CM2424

This is the best example of why a land use tax makes a lot of sense

Throw in getting rid of 277, and now we're talking!

The city should get rid of on-street parking on Tryon and extend the rail trail through the heart of downtown. There is no reason to have parking spots on the city's most valuable land when there are tens of thousands pf parking spots in decks and lots a few blocks away. Imagine Tryon with a protected bike lane, more outdoor seating for restaurants, food trucks, art, etc? If you want to actually connect South End and Uptown, this is the way.

That's an interesting idea! I do think creatively using extra space near roads for truly protected lanes makes sense. Between greenways, treeless medians, the rail trail, sidewalks that nobody ever walks on, etc. you'd think we could get a connected network of protected lanes.

Thanks for this thread - great stuff! The city and county should be spending so much more $ and time to connect all of this. We have so many great pieces in place, but without true connectivity that lets people ride their bike to work or take their kids to a game uptown on a truly protected path, these will remain underutilized. Once connected, the trail network will be amazing for the health, traffic, enjoyment, and brand of Charlotte. I just don’t see any real urgency. For example, it’s going to take 2 years just to update one busy section along Kings Road that connects Freedom Park and Uptown. It only took 2 years to build the Eiffel Tower.

Gosh that is bad. Almost as cringeworthy as that video they put together. Ugh.

This is a great idea, but has been a total flop so far due to lack of compliance and enforcement - at least on the Westfield section. At all times of day I’ve noticed cars blowing past the “road closed” signs, and not stopping at houses on the street. Without enforcement, having the city encourage kids to ride their bike in the street is a disaster waiting to happen

I love this idea. Imagine a ring of parks and walking/biking/scooter paths alongside the new development that would circle the city. It could be our version of Atlanta's Beltline and connect the existing greenways to Pearl Street park, Thompson Park, Marshall Park, Alexander Street Park, Frazier Park, etc. A truly connected loop of parks and greenways all around the city. Drivers would adjust and quality of like would increase for everyone.

Yesterday it was very hard to find seating at lunch. I noticed most of the tables were taken up by people working, meeting, etc. rather than eating food. I think they will need more

This place would absolutely crush it uptown. I'm shocked at how slow chains like this have been to move into Uptown. Chopt and Chipotle, which are supposedly on the way, are going to be absolutely slammed

It really has been neglected and yet has so much potential. It’s a shame so many great, small restaurant concepts are going to Tompkins Hall when Latta could have those in the middle of uptown. It needs to be made just a little bit nicer and opened up on the evening and weekends, and it could be a real destination.

The Agenda has had a hugely positive impact on the city of Charlotte in my opinion. I also agree with others pointing out how important location is - if you put Golden Cow in the Jenni’s location it would be killing it as well. Hopefully some local brands will get the confidence to pay up for the top locations.

Any idea why the Chik Fil A express closed? That would do incredibly well in that spot today.

The city should be doubling and tripling down on the rail trail - its the best thing I've seen the city do and still could be so much better

Great stuff Kermit and I largely agree - if you build roads, people are going to use them but if you take them away people will adjust. The rail trail is now one of the best and most unique assets we have in the city and we should do everything we can to expand and improve that. Also this aligns nicely with long-term trends that are just beginning now and are only heading in one direction - driverless cars, ride sharing, scooters, etc. It seems like a no brainer for the city to plan for and begin to embrace those instead of building more huge parking decks...

Charlotte really should be doubling and then tripling down on the success of the rail trail - it has all the pieces in place to be something really special

Other than rush hour and lunch on weekdays they are mostly empty - my office window looks out at one of the two streets we're discussing and it's a simple fact. I think some simple rules around usage would solve a lot of the potential issues - "people walking have the right of way, if you're on a scooter and you run into someone walking it's your fault, etc.". People are going to keep riding these on the sidewalks so we might as well create rules that deal with reality rather than trying to change it.

The sidewalk ban should have only included Tryon - other sidewalks uptown are usually empty, including Church and College

This doesn't pass the sniff test for me either and their reviews from current and former employees don't help. I don't have proof but I'd bet that this ends poorly. This is from Glassdoor for example: "This company is one massive hoax without a real product. Founders are dishonest and will cheat you of stock and salary on top of trying to humiliate you with inappropriate jokes and comments. They’re not interested in talent, they’re interested in hiring individuals who will do whatever they ask. Turnover is insane.I’m pretty sure certain things they do are illegal.This is the Theranos of Charlotte."

Charlotte, and most cities in general, don't have great track records spending $ on big projects like this and if they make sense financially someone will probably do it anyways. The city needs to focus on laying the groundwork for organic development to occur - parks, transportation, ease of business, homelessness, etc. - and then get out of the way

Yes this is a way better idea than an aquarium. Think about all of the organic development happening around Bearden Park now - it’s a thriving area because the city built a nice outdoor space. An aquarium would likely end up like the NASCAR HOF - a terrible investment of tax payer dollars that doesn’t improve the city’s street scape at all.

Thanks - helpful to know the details of the bed tax and that does change my opinion if it has to be spent on something. I walked all around the convention center recently and I'm probably just a bit grumpy about how terrible the street scape is all around it - several blocks that are just a complete dead zone. It's literally a fortress surrounded by walls.

In my opinion spending any tax dollars on this is a terrible idea. The convention center is already a terrible use of space in what is becoming prime real estate uptown (no street level retail, huge walls around it, etc.). We should spend the money on making the city as friendly for living and visiting as possible - parks, restaurants, rail, working on the homeless issue, etc. - and not worry about these mega projects that never seem to generate a good return. http://www.governing.com/blogs/bfc/col-convention-center-promised-benefits-rarely-materialize.html https://www.citylab.com/solutions/2012/06/stop-building-convention-centers/2210/ https://www.brookings.edu/research/space-available-the-realities-of-convention-centers-as-economic-development-strategy/

Amazon's biggest need with the new HQ is to attract and hire great tech talent. They think they can get millennial/tech types to move to Nashville b/c it's cool and they think they can hire in RDU since there is a bigger tech presence there already in addition to better universities relative to Charlotte. It stinks because I think any millennial and/or tech types in RDU or at a college up there would move to CLT in a heartbeat to work for Amazon, so I don't think it's an actual advantage, but it's definitely a perceived advantage.

Driverless technology and ride sharing should be a big part of this debate in general. It is certain that getting around in a driverless taxi in the future (whether it's Uber/Tesla/Google/etc) will be far cheaper and more convenient than taxi's and Uber's today. Given that should we be spending billions of dollars on other forms of transportation, or should we be spending the money to make our city adopt to the new technology instead? I fear this huge spending will look like a big mistake 20 years from now when it is cheaper, faster and easier to hop in a driverless Uber than to take the light rail.