cjd5050

Doubling down eh? Most rude people don't understand how they are being rude. I also don't have any issue with where I live. I have lived the whole spectrum of situations from real urban cities (unlike Charlotte) to far flung burbs and would gladly make the same choice to live where I do. You made claims about what people you don't know want and it was obvious that mixed in with your thinly veiled insult was a large lump of ignorance. You implied that because of where we live we will be happy with an inferior project. If you did have any understanding of what it's like out here on the prairie you did you would also know that Waverly is closer to South Park than it is to Waxhaw. You were projecting your opinions of us far flung folk and were called out on it. But it's ok...nobody is going to try and turn your car into a minivan or ask you to join our country club. We don't bite and your uppity hipster sensibilities are fully intact.

First off, the homes out in the 'far flung suburbs' as you put it are pretty much the same as the suburban-style homes located a mile from uptown. Let's check the arrogance that people close to the city are living an urban lifestyle. They still have the 4bed 3500 s/f home on a half acre. It's just closer to uptown. I am one of those people living in the 'far flung suburbs' and disagree with you. There are lots of reasons why people move to the suburbs. Some value their kids education or maybe they don't work in Uptown. To describe people who live out here as you do is pretty rude. People want places to go to and enjoy their surroundings. Waverly has a wonderful section call the Terrace that's great to spend time in before/after eating at the places down by that part of the project. However, if you want to get some frozen yogurt at Menchie's Waverly provides a couple of benches with a view of a parking lot. Waverly did some great things with this project and some bad things. If your suggestion that we suburbanites will accept anything and be happy for it was true, the entire project would have looked like the Whole Food section. I could actually see a couple of mid-rise office buildings fronting Providence based on the success of the other commercial space. It's a pretty good location with access to the 485.

I am fine with Waverly now. Just thinking 10-15 years down the road is all...

Ya. Waverly is a mullet when it comes to style. Suburban up front and urban in the back. I was thinking of in front of Whole Foods. If that massive parking lot was replaced with a deck they could continue the 'sense of place' that exists over by Co.

I actually think Waverly can evolve into something much better than what it is today. My hope is that they eventually build a couple of parking ramps in the middle of those parking lots and then wrap buildings around them.

This is really a counterproductive line of thinking, If bikes and scooters are going to demand to use the roads equal to cars they should contribute to their construction and maintenance. Ownership comes with privileges. It doesn't have to be much but expecting a free ride is a sure ticket to not deserving a seat at the transportation table in the eyes of most everyone out there. It essentially groups people who commute on a bike to equal status of kids on their BMX.

These are awesome! I used the Bird scooters in San Diego on a recent trip that was about 4 miles. Cost was about $7 and fun as hell. That's less of a trip distance than the Convention Center to Habersish and a little under the Convention Center to Park Road Shopping Center. Drivers are going to need to learn how to share the roads even more and scooter users need to stay off the sidewalks but these are a game changer for the transportation network.

Apologies on the 'you linked' comment but I do think it was garbage and your take was kinda lazy. But if you really are equating white poverty to Appalachian trailer parks you really are showing your ignorance. I'll jump in a lake if you step out to the world and open your eyes.

Sorry, this is just a lazy take and that article you linked to is garbage. From it: "The YIMBY movement has a white privilege problem," said Anya Lawler, a lobbyist with the Western Center on Law & Poverty, a legal advocacy group and adversary of SB 827. "I don't think they recognize it. They don't understand poverty. They don't understand what that's like, who our clients really are and what their lived experience is." It is absolutely race baiting and being dismissive of the truth is not productive. While it is true that by % blacks (24.1%) and hispanic (21.4%) have a higher concentration to poverty that whites (13.5%)...that 13.5% of whites is a massively larger number of people living in poverty. So to suggest whites don't understand poverty is ignorant race-baiting. If that's your cup of tea...shame on you! At the end of the day, people don't want to live near crime. They don't want to live near unkept homes. They don't want to see their investments decline by way of actions from those who they are also supporting with tax dollars. These wants are color blind. Now you can make the inference that blacks and hispanics are less likely to take care of their homes and be more likely to commit crimes...which you kinda did...but that's on you and your guilt.

What are your thoughts on using eminent domain? Was at a festival last weekend and took the blue line back from the Parkwood Station. Directly across from this station is a bunch of new construction, as well as, a bunch of very tiny homes on E. 18th and E. 19th street. If we truly have an affordable housing crisis in Charlotte why shouldn't the city use eminent domain to acquire low-density properties and turn around the use to high-density? Especially when they are steps from a billion dollar plus light rail investment. I took a quick look of 13 properties on these streets. For 2.2 acres of prime transit adjacent land, you have just 13 units with 38 bedrooms and ~15k of living space. This same land could house 200 apartments. Even if just 15% were affordable, that's a 130% increase in affordable units. If you made it 30% affordable that's a 260% increase.

But it's not. Charlotte adds about 20,000 people per year, every year. The only new development is high end and the redevelopment that is mostly taking place is demolishing a 1,200 sf house that a low income family used to live in with a 5,000 sf house that a wealthy family lives in. The density is not changing. That's the problem.

Ummm. It's not just 'suburbia'... People need to find the courage to call out people tearing down affordable housing near the city center to build 'suburban style' homes on those large lots that also happen to be near mass transit. Just because someone builds a $750k home that's walkable for them to transit and food/drink does not mean it's urban. It's a suburban house with lipstick.

Keeping dust and contaminants down during demo....

Could not agree more. A lesson to learn from this is in Buffalo NY. They spent years on their UDO (GreenCode) only to have a couple of late minute (last few months of a 5+ year process I think) changes that now are coming home to roost. The biggest issue I have seen is the UDO has placed some strict restrictions on building height that has stunted some development...in a region where new development is few and far between. My dream is that the vision is simply an extension of the Centers Corridors and Wedges framework that was adopted in 2010. What I think the city should do is build an interactive website that sits on top of Google Maps or similar that shows the expectation for growth in 10-year increments. With tools like Sketch they could show buildings massing and orientation along the Centers, Corridors and Wedges. For example, show what Elizabeth is supposed to look like in 2020, 2030, 2040 and beyond. Allow all residents to see not only what the city sees as the future for their neighborhood but the future for the city as a whole. Create an overlay of this map with anticipated transit options and a layer for density. This might come as a shock to many of course, but not to those who actually look at the city as a whole rather than the view from our front door. I think it would be a good and necessary conversation to have.

the first comment was awesome on the blog: A few comments: 1. If you care so much about affordable housing, why did you purchase a $648,500 house, further exacerbating value inflation in the Cherry neighborhood? You sound like a hypocrite when you lecture people on an issue that YOU contributed to as part of the problem. 2. Your 2015 new construction house in “Historic Cherry” has less historical relevance than my 2011 Grand Cherokee. “Historic” is merely a title your seems to abuse. Other than an old school and few original houses left (due to people like you), its not a very appropriate title. Besides, Historic Dilworth has a 310′ pink thing next to, at least with this you’re getting a well designed project. 3. Stating traffic increasing 139% the way you write is misleading. 3rd and 4th street, according to the NCDOT, currently have traffic volumes of 20,000 and 30,000 VPD respectively. The impact to these roads will be substantially less than 139%. Yours truly, Greg

I think this depends on how you view the light rail station. If you're someone who is going to use it, you look at it as living 'on' your station. That's convenience and a value-add. If you're someone who drives, you are going to look at it as living in a unit 'facing' a station. Let me flip the script for you. How many apartments in Charlotte have bedroom windows and balconies right next to parking lots? Not really looking out at Walden Pond either... To each his own.

Fair enough and on this I agree with you.

Honestly, I am unsure if this is just a call for people to not throw political dirt and take sides or if it's just a warning that the only point of view that's acceptable to be spoken here is the progressive left and to not bother with anything outside of those talking points. Truly unsure.

Ya... It's always the darn cops that start the riots. Don't riot. Don't destroy the city. Don't kill people. See if you can your buddies can follow those simple requests.

Cedar Point was where I was going with it. Charlotte is never going to have the weather of Florida or SoCal but there is a 30 degree difference between Ohio and Charlotte right now. It's not perfect here for spring break but it's not always perfect at the beaches either. I wonder what it would take for it to become a spring break option for Ohio, Michigan, New York and Southern Ontario. That's just a days drive.

Happy to hear they are investing money in the park. While I have yet to go, I do like the idea of having a major theme park in our backyard. For those who do go, do you think it's possible for Carowinds to grow into a national destination park? If so, what is needed?

I love the idea of redeveloping that Mill and what it will do to create another commerce corridor in the area. But if they do relocate there it's going to mess up the town during rush hour. Which of course I will be fine with because the town messed up the rest of South Charlotte for generations with their decision to block the light rail.

I hope they don't but if they do it would be awesome if we 'borrowed' the stadium that never was for them.... https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/the-white-sox-ballpark-in-chicago-that-never-was-and-could-have-changed-history/

Could be in the minority but I hope Charlotte never gets a MLB team. Mostly a selfish perspective, as I am not a real baseball fan, in not wanting to pay MLB prices to go to a game where 'everything but the game itself' is why I am going.

I really want to like the service but they have too many issues with not being transparent with cars that have been smoked in or the amount of damage they actually have. They do offer a 7 day no questions asked return but that just seems like a massive waste of time if they lie and you don't get compensated.