[The River District]

3 hours ago, J-Rob said:

there are competing push-backs here. Some think the development is too suburban and some people think it is an ecological disaster.

Honestly I think these two issues go hand-in-hand? The more suburban and sprawled a development is, the more land it consumes/trees it tears down/runoff it creates/natural habitat it destroys. Versus the more urban, compact, and dense a development is, the *less* land it will require or consume. 

[Unified Development Ordinance]

I actually just sent an email this morning 

[Unified Development Ordinance]

42 minutes ago, Nathan2 said:

https://www.axios.com/local/charlotte/2024/02/05/udo-development-regulations-eliminating-single-family-only-zoning-city-council

What is going on with Charlotte's leadership obsession with dismantling the UDO, which hasn't even shepherded a massive increase in missing middle? Have they forgotten that we are in a housing crisis or do they only listen to wealthy single-family homeowners? Between this and the new "roads first" initiative I am wondering why I and younger people would ever view Charlotte as a place to put down roots. Younger generations want somewhere to live that doesn't involve being forced into a car paying large amounts of money just to drive to a grocery store while paying exorbitant amounts of money in a rental because we can't afford anything else. 

 

Totally agree - like I said in a post a few years ago I'm saving up for a down payment in a city like Chicago that already has extensive transit and affordable condos. Charlotte has done nothing the last few years if convince me that is the right decision lol 

[Charlotte-Douglas Airport (CLT) Expansion]

3 hours ago, LKN704 said:

^I still cannot believe that the Obama administration allowed Southwest to acquire AirTran. 

At the time of the acquisition, AirTran was significantly larger than both JetBlue and Alaska. The airline moved a ton of people through its hubs in Atlanta and Baltimore. At the time, Southwest was still operating under its mostly point-to-point model and AirTran was the only low-cost carrier that operated a hub and spoke model on the East Coast. I believe at its peak AirTran had over 200 daily departures in Atlanta. The Baltimore operation was also growing, and they had just recently introduced transcontinental flights to Seattle and Los Angeles. Southwest at the time still had this aversion to transcontinental flying (they would add/drop flights continuously during that time), so having a low-fare option to reach the West Coast was a huge deal.  They were also building up a Milwaukee operation at the time, and had begun to contract out regional jet flights to feed the operation. 

Countless low fare connection opportunities were eliminated once the acquisition was complete. The Southwest operation in Atlanta is a shell of what AirTran's was. 

The problem with airport bus services is they need to be cheap, run frequently, be fast, and serve only airport traffic - it's hard to get airport passengers with suitcases to ride a busy bus in rush hour filled with local passengers giving the airport folks dirty looks for attempting to bring multiple pieces of luggage onto a city bus route. 

The only service I can think of that hits all of those metrics in the U.S. is maybe the SBS LaGuardia Link that runs to the Jackson Hgts subway station - but then you are on your own and have to transfer to the subway. The Flyaway bus in LA is okay, but it doesn't run frequently and is kind of expensive. 

I will admit that I am surprised the Sprinter runs every 30 minutes - that's actually pretty good for a city like Charlotte that has relatively low bus ridership. In contrast, the infamous Metrobus #5A that served Dulles Airport only ran every 60 minutes or so. 

I wonder how successful a continuous circulator-style, nonstop airport shuttle (runs every 15-20 minutes) would be between CLT and say East/West Blvd station, which I believe is the closest light rail stop to the airport by road. Such a service would allow a one-seat ride to the airport from the Southend and likely be easier for folks taking the light rail to the airport as it would likely be easier to transfer than at CTC. 

The silver line bus connecting Boston Logan to South Station is also pretty good imo!

[Charlotte-Douglas Airport (CLT) Expansion]

1 hour ago, InSouthPark said:

Well all be.  Never seen this, I have always walked to/from the other side, and through that rando parking lot neat the tower.  I have also never seen anyone go any way other than the way I go.  Having a crosswalk in that location is about the dumbest location I can think of.  No one walks out the entrance of the parking deck...and its only one of two parking decks with no sidewalk from the bus stop to the crosswalk.

Everyone walks to the bus stop, gets frustrated, and walks straight ahead to the entrance on the right because that is what is visible.

If I ever see someone go that way, maybe it will change my mind lol.

Yeah it's not well marked or signed AT ALL, I basically stumbled upon it, but once you know where it is there's pretty much a painted/protected crosswalk all the way to the car rental lobby facing the airport. When you enter the hourly deck from the daily decks side, you just have to go up like half a flight of stairs and then there's a painted crosswalk taking you across the entire hourly deck amongst the rental cars.

[Charlotte-Douglas Airport (CLT) Expansion]

3 hours ago, InSouthPark said:

While its easy to do, it isn't exactly the easiest thing to figure out the first time. The airport obviously doesn't encourage it.  After a long flight, I always hoof it to stretch my legs rather than wait for a bus (especially now that the daily bus goes to Daily North).  They could easily build a sidewalk/path to the daily deck instead of walking in a road/parking log. A sign or two as well. Maybe a crosswalk.  Like..they could just pretend the option exists.

But seeing prices of $20/day for daily now...I will be probably be in Long Term for any vacation travel unless the app has good "specials" for parking. 

There is actually a crosswalk painted for basically the entire walking route - see screenshot below with red line showing where a sidewalk/crosswalk/protected walkway are

[Charlotte-Douglas Airport (CLT) Expansion]

19 minutes ago, teeg said:

You can do this now.  Walk through the Hourly deck ... currently easiest to do on whichever rental car level lines up with arrivals/baggage claim ... to the northeast side of the Hourly garage closest to Daily / Concourse E.  Take the elevator down to ground level on the north side of Hourly, then walk outside on the path set out by construction barriers on the east of the old ATC tower. 

Exactly I do this like once a week lol

[Traffic Congestion and Highway Construction]

By digging your feet in and trying to teach some random stranger a lesson (to slow down) you're making the roadway less safe for everyone. Now that person will most likely pass you on the right and weave around other traffic in a more dangerous way than if you just moved over since you are slower traffic.

[Dilworth Projects (Kenilworth, Morehead, East)]

4 hours ago, kermit said:

criminally incompetent 

 

Unfortunately I feel like this describes most of the city of Charlotte's actions lol 

[Charlotte Gateway Station and Railroad Improvements]

19 minutes ago, DownEast said:

Savannah is the #2 container port on the east coast. Exports come from all over the interior central south and even the Midwest. It's followed by VA and SC in that order. But, the need for passenger train service to important harbors has been non-existent since the use of passenger shipping liners all but stopped in the mid-20th century. Atlanta is a DC-sized gorilla deep in the south. Any improvement in train serviced to the north for them, adds frequencies/better service for us.

Thank you - I was confused why a freight port would need to be prioritized for passenger rail connections lol.

ATL-CLT should be prioritized for passenger rail just based on population and distance (the distance would make passenger trains competitive to flying)

[Economic Development - Expansions and Relocations]

I agree with what everyone is saying, and appreciate everyone’s comments. For me, there just aren’t any affordable condos/homes available to BUY in these areas. But agree, I like these areas and what Charlotte is growing towards, and have been pretty happy renting here. I just can’t justify the cost of purchasing housing in these areas vs the amount of walkability/urban amenities available NOW (not in 10 years)..

[Economic Development - Expansions and Relocations]

11 minutes ago, kermit said:

We spend lots of time on UP talking about differences between cities but the only real differemce between them  is the number of token walkable districts that get sprinkled around the edges of their respective downtowns. Whats worse is these districts are increasingly reserved for the wealthy and childless.

Totally agree, and as a young person this is why I'll probably be moving somewhere like Chicago where I can actually afford to own my own place in a neighborhood that doesn't require car travel to get by.

 

[Economic Development - Expansions and Relocations]

Had to log back in on my laptop so I could set certain user's posts to "ignore"

[CATS Long Term Transit Plan - Silver, Red Lines]

4 minutes ago, tozmervo said:

As of March ridership numbers, all transit modes are up versus last year. That's the end of the good news. 

	M-18	M-19	M-22	M-23	2023 vs 2022	2023 vs 2018
Local Bus	1,067,708	940,813	478,630	518,884	108%	49%
Express Bus	65,214	56,389	14,881	19,909	134%	31%
Circulators	75,593	58,055	25,546	32,073	126%	42%
Blue Line	591,619	750,932	389,434	458,092	118%	77%
Gold Line	19,726	16,918	41,849	55,749	133%	283%

Gold line ridership seems impressive!

[Dilworth Projects (Kenilworth, Morehead, East)]

3 hours ago, RANYC said:

I know, wrong thread, but wasn’t sure where to post this.  Visiting the triangle for the weekend.  Can someone explain to me whether the triangle is a cleaned up and classed up Charlotte?

Triangle to me just feels like a big collection of towns/suburbs.

[Charlotte's Light Rail: Lynx Blue Line]

I just don’t think Charlotte has enough regular transit riders to develop a transit etiquette culture as larger cities do … hopefully we’ll get there 

[Optimist Park / Belmont Projects]

2 minutes ago, fortibus said:

If you want to drive everywhere, go live in the suburbs. Otherwise, live near where you work, eat, and play.

Or expect to take transit or ride share! 

[Traffic Congestion and Highway Construction]

Exactly we do not need any more free lanes in mecklenburg period. Don’t want to encourage sprawl more than we have to

[The Good News Report]

We are encouraged to spend 2.5 days in the office a week on average, but most people in the Charlotte office of my firm (including myself) are not going in at all. I think our larger offices such as Denver and Atlanta are seeing people come in more frequently since there are larger teams there, so there is more of a reason to

[Pedestrian Shaming in Charlotte]

@kermitI can’t express how much I love this idea! Lol I have often wished there was a tool invented … maybe kind of like pepper spray … that people could carry and would only have to reveal to force others, in this case vehicles, to slow down and reevaluate the situation. Maybe some kind of expanding metal stick that would scratch a car’s hood if a button was pressed, but would keep the pedestrian out of harm’s way. In lieu of this uninvented tool, I will sometimes carry an umbrella with a huge wooden handle and swing it haphazardly like I might be crazy when I’m attempting to cross a fearsome crosswalk. Lol

[Duke Energy Plaza Headquarters | 40 Story formerly Charlotte Metro Tower]

[Queensbridge Collective - 1 tower, maybe 2]

5 minutes ago, kayman said:

Okay. You can stick with those outdated stats from 2010. I mean 2013 to be exact.

Thanks! The data I was looking at was 2019. 

[Queensbridge Collective - 1 tower, maybe 2]

57 minutes ago, kayman said:

Actually the real population statistics of the Charlotte metro region is 3 million+ as the Hickory area is tied together with the main Charlotte metro area. It's likely going to show in next years' Census release 

Then next year I’ll be fine with saying our MSA population is a higher ratio compared to Atlanta’s. Just trying to be realistic with current data

[Queensbridge Collective - 1 tower, maybe 2]

41 minutes ago, kayman said:

Truth be told, we're already over 60% of size of Metro Atlanta,  so matching them in skyline appearance makes sense. 

Actually we’re closer to 40% of Atlanta metro. Charlotte MSA is about 2.6 M, Atlanta MSA is about 6 M

[110 East: 23 story Tower by Stiles/Shorenstein]

I’m just thankful they’ll never be able to widen South, West/East, or Tryon, so at least when this neighborhood reaches gridlock due to all of these new developments’ parking decks, it will really incentivize taking transit/biking/walking into the neighborhood.