CLT2014

Looks like an architecture firm showing off the most impressive design they did even if it didn't get selected for implementation. These websites are for marketing the breadth of their work to other potential clients and this is probably what they were most excited about showing off. When you read the actual content of the work they did selected for implementation, I get why they didn't pick photos for those.

You can absolutely make your own decision and I reserve the right to be embarrassed for our state being excited for more junk food in Mebane's fast food corridor. I've lived in Texas and think the store's food is largely disgusting... just like fast food is disgusting. I don't get the hype. The bathrooms I think are great. You are free to eat there all you want, but I am absolutely not excited Mebane is just becoming a corridor of junk food. I also wouldn't have opposed the project if I was in government based on my personal opinions... just disappointed.

Unfortunate because it is a very prominent placement in the first few pages and the reality is it does make us look like a small town.

I think Buc-ee's is an embarrassment for our state personally... we need less of this, not more. They should just rename Mebane to "Obesity, North Carolina." While Buc-ee's is cute for the novelty once, I personally find the stores nauseating. Again, just my opinion... but seeing people load up on fudge, jerky, brisket, candied nuts, et... in amounts never seen at your average gas station. People encouraging their obese children to get an obnoxious amount of junk food. A guy downed an entire bag of Buc-ee's Beaver Nuggets walking around the store... that's 1,700 calories on a snack. When I was browsing the novelty clothing.... almost no Smalls or Mediums in stock for most items.... no surprise given the clientele. I know I sound elitist, but Buc-ee's is basically the poster child for fat America alongside the Cracker Barrel just down the street and the fast food cluster on Mebane Oaks Road. We need to be actively working as a state to reduce our obesity epidemic, not pour lighter fluid all over it. At other gas stations, people definitely are buying junk food, but never as much as I've seen at a Buc-ee's. The bathrooms are clean though! Great place to go to the bathroom after fighting through the crowds of people in the store loading up on fudge. Just steer clear of the food or have a cardiologist on speed dial.

^In my opinion... to change perception... we need more museums, more attractions, more unique dining, parks that are outstanding (Greenville SC gets outsized press for Falls Park for example), more music, more nightlife, more things that are interesting / different than other places in America. Population and a skyline isn't the only way people measure how big a city feels / relevant / interesting. Really the vast majority of people don't care and aren't keeping score on population and number of skyscrapers. Nashville has built an incredible brand around music for example... their New Year's Eve festival had millions of eyeballs watching the city party on the TV and there were 200,000+ people in attendance. While cities like Nashville and Austin are smaller than Charlotte... their bigger influence it has on culture leads it to feeling bigger in size / relevance too. Music, food, museums, parks, et.. THAT is what most people are interested in and talking about... not bank towers. Charlotte hasn't really picked who we want to be when we present ourselves to the world. IMO population is not the right thing to rest your hat on... especially when at the end of the day we are still a mid-sized city. Austin started as the weird / unusual place in Texas where you wear cowboy boots and have tattoos while listening to music and eating TexMex. Nashville has country music, which evolved into mainstream music too. Charlotte just presents itself as "Bank Town" (only interesting to people in banking) and unsurprisingly... we market ourselves like bankers. Why does this city's tourism authority keep introducing ourselves with numbers only bankers care about like how many Fortune 500 companies are here? Like cool, let's go visit the Fortune 500 lobbies? And don't even get me going on Page 11.... where our first theater / arts sponsorship in our visitor guide is NarroWay Christian Community Dinner Theater with volunteer actors in a warehouse in Fort Mill... doesn't exactly scream metropolis. I honestly don't blame others for thinking what they think when we are presenting ourselves this way. https://view.publitas.com/charlotte-regional-visitors-authority/2024-charlotte-city-guide/page/6-7 Compare ours in link above to Austin's.... https://digital.milespartnership.com/publication/?m=61521&i=804662&p=2&ver=html5 No question, Austin is better at presenting a focused message to the world. They want to be seen as cool. They manage that carefully.

Gaston County's move just seems to further emphasize bus transit as a system of last resort for the most poor or elderly. Any body that can get a car is going to prefer that to this system.

Absolutely agree the person stealing is a criminal, but we can also mitigate a person being a criminal that also has a firearm by not leaving guns in cars overnight.... Per CMPD the vast majority of the time the car is unlocked too (80% - 90% of the time depending on the county). They don't even need to break windows. Open door, get gun, walk away. People are getting the guns throughout the region too. For example two guns stolen from unlocked cars in suburban Indian Trail where then used in homicides in South End hours later. They are prowling suburban neighborhoods where people feel safe and leave their cars unlocked with loaded guns inside.

Are gun owners that leave their cars unlocked with guns in them charged or heavily fined for not being a responsible gun owner? These kids are not buying guns at stores, they are often stolen. The amount of guns just left in a glove compartment of an unlocked car in a suburban driveway here is insane. The kids are just walking around neighborhoods collecting guns at night. We need an urgent call to the community to stop this. Like stw52, I'm also done with Uptown being a place to bring my family for events like July 4th and New Year's. There are too many other options in the metro area to enjoy life and while crime can and does happen anywhere, the frequency happening at Bearden is not worth the risk. It makes me really sad. I want to enjoy Center City for events like this, but I also don't want my kids shot.

They aren't very restrictive, but kids aren't allowed to have guns anywhere in the state. Youth just steal them out of cars, et. The amount of people that leave a handgun in the glove compartment for example is staggering.... CMPD has over 1,000 guns stolen from cars each year.

There were a multiple police officers already at Bearden Park when the shots rang out. The response to the victims by police was very quick and they caught the suspect in Uptown. Cops can't stop every bullet though and in mere seconds 5 people were bleeding despite officers being less than 100 feet away in a crowd. I don't know if metal detectors are needed during special events around the park or what... gangs, weapons with youth, et. is such a complex problem and these youth keep coming to the big events Uptown and ruining it for everybody else (especially those that got shot!).

Should be in this general area between the current outer runway and the new runway.

Honestly perception becomes reality and I fear Bearden Park is going to get a reputation like the Epicentre did where people start to shy away from going to the park during events in fear of violence. All of it degrades quality of life, civic pride, and gathering Uptown as the heart of the city. April 16th shootings at the park, man killed and then shootout with CMPD in May, brawl on July 4th, two girls shot under the gazebo in November, mass shooting on New Years Eve, et... we can't have a situation where every quarter people are getting shot or fights happen at the park. People will start staying away.

The Goldman Sachs campus in Dallas is not technically "downtown", but it is still an urban location in a trendy part of town walking distance to public transit, parks, the American Airlines Center, restaurants, and multiple luxury hotels (W, Ritz Carlton, Swexan, et.). I don't think it is at all a comparable neighborhood to being in the woods of an office park in a secondary office market that has nothing in walking distance. I think the University office park is going to have some tough competition as a suburban office park against Ballantyne's re-imagined layout that will have shopping, parks, hotels in walking distance, Olde Meck Brewery, et... A tenant in Ballantyne would be able to take a visiting client to the new Olde Meck for drinks and then walk to a restaurant before the client returns to the Ballantyne Hotel. In University you are Ubering to Apple Bee's or Chili's and then the client needs to Uber back to their suburban hotel. The University Research Park needs to look at making it a more dynamic campus or I suspect the Centene campus is going to sit for a while. For office tenants relocating, this isn't the type of space they want to convince people to come back to the office or that it is exciting to move to a new city.

The signage aligns with their brand, interior decor, website font, menu font, et... they don't have a logo anywhere in their branding in or outside the building. I personally like the simplicity and think a logo would make it look like a takeout restaurant. I do think they could use some awnings or plants outside to make it feel more warm / inviting than the typical new build construction where the retail space is cold / depressing outside.

We will see indeed. Lots of rumors in situations like this and not sure how an Internet poster would have inside details on all the potential owners in contact with the MLB commissioner this early in the game, but perhaps they work for MLB. If there's only two serious ownership groups talking to the League for the East Coast... Where the wealthiest person in those groups is worth $1 billion... Yikes for MLB. My personal lean is emotions are high on the Internet and some are acting like they are best friends with Dundon and they grab coffee as they manage their hopes and dreams. The Triangle fan crowd was pretty convinced they were going to get MLS and had a stronger bid... Then Tepper was like "hi." Given the official expansion process hasn't kicked off, I would not rule out situations like this for any city at this point. I'm going to sit back and let the billionaires sort this out because MLB is a business and will do what is best for the league.

You would probably want to drive yourself. Just checked Uber and the quote one way to RDU from my house in CLT was $189, Greensboro was $154, and GSP was $118... Assuming somebody local will accept the ride and depending on your departure time and arrival time there may be less drivers out and about to accept. GSO and GSP parking in long term is $10 a day for you to price compare to Uber.

The current "proposals" are only the ones that need media attention and are from ownership groups trying to assemble multiple owners. Salt Lake City is the only one with the right owner that is in the public eye right now IMO. At this point in the game, these grassroots efforts need more media attention than a serious billionaire who could buy a team outright. Nashville's proposal is great at marketing, but they don't actually have a RICH owner identified either. Dave Stewart is spearheading the effort (worth $10 million) as a celebrity face, but they don't have a billionaire or even enough millionaires to get to $2 billion+. They've been very light on details on how they plan to put together enough money to afford the expansion fee other than "we think it can happen." Here's how things can go down once the dust settles: 1.) Rich Australian billionaire wants to diversify investments and buy MLB team (as a business decision, not emotional one for town pride) 2.) Billionaire is in contact with MLB commissioner in private 3.) Commissioner says which cities are preferred by the league members for a new team + the Australian billionaire looks at the markets that are preferred for his / her investment 4.) Backroom deals occur between potential city and new billionaire 5.) Announcements come out and people are shocked The current websites from grassroots efforts and owners that are trying to put groups together (including Dundon) because they aren't rich enough to buy the team in private themselves may not even be the owners we get. For all we know a Saudi Prince is interested. They don't need grassroots websites or cute "support MLB in my city" shirts. What we are seeing is only a part of the story. This is really about the MLB working with the right billionaire investors to join the league at $2 billion+. The city the teams end up in is just a means to the end in that investment and town pride is the least of the League's interests or the potential owner (Dundon doesn't live in NC, he's from Dallas, but this might generate more ROI for his land assets in Raleigh if he can get some other rich people to join). Dundon's press release was basically "Hey I'm rich but not rich enough. Please call me if interested because I don't know anybody else interested to go in on this with me, otherwise this would have been a joint announcement." It won't be dramatically different than MLS... Charlotte had multiple bids from owners that weren't really that rich but spent a lot more time trying to hype up the bid in the press... but alas we missed out on several expansion rounds. Similar situation in the Triangle where the owners were constantly trying to stay relevant in the press despite not being wealthy enough to capture League interest. Then Tepper emerges.... $16 billion+ net worth... and in less than a year Charlotte went from not relevant to securing an MLS team. I suspect MLB will be similar and the actual owners that will be selected are rich enough to not need the media at this point in the expansion game. They definitely will be rich enough to not need some guys maintaining a blog website and selling t-shirts about expansion in their city.

Raw numbers are more important than ratios for the MLB to get butts in seats and total amount of people buying stuff. Charlotte's relative size results in more six figure households to access for season tickets, box seats, et... The Triangle has great stats, especially as a percent of households, but because it is smaller there are still overall less six figure households. # of households earnings $200,000+: Charlotte CSA: 133,318 Raleigh-Durham CSA: 121,400 # of households in $100k - $199K bracket: Charlotte CSA: 291,921 Raleigh-Durham CSA: 254,686 Total six figure households: Charlotte CSA: 425,239 Raleigh-Durham CSA: 376,086 Six figure household lead for Charlotte CSA versus Raleigh-Durham CSA: 49,153 Census American Community Survey 2022 Income in Last 12 Months by Household That said, both the Triangle and Charlotte regions have more six figure households than numerous markets that already have MLB teams (Milwaukee, Cincinnati, et.)

United basically has the opposite problem of AA. While AA doesn't have very many widebody aircraft for international flying, United doesn't have very many narrow body planes for domestic flying from airports like CLT. They also tie up a lot of narrow body planes on relatively long flights given they have two big hubs on the West Coast and are the largest legacy carrier to Hawaii. Mainline narrow body: UA: 628 AA: 800

I'm confused... honestly. Why are we comparing the suburban Eastover / Myers Park area of Charlotte (which we all know is basically single family home mansions) to an urban neighborhood of Washington DC in the Southwest waterfront that used to be 80% black and is gentrifying with white people moving in to luxury apartments? Many single family home mansion neighborhoods in the greater DC area are also largely white and Asian. McLean, VA ; Great Falls, VA ; 20816 in Bethesda, et.... are all more like Eastover / Myers Park than the Southwest waterfront. Just the unfortunate reality of our country that most neighborhoods of single family home mansions aren't very diverse because we have income inequality and these neighborhoods are expensive. Charlotte has some other zips that are probably more like the Southwest waterfront: 28205: 45% white, 28% black, 19% Hispanic, 4% Asian, 2.6% two or more 28273: 40% black, 25% white, 23% Hispanic, 7% Asian, 4.8% two or more 28204: 64% white, 23% black, 5% Hispanic, 3.7% Asian, 3.2% two or more 28212: 41% black, 28% Hispanic, 18% white, 8.2% Asian, et... Are there other neighborhoods that are segregated? Absolutely. It is a real issue in Charlotte and many other cities (including DC where there are several zip codes completely segregated to 90%+ black). Just curious about why the comparison to Eastover in particular? It would maybe be relevant if Southwest DC had been majority white and then became diverse with a black population, but I am not aware of any areas in metro DC that were historically very white / rich that became more diverse with African Americans. Typically the diversity in Washington DC has come from whites moving in to inner-DC zip codes and gentrifying the neighborhood, which has caused many African Americans to relocate or have to move to the periphery / suburbs. I think Charlotte and most other cities (including DC) are already experts though at building luxury apartment buildings in historically black neighborhoods and moving in / creating diversity that way. Very few examples of the other way around.

Maybe there was a security incident? I've never received a piece of paper at CLT. Re Clear: American Airlines is anti-Clear so no surprise it isn't present at their facilities or fortress hubs where they've managed to block it. For AA frequent fliers based at the hubs, there isn't really a reason to enroll in Clear as you can't use it in your home airport of CLT, PHL, DFW, LGA, JFK, ORD, MIA, et .. when flying AA. Philadelphia also doesn't have Clear, the new LGA Terminal B doesn't have it, JFK only has it at Terminal 4 (Delta), DFW only has it in Terminal E (Delta and UA), MIA none of the AA checkpoints have Clear, no Clear in O'Hare Terminal 3 or 4 for AA, et.. CLT is largely under the thumb of AA like PHL so no surprise it doesn't have Clear, et. On the flip side Delta and United invested in Clear and actively advocate to expand it to their terminals so if one flies DL or UA you will typically see Clear. Re gun seizures: Atlanta had by far the most in 2022 at 448. DFW was second at 385, Houston third at 298, Nashville WAY over represented at fourth with 213, and Phoenix in fifth at 196. CLT hit an all time high this December of 117 guns seized so far.

The new tower (which looks awesome with lots of natural light for patients in renderings!) is slated to add 448 patient rooms to the CMC campus. Becker's Hospital Review currently has the CMC campus as the 13th largest hospital in the country when ranked by # of beds (1,059). This new tower would push CMC to #2 at 1,507 beds and just behind Yale Medical Center's massive 1,541 bed count. It is also bringing MUCH NEEDED operating room space for the region. Many people wait a long time for procedures simply because Operating Rooms are booked far out. https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/lists/100-of-the-largest-hospitals-and-health-systems-in-america-2023.html The greenway updates through that area are a welcome addition as well. Is Advocate Health helping pay for the greenway updates?

One of the problems is how suburban the neighborhoods are off Providence (often no sidewalks in the neighorhood) and relatively low population density near the road itself. The combination of walking time to get out of the suburban neighborhoods + wait time for a bus is not competitive unless you live right near Providence itself. You then also have to add in that it is relatively unpleasant road to cross depending on which direction you need to go. IMO focusing on the areas where the built environment is closer to making transit viable is a wiser investment at where we are in our transit maturity. Example scenario: BRT Express Bus at Beverly Crest Boulevard / Providence. Person lives at 1809 Lawton Bluff Road. Objective: Meet friends for lunch at the Strawberry Hill Superica Time to walk to bus stop near house: 12 minutes, no sidewalk in the neighborhood, and then need to cross 5 lanes of traffic w/ 45 mph speed limit to go northbound Wait time: 7 minutes Time on bus: 9 minutes Total trip: 28 minutes The same person at 1809 Lawton owns a car. Drive time to Superica from their garage: 10 minutes Time savings by driving: 18 minutes One final thing in the more suburban areas... many are very dark at night with minimal or no street lighting. The combination of no sidewalk and very dark neighborhood streets after sunset discourages walking along the Providence corridor. Nobody wants to have to wear a reflective vest to go out to dinner so they don't get hit in the 5 minute walk out of their suburban neighborhood... so they just drive in the car they already own to live in the very suburban neighborhood.

West Virginia definitely showed up.

These types of stores seem to be clustering around Atherton Mill and Camden Road in the Center City area of Charlotte as the newly emerging "Main Street" for shopping as opposed to the office district / financial district where the bank towers are located. In some ways, downtown Greenville is more like South End (residential, entertainment, dining, and shopping) as opposed to Uptown (massive employment center for 100,000+ people) simply due to Greenville's largest employers not being downtown.