[Misc. Uptown Projects/News]

The Coyote Ugly building at College & 9th has been getting worked on for the week or two. First it was a fresh coat of white paint (on the 9th facing side) and today a new awning with wood pillars was installed. Not sure what's going in there, but given the looks of the awning and patio I would assume its another bar or restaurant.

Luna Lounge is going there. It is owned by the same people as Kiss Lounge and The Sunset Club

[NC Music Factory / Uptown Village / Deco One]

Has this been here for very long? Perhaps old news, but this is the first time I have seen this.

I really hope this gets going this spring and summer before the economy gets any worse.

[Metropolitan, Midtown Redevelopment]

I have never been inside this Home Depot, but I'd like to see an Aldi go in its place. I know Aldi is at least turning a profile in his early depression and a location uptown would help out the bottom line. I was in there new store in Harrisburg and it was very nice and clean. Plus it would be great competition for Trader Joe's. What does everybody else think?

[Charlotte Weather]

Crazy Wind today In my neck of the woods all of the stars I hang on my front porch blew off and got ripped up. Oh well, New Year and all must mean it's time for new porch hangers. The big tin star nailed next to the front door blew off too but it's in fine shape. And the sturdy lounge chairs on the front yard blew over.

A massive oak tree is blocking East Blvd @ Park. Avoid this area tonight as it's going to be awhile before it's cleared.

I live in Pineville right outside of Ballantyne and I was awoken to the howling of the wind whipping right outside(my bed backups to a window) this morning around 6am. I grabbed my camera and wanted to take pictures but my memory card was in the other room and I didnt feel like walking to go get it. It was like sheets of rain but worse. I didnt know what the heck was going on, I should have turned on the TV but I just went back to back instead.

[Good New Restaurants]

Does anybody know why San Remo's on Central Ave closed down? Me and my buddy would go there every saturday night(sunday morning) before heading home. We've started going to Landmark(which butts right up to the back of San Remos) which we like better, but we still are wondering what happened to San Remos?

[Charlotte's Light Rail: Lynx Blue Line]

Let's be fair here and analyze the reason why, which is out of CATs control... the reason is that the half cent tax isn't bringing in as much anticipated dough. Why? Because we are in a recession; people can't afford to buy their taxed items so our transit system gets the tail end of the deal. I'd imagine that when the economy swings back to what it was like when the system opened in Charlotte, that more people will spend money and the transit system will again benefit. Although, the Obama proposal is a seperate issue, there has been a constant flow of talk with politicians about this daily and it seems to be an ambitious proposal, following FDR's New Deal. The latest figure that I believe I heard today on CNN was something like 60 billion dollars dedicated for mass transit in the US, and it's said that this is one of the first things that Obama wants to take care of (including roads, utilities, public works) when he takes office. Will everything pan out with Obama's plan, I don't know. I just know that over the past 20+ years politicians have been promising an emphasis on remodeling America's energy and having a combat towards global warming, and have all failed to do anything. Obama's ambition and seriousness to this all has been the most promising, so I'm optimistic to think that much of his plans in regards of this matter will pan out.

I really wish people(and the mainstream media) would stop comparing Obama New Deal to FDR's new deal. What most people dont realize is that back then, we(the government) had available lines of credit to fund these projects. Today, we're basically maxed out. And even if China(or some other country) is dumb enough to lend us the money(that wont be payed back, just like the rest of our debt) it's going to make the forecoming depression much worse. It's one thing to have a depression but its another to have a depression with Hyperinflation(which will happen due to all this money being created out of thin air and pumped into our economy). The only thing the stimulus package is going to "stimulate" is our debt.

Hold to on to your hats(and your houses, and your guns if you have them)!

[NC Music Factory / Uptown Village / Deco One]

Any update on the NC Music Factory? I'm actually more excited about this development then Epicentre. I'm curious to see next summer(and with the state of economy) whether Charlotte can handle all this nightlife(I'm hoping so). Anybody got any news?

[Charlotte's Light Rail: Lynx Blue Line]

There is a flickr group for photos of the Lynx South line. Looks to be 500+ photos up already

I read somewhere, that CATS will be running shuttles from CTC to Memorial Staduim for the Red, White & Boom celebration. My question is to you think that Lynx(running on a Sunday schedule/last train departing uptown at midnight instead of 1am) will be extra busy or will it be a normal amount of traffic on the light rail tomorrow night?

Dean

[210 Trade | EpiCentre]

I have an idea...they should ditch the 210 condos and build a multi-level 24hr bookstore/cafe I can't wait for it to open! I think Epicentre has enough bars now. And no I don't hate bars but I wish there was a bit more variety beyond a party place all the time.

I ventured uptown this afternoon while waiting on an oil change for my car(thats another post all together). I didn't actually go on Epicentre property(wasnt sure i could, considering its still an active construction site during the day) but did notice banners for Cold Stone Creamary,Smoothie King and PJ's (a coffee bar/lounge) type of place. I, along with everybody else, cant wait for the whole thing to open.

Like somebody else questioned, "What is the completion dates for the bowling Alley and Movie Theater?"

Dean

[Charlotte's Light Rail: Lynx Blue Line]

Just yesterday I was on a very full 9p train leaving uptown. 20 leads were fine when it opened, but I think we've outgrown that by now.

Is the day you mentioned at Thursday? I would think that Alive @ 5 & Epicentre @ 5, had a big role in why the 9pm train was so packed. Is that about the time, those 2 things end?

[Charlotte's Light Rail: Lynx Blue Line]

Oh lord. You must have been one or two trains ahead of me. When I got to New Bern this morning to board, myself and the other people waiting were wondering what the hell was going on with that guy. His boxes were scattered all over the platform, and he was still chatting away with the Pepsi people. In fact, he pulled two large zip lock bags full of.. something.. out of one of the boxes and handed them through the barbed wire. I think he sold them two cases of Corona, too.

Yeah, you don't get that kind of entertainment commuting on the Interstate.

That's pretty crazy stuff, especially for daytime activity. The craziest thing I've ever seen on the light rail was some drunk ugly Tranny yelling on the last train of the night.

My question is, during the busy morning rush have you ever seen ticket inspectors? I assume it would be the same situation, with speed street where the trains are too packed to check for tickets. I rode numerous 1am trains on Thursday and Friday night and I've never seen a single ticket inspector or policeman. I remember asking a Lynx official about why they dont put Police on the last train. He told me that originally their were, but they starting accuring overtime and going over-budget.

One more question, Once Epicentre fully opens (I believe sometime next summer), do you see CATS extending the last train to at least 2am, during the summer time? I know that 31 businesses in Epicentre have applied for Liqour licenses (4 of them being: Whiskey River,Suite,Howl at the Moon, BlackFinn). I expect a big uptown crowd next summer once Epicentre fully opens.

Dean

[Traffic Congestion and Highway Construction]

I'm sure some of you will be happy to hear that the on ramp from 77 to Brookshire was lit tonight.

All the interchanges on 77 starting at Arrowood and going to John Belk Free were lit. However 90% of the lights between the interchanges were still out. Progress is being made though!

[Charlotte's Light Rail: Lynx Blue Line]

Same here. Got to the 485 Station around 9pm and cops were directly us to other stations. I decided to just drive down to the Woodlawn station knowing it would be less crowded, well it was less crowded but not by much. 1st train came by, couldn't get on. 10 minutes later, another train that was full. 15 minutes after that I managed to sqeeze on the 3rd train and take it all the way uptown. I'll try riding Woodlawn southbound, if Northbound is full. I'll leave earlier tonight too! Only good thing about last night was the last train, didnt leave till 1:30am. I'm surprised there hasnt been any media coverage of all the light rail traffic! I still think CATS should have planned this much better, and had trains running until 2am or 2:30am. Hopefully they will learn for Taste of Charlotte in less then a month.

Deano

[Charlotte's Light Rail: Lynx Blue Line]

^It's what they should have done in the first place. It's already been discussed above that all of Charlotte's peers with light rail already offer at least this frequency of service on the weekends and most are even better than this. Sunday ridership is rather dismal which would be an indication that the LRT is not being used for local travel, but mostly by people looking to get downtown so they don't have to pay to park or they are doing bus xfers. Not what we want to be seeing.

I still wish they would extend the light rail for an hour later on friday and saturday nights. Have the last train depart 7th street station at 2am instead of 1am. As far as the low ridership on Sundays, the reason is simple, Uptown is dead on Sunday. Nothing going on, no reason to ride uptown. Well except Amateur Night at Uptown Cabaret!

Deano