jeffconn

Some needed street repairs on the corner of Brambleton and Granby are happening, thanks to federal grant moneys. https://pilotonline.com/news/local/transportation/brambleton-and-granby-intersection-to-get-special-look-for-neon/article_a96238bd-76b5-5b47-9f19-2c0f0558e6d3.html Fixing this intersection is LONG overdue. Every time i cross Brambleton on that corner, i make sure to update my will! Hopefully they will put some traffic cameras there to catch the many, many people who run red lights there.

You can redistrict things all you want. Besides the six lanes of Hell, think about what is on Brambleton. Scope, the Federal Building, the church with the humongous parking lot, that big park that nobody is supposed to use, the York Building, the Residence Marriott, the Belmont at Freemason. These don't invite people into downtown. They BLOCK off downtown. It's a huge wall, figuratively. That side of Brambleton is where downtown begins, period. Personally, i love the Greyhound building. It is rather distinctive in a mid 20th Century way. Sure it's run down a bit, but heck, we're rehabbing buildings in downtown proper that were a LOT more rundown (and tilting in a scary way besides). I still think the Greyhound building would be a great asset to the NEON district. A restaurant, a common area with a farmer's market or small businesses, or even move the d'Art gallery there. I would DEFINITELY agree that the lot behind the Greyhound building (and the gated building that's been for sale forever) should be redeveloped. There's not much hope for those spaces, as is.

Norfolk's population bottomed out around 2000 at 234,000 but has been rising slowly since then. The estimated pop. for 2016 was 245,000.

I doubt seriously that any tower will go there. Let's be honest here, folks. It's on the wrong side of Brambleton, and no matter how you slice it, it ain't downtown, and never will be downtown. Those 6 lanes of Hell you have to cross to get to downtown will make sure of that.That part of town has its own character, and i think that keeping the station as is is the way to go. There's already 20-30 parking spaces there, some covered. Make some sort of farmer's market or maybe another "business incubator" like they are planning for Selden Arcade. And rent out the restaurant part to some enterprising restaurateur. I do agree that the Greyhound station should be in Harbor Park, perhaps in an expansion of the Amtrak station, maybe even allow the Megabus to stop there too. Three services sharing a common seating area makes sense to me.

That little carnival does bring in a lot of families. People expect stuff like that at a beach. It's something to do when you're not in the mood for just hanging out at the beach. And it sure beats more cookie cutter tourist trap shops, or just another building with the same chain stores and restaurants.

I've gone to the noon presentations at the Glass Studio a few times. A lot of fun, but it does get a bit crowded in there sometimes. The studio wasn't really made for a big audience. Hopefully you will still be able to get up close and personal during the demonstrations. And having gallery space so you can see the creations right there is a nice plus.

For Facebook, that's a low rating. A 5 star rating is pretty uninformative, for the most part. "This place is the best place EVER!" That sort of fluff. Read the actual reviews. The lower than 5 star reviews offer actual constructive criticism.

Waterside is NOT impressing the people on Facebook. There a TON of negative reviews, mostly talking about the hideous service, the insane prices, the parking garage situation, and lack of, well, ANYTHING family friendly. Apparently, the Market isn't handicapped friendly either. I can imagine what a nightmare that place would be for folks in wheelchairs, especially during meal times. There are very few low tables, and most of the eateries and bars seem to favor high stools. https://www.facebook.com/pg/WatersideDistrict/reviews/

Handsome Biscuit will be opening a new location on Monarch Way near ODU. The legal notice that states they are trying to get a beer license is on the building now. The location is the former home of Boardwalk Fries, Krispy Krunchy Chicken, a Chinese restaurant, and probably one or two others (I lost track). It's the location on Monarch Way where restaurant ideas go to die! Hoping they will have better luck. It looks like they are finally working on Pizza Fusion, also on Monarch Way, in the old Starbucks location. It will be one of the ODU student focussed restaurants run by Aramark, so i don't hold too much hope for it. The Den by Denny's, another new restaurant run by Aramark, has been a major disappointment.

My problem is that i would want somebody hired by Cogan's and trained by Cogan's to make a proper Cogan's pizza. I don't want somebody that is just an assembly line cog to make the food. If somebody works at the coffee shop on Monday, and Guy's place on Tuesday, and Luk Fu on Wednesday, he is going to be mediocre at best, and the food and service will suffer. If Cordish runs all the restaurants, then they will all be mediocre, just like all the eateries run by Aramark at ODU. No real competition breeds mediocrity. And going back a few posts, do you folks really think that Waterside 2.0 failed because there were too many options for families? Seriously? One of the last restaurants left in Waterside 2.0 was the family-friendly Joe's Crab Shack. Waterside failed because it was FRIKKING DANGEROUS to go there after dark! That reputation killed Dave and Buster's, Outback, and all the other restaurants that left Waterside before it closed. And finally, i guess i was underwhelmed because i figured a place called The Market would, you know, actually have A MARKET, and not just be a glorified food court.

Went there for the first time for lunch Friday afternoon. I expected more than just a food court and some bars. Seriously underwhelming. Was very surprised to see all the "Market" shirts on the employees. Looks like they want the ability to cycle the employees between each food kiosk. That isn't a good sign.

Any sentence that doesn't include jailtime will be seen as him getting off scott-free. Probation is seen as a slap on the wrist, as it essentially IS a slap on the wrist. As for a permanent ban from holding office, i don't think the Virginia courts can do that. The General Assembly would have to do that, and with that lot, i''m sure they haven't banned convicted felons from holding office.

I've been to the Norfolk Southern museum once. And once is all you need. It's a 15 minute museum, and that is if you're a railroad buff. I think Norfolk is doing rather well in the museum department. The Chrysler, Nauticus, the Naval Museum/Wisconsin, MacArthur Memorial, d'Art Center, plus the little satellite museums and historic houses. If the little museums would actually open more, and maybe coordinate opening times, it would be nice. (The police museum is only open one afternoon a week, and the historic houses are only open on Saturday and Sunday. The Norfolk Southern museum is only open Monday-Friday during business hours and never on holidays.)

Parking garages would be ideal. Heck, a parking garage would work for both the hotel and the movie multiplex. They're close enough to each other. One of the things i like about Town Center is they introduced parking garages early in the planning stages. People now don't think twice about using the garages when going to an event in TC. BTW, you look at the movie theatre from the inside of the mall, and it looks like it would be easy to seperate it from the rest of the mall. It was added on well after the main mall was built, if i recall correctly.

I really wish the city could do something with the MIlitary Circle area. Keep the businesses on the edge of the property. Most of them seem to be doing okay. Keep the theatres, rehab the motel, tear down the rest of the mall (unless they can find someone to take over the former anchor stores), and put the entire area on a grid system, as the circle part of Military Circle really serves no purpose anymore. Try to turn MIlitary Circle into something like Town Center: a mix of retail, residential, and entertainment.

This would be a complete and total disaster. As it now stands we have HRT, and two smaller transit companies in Williamsburg and Suffolk. Imagine 10 different companies, each on different schedules with different fares, different times being active (Suffolk doesn't have service on Sundays or on ANY holidays, for example) and having to pay full price every time you switch buses. Also, Portsmouth, being the poorest city in HR, would have the worst service even though they arguably need it the most.

Must have made that list before the Tide vote.

So they closed down all the bars at Waterside that had all the fighting, and are putting in a bar that will have all the fighting. Its a country bar, and i thought they said no more bars in Waterside. It is definitley looking like Waterside 3.0 will just be Waterside 2.0 with higher rent tenants.

New store in downtown. House of Maya Bridal Salons will be located on Granby. Last store in that location was a bikini/swimwear store. Offices for House of Maya will be located upstairs, so there's more offices occupied downtown. http://southsidedaily.com/2017/02/21/house-of-maya-bridal-salons-is-moving-to-downtown-norfolk/

Looks like i'll have to find somewhere else to eat lunch after 2019. I don't see 757 Crave anywhere in those pics.

Let's get real here. With the location of the proposed arena, people will get in their cars after events and head straight to West 264. The problem is there is nothing there, and with the sea of parking, theres no incentive to do something in the area after an event. If you have to get in your car to go somewhere, you might as well just go home.

Public access to the water would be nice. Take it from someone who uses the ferry to Portsmouth often. It has been a MAJOR pain to use the ferry since Waterside closed down. At the very least, that walkthrough would give us someplace to wait on the ferry that is out of the elements. Waiting on the ferry this February and March is going to be Hell. There is NO shelter.

More people living downtown will eventually help there be more businesses downtown. You know, critical mass and all that jazz. There's still quite a bit of retail space available in downtown, inside and outside of MacArthur Mall. I keep hoping that someone will eventually rent out the old Quality Shoppes building. That looks like such a prime location to me.

City council gave the developper until April to start actual physical work on the Apartments. So, it's #$%% or get off the pot time, as my Grampa used to say. http://pilotonline.com/business/developer-of-american-cigar-co-building-has-until-april-to/article_f3372f76-79a5-5e3c-988e-fb76130e9923.html

That "pier for ferries" gets my attention. A few years ago, there was a company testing a high speed ferry between Norfolk and the Peninsula, but nothing came of it. Any sort of ferry would be a great option on those days when the tunnels are at a standstill.