Arctic_Tern

I don't give a damn about the 'prestige' of having a newspaper. But I will tell you that we will see less journalism in the Southside, and that journalism will be of a lower quality. Having your home office be across the water from your beat in this area means you're either having to commute across one of the bridge-tunnels or that you will essentially be home office-ing. This is extremely inconvenient and will push good journalists away from our area.

Why can't Dollar Tree sponsor the stadium if it's in Norfolk? I don't want to change the location of the freaking stadium for naming rights.

Welp. This is why I was worried with how low the minimum requirements were. Instead of creating a contract to ensure we get the money put into it needed, we're ceding land from the city forever for much much less than the revolutionary product we were promised.

A Hampton BLVD BRT solution could connect the Tide (with the Eastern extension) from the Base through ODU, Ghent, EVMS, all the way to the Fort Norfolk stop. Would probably be cheaper/easier on that route than the rail, and would make for a nice and simple loop for the Tide system.

I'm feeling a bit better about the project now that I've found this site: https://www.norfolk.gov/4661/Resort-Casino Have any of y'all seen it before? I don't want to be obstinate, but I hadn't seen it before and it was pretty hard to find (had to search "norfolk.gov casino" in google, "norfolk casino" and similar searches wouldn't pull it up). Was it distributed very much? This part still worries me, from the Q/A: Does the agreement with the city require the reported $700 million investment? The total investment will be based on the scope of the final project. At a minimum the tribe will construct a project that includes 750 electronic gaming machines, 25 gaming tables, 150 hotel guest rooms (if Class III gaming is approved), and parking. I've seen this city bait-and-switched on too many times to get too caught up in the shiny $700MM promises and renderings and whatnot. I really hope they actually put good money into this thing and don't just meet the minimum requirements. And the "if Class III gaming is approved" is interesting. What if it isn't approved? What parts of the deal fall through if that happens?

Was able to find this image of the parcel online. https://www.norfolk.gov/ImageRepository/Document?documentId=55092

Does anyone really know? The closest I've been able to find is "13.5 acres of land next to Harbor Park".

I really don't think so in this context. Yes we are getting compensation for the land, but it's not like another normal sale where we could potentially buy-back the land in 50-100 years if the development doesn't pan out. This is a very permanent thing and the fact that we don't even know what exactly is going to be transferred has to be at least a little disconcerting, right?

Oh lord you understand what I mean. Let me rephrase it: "For the life of me I can't even find a map that shows the land that we're selling to a tribe that we will no longer have any regulatory control over"

It's not just how much she knows, it's how much the community knows. For the life of me I can't even find a map that shows the land that we're giving away. How long has the public known about the stipulations in the land deal? And how many times has the City provided open forums for citizens to discuss issues focused on the casino?

I am a constituent in her district, and I have been very happy with how she has done so far. She has pushed for a lot of things that people on this forum want, and she has always been an advocate for getting people involved in local politics. What I think she's worried about is not the fact that there's a casino that is going to be built, it's that she hasn't agreed with the process in how it's been handled. I think she sees this as a very significant development for the city and a decision that should not be taken lightly nor too quickly. To make sure there is actual community buy-in and not a sense that the city tried to pull a fast one on its citizens. How can the city control what they do? All the tribe has to do is reach the minimum requirements of the agreement of the land sale and that's it. The city has no leverage to influence the tribe's decision making.

It seems y'all are very quick to give up Norfolk land to a sovereign nation. The City will never be able to reclaim that land once handed over to the tribe. I don't think it's unreasonable to want to take careful footing to make sure we're making the right decision here.

Really interested in how this goes moving forward. Hopefully the Navy will buy off on the parallel runway. I'm not sure how much it would actually affect changes in airspace, since it seems like the new runway would only be a few hundred feet southeast of the current runway, and would probably duplicate a lot of airspace requirements the current runway has. And can the Navy really not afford to alter it's current flightplan? Virginia Beach is gigantic, why can't their flightpaths go over that?

I read it as basically having one security line for both concourses instead of two. A lot of airports do that, and with the limited amount of concessions that ORF has, it'd be nice if you had to stay in one concourse for a while.

The two that need to be consolidated are Norfolk and Virginia Beach, as they are the two power players of the area. That is also why it is going to be so challenging to consolidate them, because neither is going to want to give up their power.

Dude, it's one road, that's not close to being a major thoroughfare, that becomes a 1 lane road a few hundred feet up anyways. It's not some government conspiracy to get you to stop driving your car. Do you honestly think that local government has the reach, and the ambition to get people to abandon their automobiles because they took literally two lanes out of a whole city grid??? Just because speed limits haven't gone down, doesn't mean that people aren't driving slower. Road diets encourage drivers to drive slower and much closer to the actual posted speed limit than before. This increases safety for pedestrians, bikers, drivers, and yes even the infirm. Everybody has personal responsibilities, including the driver. The road is a public place, suitable for cars, bikes, people, and more. Act accordingly.

If you follow Andrea McClellan , you'll know that she isn't afraid of taking big steps to progress the city. I would say, as someone who frequents the NEON district, $10MM would go a LONG way to make that a more organic and appealing part of the city for artists and patrons alike. That's not chump change we're dealing with here and we need to make sure we're allocating it correctly.

Road diets are a tool, and when applied well they can have a tremendous positive effect. Of course, any tool used to just use it will come up with improper use-cases. The City of Norfolk has applied road diets to Llywellen and 35, to good effect in my opinion. If the city wants St. Pauls Quadrant to become a real part of downtown, then St. Pauls will need to go on a road diet too of some kind.

I can't cast any stones here. I was about a second away from posting it here when I saw the date.

Nah, what's there right now where it will be located is currently parking lots and a stormwater area. The sidewalk abutting the brick is what is/was Elkhorn. Since the only thing that will be accessable through Elkhorn will be the cafeteria, I imagine it will only be used for utilitiy purposes.

I just went on a walk of downtown last night. That whole block has a bunch of newly opened or opening soon eateries (and they aren't all bars even!). Also, that Moe's might just be the nicest Moe's I've ever seen. It takes up 2 floors, has gigantic windows, with intricate crown molding on the ceiling and pillars.

The West Norfolk route study reccommended "No Option" when it came to what route to potentiall pursue on the west side of Norfolk (Ghent, ODU, Navy Base Gates on Hampton BLVD). I would be surprised if we get light rail tracks over there within the next decade and a half. Expect for the city to push for rail lines to go through Military Circle, Janaf, and Wards Corner instead (terminus would be the east side of the Navy Base). I personally feel like this is an entirely misguided view, and that if the city wants the light rail to be successful it needs to go to Ghent, ODU, and Hampton BLVD. But that is not the direction the city wants to go.

They've got another stage by the piers. I would assume this means no multi-stage concerts, for the summer at least.

If you look at the properties section of these images, I think you can find the year it was rendered: URL: http://studiombdc.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/MBA_IMG_DowntownPlaza_image011-1024x526.jpg So it looks like these were made in 2014.

I think 21st would be receptive to LRT. A lot of those businesses have private lots, so light rail would probably bring more customers without driving away too many. I could see a line go up Monticello, take a left at 21st, take a right onto Colley, left on 45th, and right onto Hampton all the way to the base. Around 7.5 miles. Potential stops could be: NEON district, Monticello and 21st (with all the apartment complexes), 21st and Manteo (close enough to Colley to be the Historic Ghent stop), Colley and 35th, 45th and Monarch Way/Hampton (ODU stop), Larchmont, Joint Forces Staff College/NIT, NOB.