urbanfan

By the way can somebody please tell me what some of these abreviations mean that are being used? LOL?

Travel to some of the cities up north, outside of New York, which won't even allow them in, and some western cities. Walmart adapts itself to the area it serves. Not every walmart is a box in the middle of nowhere. Case in point, Harrisonburg Virginia's first walmart was built into the existing mall. It thrived there for several years before Walmart finally left and ended up moving into a shopping center and becoming an anchor there for the project the city created. Walmart is in almost every major Downtown area. And I can gaurantee you that they are not big boxes built in the middle of sckyscrapers.

Also, suburban sprawl would be considered trying to build a walmart in lightfoot or lee hall area. Suburban sprawl is not considered building in an area that is already suburban in the first place. It is considered building in an area that use to be rural, farm lands, dairies, etc... much like denbigh in newport news has continued to do. Thousands upon thousands of people live in the area that this walmart will be, including myself and that would be far from rural.

Understand that this area will never be like New York City with miles of skyline. Our area encompasses 30 radius miles. If we were urban in the complete since of a downtown for 30 miles than we would be the largest city in the world. I have no complaints about building a walmart in an area that is pretty much suburban. Now if they were trying to build that thing right across from the City Center/Port Warwick development in Newport News where we are trying to build an urban environment, or in Downtown Newport News, Norfolk, or at Town Center, than yes I would have a real serious problem with that. However, I have been to Philly and other downtowns where walmart has been built in to the urban malls, underground malls and I see no problem with that. Walmart just has to adapt to its surroundings, and it doesn't have a problem doing that. But in central newport news that is pretty much suburban any ways I see no problem with that. Not every area of hampton roads is urban.

This guy obviously has a bone to pick with Wal-Mart. But from reading the article it sounds like smear to me. Every person that you heard from (other than those who were mad because they got trumped) seemed to be pleased to do business with them. Yes wal-mart expects the lowest price and will get it however it comes, but alot of the businesses I have heard on this article are upset with wal-mart because they ended up biting off more than they could choose. I gaurantee that these companies laid people off when they needed to instead of dropping there mere 1.8 million dollar a year corporate salary a few hundred thousand. I have no sympathy for these people. Much like us airways expecting there employees to take pay cuts and loose benefites while the ceo gets a million dollar bonus and a pay raise. Don't get me wrong, I am not a fan of Wal-mart (for other reasons-slow check out lines-rude costumer service) but they bring another dimension to this world that helps the AVERAGE family buy things they normally couldn't at mom and pop stores, or expensive retail chains. Personally, I try to shop at target or kmart if I can but sometimes Wal-mart is unavoidable.

What is holding up the starter line accordig to the feds (FTA) is that there ridership forecasts or off. There was alot of development that occured in the amount of time the project started and now which has not been included on the report. Also the feds want to see updated numbers on the parking situtaion in Downtown Norfolk. They don't like the fact that at one time the parking garages were half empty. They like to see garages at full capacity because that means that people will be more willing to ride the train instead of driving. You can access the information on the FTA's website. Supposedely they will recieve the money as long as they can iron out the differences in forecasted ridership (which the FTA is helping Norfolk to adress.) I would say that I expect money to be set aside for the Norfolk Light Rail and an agreement to enter into final engineering stages some time within the next two years. Also HRT gets high marks for the way they run there company and their financial situation according to the fed's.

Actually the name of the tower in downtown hampton is Harbour Center. It is actually 14 stories tall with a parking garage that surrounds it. (5 stories) It is an all business tower. Across the street is the Raddisson Hotel at 10 stories. Harbour Center was actually suppose to be a two tower complex but the demand never came through. Recently the city has proposed bringing back the second tower proposal, but there is nothing concrete about it. It's just a part of their downtown master plan for now but it sure would be nice to see a twin tower. It is a very beautiful building. Unlike the City hall tower.

Thats an old movie. My dad made us watch that as a kid. I still look around the skies every once in a while when I hear alot of birds.

I've hit a few birds just in the past three months. Scared the crap out of my wife, and me. I remember when you drove down the bridge and you use to see one sitting every other light post. Now you see them on every light post and on signs and the concrete barriers. There everywhere.

Found a great article that came out today showing this areas ranking when it comes to business and places for new business. It mainly talks about richmond but richmond ranked 14th as hampton roads ranked eighth and nova ranked fourth. No other state other than texas had more than one city ranked. Pretty good showing for virginia and I'll bet new businesses are already eyeing this area if its in forbes. Why not the international shipping community is already flooding this area with port business, its only natural that business will be coming soon. Check the article out here

Heck, they should be doing both. God knows that its needed. The third crossing will only help the traffic situation at the hrbt by just under 20 percent I believe is what the report says. But, hell will probably freeze over before that happens.

Tell me about it, I bought a home last year and this years assessment went up 45,000 dollars. I can already turn around and sell it for 50,000-60,000 more than I bought it for.

Sorry, have to agree with russ the bus on this one. I see it first hand in my sister. At one time it was so easy to get welfare and housing. Although, now the government is starting to crack down on free loaders. However, we as a nation tend to give things away without any real requirements. The whole idea of welfare is great but it should only be temporary. I did whatever I had to to keep my head above water including working three different minimum wage jobs to pay the bills. People on welfare could do more to help themselves and I think they would if welfare wasn't so much easier. Now we can't generalize and I know that there are some people on welfare who have three kids and don't have time to work, and there are special cases but in general the welfare system needs to have more requirements and time limits in its use.

Here is the official BRAC list in alphabetical order by state. (in Pdf). ClickHere

Keep in mind that the figures for Langley don't show the Air national Gaurd Unit from Richmond in its figures. This was a seperate event I believe, because the unit needed to train on the new fa_22 raptors at langley. So add 1,000 more to the bottom line.

Wavy 10 just posted an article with a breakdown of gains and losses. We actually gained over all in the region as far as military personell, lost a few hundred civilian jobs (which isn't all bad because civilians don't necessarily move if they lose there jobs). Check it out here

Actually the web site has been updated. Most of the pictures that I showed earlier in this thread came from that web site. You just have to go to the different areas such as the retail district, office district and residential district and click on view renderings. Most of the second phase now under construction is already on the web page. I do agree though that they tend to let some time go by before they update there website though.

Both of the proposals show the time line with a notice to proceed in 2007 and actuall island construction starting in 2008. The bridges themselves wouldn't even start till I believe 2010. So far everything has been running on time. Supposedly we should hear something about this if they decide to do it some time early next year, right?

You apparantly are not a football fan. Football is one of the best sports to watch. Not to mention the tail gait parties.

Just to let you know that this area has alot of close ties to New York and Philadelphia. Alot of people here have relatives in New York that live here and vice versa. I can gaurantee you that a majority of New yorkers know Norfolk and I can tell you from expereince that Philadelphian's know Norfolk being that every time I visit Philly and travel down to South Philly at the Italian Market people comment on the fact that I'm from Norfolk because of the Tides hat that I'm wearing. Don't give me the bull that people don't know this area. That's just crap.

I agree. The city actually tries to think ahead for once. If your going to have to build the bridge why not build it with the capacity to expand. That way in the future when the road is expanded (which it will be no matter what problems anyone might have with it.) the bridge won't have to be replaced after five years of service. Some people just have to find anything to complain about.

I voted yes to see ODU get football. I'll be there in a year and a half and can't wait to go to football games. I think it will be great for the school. Also for the area because ODU knows how to get talent and produce great teams. Unlike others in Norfolk and Hampton. I ready to see some good football.

Let's hope that comes in our lifetime. I'm tired of driving miles upon miles to see major league sports.

There is not a 2003 Census just population estimates based on previous growth. More than likely these numbers are pretty safe. I would bet that Hampton Roads is closer to 1.7 mill. and Richmond closer to 1.2 million. I'll base that on the phenomenal growth here on the peninsula. Not to mention all of the growth going on in Downtown norfolk and Virginia Beach. And of course Chesapeake and Suffolk are hitting serious growth spurts. And as far as Metropolitan names are concerned, as of 2004 the metro area is still defined as Norfolk-virginia beach-newport news, va-nc. Only the counties and cities defined are part of the statistical area. Who knows what the future holds. I know alot of people at the NN Shipyard that are commuting in busses from gates county and others down in north carolina so in the future I expect to see a couple of North Carolina counties added. However I don't think you would ever see the name change because of the fact that there is not one dominant city that people commute to. We all cross commute to different cities in the region.

You had everything right until you got to the hampton roads cities, you used the 2000 pop. estimates. To get the 2003 estimates you have to use the county pulldown menu to the left and scroll all the way to the bottom until you get to the cities. With that said I'll post the correct numbers. Chesapeake = 210,834 Hampton = 146,878 Newport News = 181,647 Norfolk = 241,727 Poquoson = 11,844 Portsmouth = 99,617 Suffolk = 73,515 Virginia Beach = 439,467 Williamsburg = 11,605 Currituck County = 20,834 Gloucester County = 36,698 Isle of Wight County = 31,925 James City County = 53,487 Mathews County = 9,216 York County = 60,948 Surry County = 7,009 Total = 1,637,251 Also I believe your math is a little off your Richmond total should be 1,138,234