Case

People who make statements as seen above are sad to me.. They make no attempt.. or even care.. to find out what is the true situation. I have many issues with how Public housing is run and was built in the first place, but these ridiculous generalizations are not helpful and smack of ignorance. The above writer probably knows nothing of people with chronic health condition who wait for years to get into public housing because there medical expenses and condition prevent them form doing thing the average person would consider basic. This includes an intelligent young woman I met who was forced down this path due to sever epilepsy. She was doing everything "right" but was in this position. If this is not your situation count yourself blessed...not enlightened.

As much as we may love to talk about LR and transportation issues in vacuum away from race and class, it just isn't reality. their is a reason Europe is covered with trains and LR and US is not. Its more than just our love for cars. Go to ANY diverse city where public transportation is being debated and you hear the same arguments about race and class. -- believe it or not our mention of these issues are mild compared to some places.

Not as efficient but doable. Look at the Beyond DC website for the map overlay image. It makes more sense when viewed there.

DOD and government spending shielded HR and most of the state from the full brunt of the downturn. Funny, I still have people in my building complaining about "government spending" despite that fact that we are government contractors, being paid with tax payers money.

The saddest result of this mismanagement and resulting negative publicity will be to make it politically untenable for other cities to join or (like Chesapeake) even investigate joining the light rail. We could be stuck with a starter line for the next decade, but I seriously hope not.

An Atlantic Station type development would be great for Norfolk, but I don't see it happening for this property. Atlantic Station works (some people in ATL don't think it works, but the standards are very different there) because it is an addendum to Midtown/Downtown. The Ford location would compete with Downtown, therefore it will likely stay industrial. An equal comparison to the Atlantic Station project would be if Tidewater Gardens where demolished and replace with Retail and housing mix doubling the size of downtown. The first time I visited Atlantic Station I had to stop the car in amazement. I said its as if an entire section of ATL was bulldozed and rebuilt. It was an old steel mill and a few neighborhoods that most people were afraid to even drive through. Now its the center of life for Midtown. But do note that Atlantic Station had some what of a housing crash of its own with many condo going unsold and now being auctioned at far below the auction price..(similar to Miami). This is also why I think the Ford property will stay commercial.

I surprised there wasn't more (or any post) regarding the High Speed Rail, kick off or promotional tour at the Half Moon Terminal. I was in attendance, but missed the opening speaker. The turnout was greater than expected.. greater than that in Richmond. I have to say I was somewhat surreal seeing officials from VA Beach, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Suffolk speaking with one voice and endorsing one plan. We could be a competitive region after all. This could lead to greater cooperation on an assortment of areas, hopefully making us a counterbalance to the more cohesive NOVA block in state government. The preferred plan will effectively run from Washington to Richmond to Petersburg to Chesapeake then the Harbor Park Light Rail station in Norfolk. If this plan is approved VA Beach would have to be Nuts not to join Light Rail. Believe me the Ocean front tourism lobby was in attendance. VA Beach mayor Sessions is winning a lot of friends in HR by backing the plan to Norfolk. He is clearly interested in thawing the Norfolk, VA Beach relationship to something more productive. Given the National mood it was refreshing to see Democrats and Republican official stand in a room without a hint of partisan tension, but VA has been better about that than many other states.

The US in general has become ideologically paralyzed when in comes to transit and development. An anti-tax cult has taken hold opposing all taxes and projects which require them no matter how much good the project would do for society at large. The "Government is the Problem" retort has sank in the cultural membrane of society causing a quick knee jerk reaction from many people to appose doing much of anything. We all know something has to be done about the HRBT, the Midtown Tunnel and the already closed Jordan Bridge, but the moment that anyone makes a proposal the naysayer go into overdrive. Apparently everyone paying a couple dollars more a year is too steep a price to prevent 2 hours standard waits to go to and from the Peninsula. The fear of wasting money has some how superseded the fear of killing our regional economy. What was really sad was the Jordan Bridge was allowed to close without much of a peep from the Cities directly affected. Paul Fraim was more vocal in pressing for a solution than officials from Chesapeake, who are pending money to revitalize South Norfolk. The Jordan bridge was a crucial part of that plan.

I know I'm a bit late on commenting about the above "Soulja Girl" video, but I was truly saddened by the distribution of that video a few months back.. As some someone who practically grew up on Marta (started riding alone around 12 years old) I constantly attempted to inform skeptical people (often whites) that this sort of thing was rare. Now I have a few stories to tell but most of the odd things I witness happen at hours when I probably should have be home anyway (i.e. 1am). I have no real fear of incidents like this occurring on the Tide. Like I said this sort of this was rare in Atlanta, where believe me the crazy quotient is exceeding higher there than anywhere in HR. But the persistent fear (or the political use) of scene's like this video has servery stunted the growth of Marta in the Atlanta Metro, where It should be twice as large. One bad incident could be difference between expansion into VA Beach or not. Trust me (like in the Atlanta metro) one ugly incident will be used as "Willie Horton" to kill the further projects. We can only hope and be vigilant.

The entire tax debate is usually lacking in detail and perspective. Cutting taxes on the national level has an adverse effect on local regions. Also the distribution of state taxes revenue by property or income make a tremendous difference. (see California who are unable to raise property taxes (prop 13) therefore they depend on (dropping) income taxes.) Please note that many states which have low taxes (often southern and conservative) are also the biggest recipients of federal dollars due to their poverty rates (see SC) and are in essence able to keep tax low due to federal subsidization. Crude hyper anti-tax speech actually causes many of the developmental and infrastructure problem we face now. Some of the same people who rail about a penny tax also complain the loudest about our lack of a third crossing or our insuffient midtown tunnel. We should hold Gov accountable but balance is needed in this conversation.

I believe there are other unstated motivation behind this. The students at NSU would be ecstatic to have light rail on campus as would ODU and TCC. Numerous schools in other cities have train stops in the middle of campus. Plus how can you justify having bus stops but not train stops...don't they bring the same "element."

I have seen this building design in SE Atlanta. I was not impressed by it... somewhat clashed with all other architecture around it and didn't appear that it would stand the test of time.

Looks like Wright, like many in the city have forgotten the existence of the South side. PS. Randy when you cross the Berkley or Campostella bridge you're still in Norfolk not Chesapeake.

Adding a pro sports is not a fix all, but It would certainly help market this region to the rest of the country...Imagine national news or ESPN commentators referring to HR or Tidewater region as one unit. I would love to be able to explain to people in other regions where I live in a two word phase. It truly hurts us economically that half the country doesn't know that Va Beach and Norfolk are next to each other. Something is seriously wrong when you have to reference Richmond when coming from a metro of 1.5 mil+

I truly hope the LR doesn't become a hot button regional political issue which ultimately determines its growth pattern. I witnessed that (still ongoing) battle drag on for two decades in Atlanta. The current system's (MARTA) rail lines almost mirror the socio-political structure of the city. Currently it services regions of city regarded as black or white liberal havens. Growth to the heavily populated suburban counties was prevented by the fear that it would bring in the "wrong element." The equivalent for HR would be a system linking Norfolk, Portsmouth, NN, and Williamsburg but leaving out VA Beach and Chesapeake. I find it truly distressing to hear that same rational being used by Virginia Beach residents today. Its like Deja Vu.