one.

Yes, unless he's through dealing with Bill D. and his group, and instead opts for some of the new undeveloped land at Stonewall and I-277. Even at S. Tryon, it's not much of a stretch (at least for me) to call it a bookend. The other bookend could be the recently announced development behind the arena or even the Winter Garden/Founders Hall retail. Better still to have some good retail dispersed throughout the CBD.