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Norfolk4Life

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Posts posted by Norfolk4Life

  1. Virginia Beach Light Rail and Transit

    in Virginia Beach

    Posted

    If one of the most costly parts of a VB light real would be the overpasses, why not keep the LRT at grade and lower the road? Just like monticello ave, hampton blvd, brambleton blvd, and the new project by NIT. It has to be cheaper to lower the road given the approach distance to raise a rail line

  3. Norfolk Stores and Retail and Resturants

    in Norfolk

    Posted

    AJ Gators on Granby has been closed. Has a sign on the door about unexpected renovations (yea right) and some sorta Realtor lock box.

    Other friend was saying Time looked dead, but I'm not sure about this. I think it might have just been the end of the weekend?

    Friends and myself are investigating opening a large classic arcade on Granby Street. Pinballs/classic games up to more modern stuff. No redemption, no chuck e cheese, etc. Thoughts?

    I think an arcade downtown would make a fortune. People are always looking for one by the mall and with no jillians, there is nothing downtown

  6. Downtown Norfolk Progress

    in Norfolk

    Posted

    The only way I would support a one way street there is if monticello were one way in the opposite direction AND light rail was split between the two going in the same direction as the traffic. This would allow for traffic flow, wider sidewalks on monticello, and on-street parking

  7. Downtown Norfolk Progress

    in Norfolk

    Posted

    More downtown news here. Restaurants along Granby Street are getting angry at the parking situation in downtown and I must agree with them to a point. I think Granby needs some serious overhaul to it. I do not agree with the idea of making Granby one way though. I do think Granby needs to take away the street parking and make it two lanes in each direction. Also, the garages in the area have to reduce their rates. If I didn't live within walking distance to downtown, I wouldn't go there either because of the parking. Granby Street needs another parking garage with easy access to it. With Granby Street "widened" to 4 lanes of traffic and without the worries of parked cars, this will open up the street and open up a new possibility....... Weekend night pedestrian only Granby Street. On Friday and Saturday nights, close off Granby to traffic (like downtown Hampton or Bourbon Street in New Orleans). Let vendors sell beer on the street, get a block party going. In the summer, downtown Norfolk is dead because people don't want to be at an indoor bar at that time of year. Hampton is a great example of how people flock down there instead. BTW, here is the link to the parking revolt:

    http://www.wvec.com/video?id=118677704&sec=554067

    Both the ideas of lowering parking rates and removing on-street parking are completely contrary to the goal of having a pedestrian friendly areas. lower parking rates would mean more people would drive in instead of parking for free at a place like the new Newtown light real station and riding in. This would hinder our prospects of light rail. Additionally, when people ride in on transit they are more likely to stay a while than if they had convenient access to their car. As for the on-street parking, don't touch it. Its a basic planning technique. On-street parking makes the sidewalk feel safer. No parking on the street means people don't want to walk there. Also, on-street parking slows cars down. People naturally drive slower when they are afraid a door will open our a person will walk or from between two cars. No on-street parking means faster traffic which means fewer walkers. But you still need the cars. Closing the street to cars has failed before because it makes it feel deserted and leads to higher crime. This is one case where I will say that business owners need to stick to running their businesses and leave the planning to people who can plan. I am not making this up. Go borrow a planning guide for planning for planning a pedestrian friendly area.

  8. Norfolk Stores and Retail and Resturants

    in Norfolk

    Posted

    ii think it will be for the better and I don't think they will have much trouble filling the spaces. As for the stores, they seem to be filling their places. If you keep a keen eye out you can see that they have to have some stores close so that others can expand and remodel. In fact, there does not appear to be many truly vacant spaces.

  10. Norfolk Development 2

    in Norfolk

    Posted

    So the businesses (Pollard's, Shell, Family Car Wash) on the SE corner of Park and Brambleton by the NSU LR station have been cleared out. Anyone know what's up?

    I think its just part of the city's regular land acquisition program. The city shows that all that land is owned by NRHA. The only place not owned by the city over there is the house on Park Ave. I am sure that will be purchased as soon as the owner sells. Its one of the city's target areas so they purchase all available land to make save land for future development.

  11. Norfolk Light Rail and Transit

    in Norfolk

    Posted

    Really?

    Sounds like a good idea, but I do not think the city has its crime issue underwraps to put screens at the stations. I would see them being damaged, marked up, etc...

    Would have been cool for a heavy monitored stationed, but those outliers will get hit pretty hard with vandalism.

    last october, when I visited Portland, OR, I noticed that their transit stops were clean and almost new looking. The reason? There were signs on everything that said it was a felony to deface transit property or to harass or assault transit employees. Thats what we need here. We need that here. It should be posted everywhere. We could get some wireless cameras to move around between the most vandalized areas and see if we cant catch some people.

  14. Norfolk History

    in Norfolk

    Posted

    people often cite Portland as an example of a great urban city. They apparently looked just like Norfolk in the 1970s.

    Portland1970.jpg

    although they had more city blocks (but only because Norfolk had already demolished them for public housing fields), notice the number of vacant lots (whole city blocks) and the large imposing highway that covers the waterfront of Downtown. When you look at Norfolk, remember that large roads like Tidewater Dr, Waterside Dr, etc. were built over an existing grid. Norfolk's grid extended through all of the public housing and surrounding areas. Before 'urban renewal' Norfolk's street pattern had been nearly unchanged since it was layed out originally.

  15. Hampton Roads Transportation

    in Hampton Roads

    Posted

    Well high speed rail might be iffy with the incoming Republican majority in the House of Reps, but passenger rail chugs on:

    then we need to call our representatives and show them that investment in mass transportation is the only one the truly creates wealth for our state. highway construction will ALWAYS lead to the need for more highway construction and will drain the wealth of our region and state by forcing the expenditure of money on oil-related (oil, gasoline, asphalt, etc.) products: all of which leave the state. mass transit money stays in our region and allows users to keep more of their money.

  16. Downtown Norfolk Progress

    in Norfolk

    Posted

    because federal money is used in the administration of the projects, the city cannot just tear them down and move the people out. The development that will be built as a replacement MUST offer subsidized units one for one in regards to what is torn down. Broad Creek was built that way. It looks WAY better than the projects that it replaced but the poor people are still there. Not a bad idea, really. I will try to find the actual study, but there was a study done awhile ago outside of Chicago (i think) after the city's housing authority was found guilty of housing discrimination. Public housing residents were given the choice to stay in the urban projects or move to subsidized housing in the outlying suburbs. The study found that the people that moved to a more middle-class type neighborhood in the suburbs were taking home more pay and had a higher chance of moving out of the subsidized houses. Additionally, the youth had a much higher graduation rate. Simply put: Take the poor people out of the desolate, depressing public housing projects where they are surrounded by perpetual poverty and put them somewhere where they can see that there IS something better out there and they WILL improve their own conditions and become productive members of society.

  17. Norfolk Light Rail and Transit

    in Norfolk

    Posted

    That is the one of the many reasons why I moved away, which that I ended up finding Portland which turned out to be exactly the kind of city I always wanted to live in.  Plus one day, depending on where I go for grad school, I could end up moving to Chicago and live in one of our country's great urban cities.  I could never of had this life if I stayed in Hampton Roads and I don't think I would of ever been that happy living in an area that thought so completely different from me.

    I do hope that once this gets up and running, that it has a strong initial success because people in this country have a serious case of short term memory and I can see light rail becoming more excepted once it starts running.  Case in point, look at the VB Town Center and how many people were against that and how many thought it was the worst idea the city could ever do, and now the city has drawn up plans to turn that entire area into an actual downtown...something I thought I would never see in VB.

    im actually moving to Oregon for my fiance to do her masters degree at OSU and for me to do my BS at PDX. unlike most of my peers, however, my goal is to return to norfolk and change it. personally, i think thats what wrong with most of the country: everyone wants everything already done for them instead of seeing something that needs improvement and actually improving it. Its really not that difficult to change thinks, you just have to commit to it. 

    • Like 1

  25. Norfolk Light Rail and Transit

    in Norfolk

    Posted

    What these folks fail to realize is that Va. Beach has significantly urbanized over the past 10 years, and that even folks that were initially against light rail are now for it. 

    thats why I wish Belito would get replaced. In her commercials, she appeared to just want to re-ruralize the beach.....

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