Niner National

that's a ridiculous sum to spend. I really doubt it happens.

I've said this since the place opened. Many of the people that raft there have never done real white water rafting before. If they like it, they'll likely go on trips on real rivers in the future. If they didn't, they won't return. Either way, your client base is shrinking with every customer.The majority of return customers will be kayakers that simply don't want to drive to the mountains every week to get their fill. I worked there briefly and got to raft for free if there was an open spot on a raft. I went rafting more than I actually worked there. I paid once, for my dad, but would never pay again. I may go out to the mountain bike trails in the future, but I can ride trails that are almost as good (although not as long anymore) on campus for free.

I'm not surprised by this at all. That sears store didn't make money and had a lot of problems with theft. I work at the Pineville sears part time and was told they have as many attempted thefts (caught, countless others probably not caught) in a month as we do in almost a year. Monsoon- there is an outlet store on S. Blvd and normal sears locations in Rock Hill, Monroe, and Gastonia in addition to the ones you mentioned.

telling people there might be a rail line going through there in 10 years isn't much of a help when they could move downtown or to south end and live on one now for the same price.

Charlotte still has a lot of potential if thing get straightened out, but banks don't lend on potential anymore. He would never get financing for a condo tower. An office tower maybe, but not a 70 floor tower.

I have limited experience with middle eastern/mediterranean food, but there is a new restaurant in the university area that specializes in Moroccan food called Casablanca. It's in shopping center with flying saucer. I had some beef kabobs which I thought were delicious. If you live in the university area I recommend checking them out. I don't have much to compare it to, so it could very well be average compared to similar restaurants, but I like it. Are there any Kabob places in Charlotte other than this place and the one off of Independence?

if it's not dead, its in a vegetative state and will remain that way barring an act of god.

Charlotte announces its fund raising committee: http://obsfifty.blogspot.com/2009/02/heavy...c-football.html That is a pretty impressive group of people to be running the fund raising campaign. I know times are tough right now, but as long as they don't set any arbitrary time lines and are patient, this could be very successful with people that have that kind of pull in the community. As of right now, 5400 orders (actual sales, no longer the pledges) have been taken from over 2,000 people. Payments are due for a little while, but as long as they all pay up, that leaves only 2100 more PSL's before they sell out.

I've been told by more than one source close to the administration that the intramural field location has been the proposal chosen. I was told it would be a sunken bowl design so they could more easily expand, but I don't think that is set in stone. It would make the most sense however as it would allow them to build up if we make it big.

the CAA mentioned Charlotte in their recent discussions about creating a 14 team league, although they said they had not yet contacted Charlotte officials. The CAA or Southern Conference would be ideal as they are the top two FCS level football conferences, but the SoCon is very unlikely to let Charlotte in only for football. The SoCon is vastly inferior to the A-10 in regards to basketball and once Curry is gone from Davidson, mediocrity will be the universal theme in that conference. The stadium will be on the intramural fields and I was told the design would be a sunken bowl so that they would have more room to expand if need be. They say 12,000 seats in the media, but its actually going to be in the 20,000ish range. The first payments for PSL's will be due in March.

the football stadium is going where the intramural fields are behind the research institute that is right off of N. Tryon. It will be a sunken bowl design.

the landmarks commission cannot really decide the buildings fate. One of my professors is the head of the landmarks commission and was discussing this in class. The only thing the landmarks commission can do is delay demolition for a year and hope the developer changes his mind or sells the property to someone else who does not intend to destroy it. If the developer wants it torn down, it will happen eventually.

Was driving through downtown last night at about 12:30 and they had the trolley out on the tracks testing it. Blocked off 7th street for a solid 10 minutes (that's how long I sat there before turning around at least).

nothing, just saying that Charlotte would not have the highest fees in the system with the addition of football if it weren't forced to raise fees to cover expenses that should be covered by the state (and are at other institutions).

The reason the fees at Charlotte are so high is because of the disparity in the appropriation of state funds. Football only adds to the already high fees (although I am in favor of adding it), but these fees could be much lower if Charlotte got its fair share. Apparently when Spangler and Friday visited and were questioned about the funding discrepancy, one of them said something along the lines of "look around, this place is lucky to get the funding it does" Chapel Hill got 198 million dollars for a science building, yet we can't get funding for buildings that that cost 1/3 of that. When funds were appropriated for 07, Charlotte was awarded no money for new buildings and was told "you got money last year", yet State and Chapel Hill get tens of millions (or more) per year.

I'm a student at Charlotte and I've heard from a number of international professors and international students (my girlfriend is from Poland and she has told me the same) that colleges in the USA are more difficult than those abroad. Our universities are much easier to get into than those found in Europe and Asia, but the actual cirriculum is a lot more demanding than that found elsewhere. I'm not arguing that academic standards in the US are not falling, particularly those in high schools (I did very little in high school and still managed a respectable GPA (3.9, however not on a 4.0 scale)) because they certainly are. It is an area of concern, however, I do not believe sports has played as large a role in this as other factors.