Mountain_Junior

First, I think reality pretty clearly proves that your “no one is getting on a bus” statement is wrong. HRT ridership numbers are below. I get the perceived difference in quality between bus and light rail (which I brought up to HRT myself as something they should think about) but maybe rethink the “no one is getting on a bus” statement. Second, why would everyone here know what BRT is? To me that makes as much sense as saying “everyone in Topeka knows what the HRBT is” so I’d like to know why you think BRT would be well understood here when most of the population has never been exposed to it.

Why the bus obsession then?

They are not obsessed with the bus. You are assuming that. First, BRT is different from the normal buses you see operating for HRT. Think of them as light rail on wheels. Google “bus rapid transit” to see what I mean. They often have dedicated travel lanes and priority at lights. They aren’t the lumbering, stuck-in-the-right-lane, stop-every-five-minutes buses you’re imagining. Second, HRT came to the BRT option because their mandate for this project is to extend fast public transit to military circle and naval station Norfolk. That doesn’t necessarily mean light rail though. Unfortunately the costs vs benefit of extending light rail to NSN makes it a politically and economically difficult option, so they are leaning toward a BRT system to accomplish their mandate. I don’t love it either, but I think it’s the best we’ll get.

I agree with you but I think the folks at HRT understand why the ridership is low, however I think they’re forced to use that as one of their criteria for how they rank these options. Unfortunately, the fact is that they have to make a case to council about why one option over another - a case that council members can then make back to their critics and constituents about why they voted to put the city further into debt. It would be political suicide to vote yes on something based on how HRT feels about it without data to justify that feeling. So I think that necessarily anchors HRT to certain metrics: ridership, cost per mile to build, cost per mile per year to operate, etc. I went to one of HRT’s community discussion pop-up things at Ward’s Corner with the exact concerns you mention (ODU, airport, LRT vs BRT, etc) and after spending over an hour talking to them and asking some pointed questions about the project, I was satisfied. I’ll say that I still would prefer to see light rail instead of BRT to the naval base and would love to see ODU connected as well, but after talking to them I felt like at least I understood the many constraints that they are working under to develop this project. And while it doesn’t match with what I had in my mind (which frankly is not based on reality, but on desire), it is the best project we are going to get. So it may not be the perfect gleaming thing we all think we deserve, but whatever form it takes, I feel certain that it’s that way because a bunch of smart, committed professionals tried to deliver the best they could, within the constraints of the political and economic environment, to people who want an expanded transit system. Not trying to tell you how to feel about it, but just wanted to add some other perspective on what I know is a frustrating issue. If you’re able, I’d recommend trying to get to one of their future meetings. I think they enjoy talking through these issues.

Interesting article here on Rockville, MD and their approach to urban renewal and development. It’s germane I think as Norfolk looks at how to tackle things like MacArthur Mall and other locations. https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2021/10/29/a-drive-through-the-ugliest-place-in-maryland-part-2 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Old Dominion will leave Conference USA for the Sun Belt Conference, reports say
By DAVID HALL
October 22 at 4:49 PM ET https://www.pilotonline.com/sports/college/old-dominion/vp-sp-odu-sun-belt-20211022-s2jffjsr4vbendwpgjla5r2x5m-story.html Excerpt:
“It appears Old Dominion plans to change conferences after all. 
ODU is one of four schools expected to be invited to join the Sun Belt Conference as early as next week, multiple media outlets, including CBSSports.com, have reported. 
The Monarchs would join Marshall and Southern Miss in leaving Conference USA. FCS football powerhouse James Madison, which competes in the Colonial Athletic Association, would leave that league and begin competing as an FBS program.”

Norfolk-VB disagreement far predates light rail, by like 50+ years at least, and that’s really just discuss the modern incarnation of VB (the independent city of VB). A quick snapshot of what I mean. This article is from the Virginian-Pilot, Feb 7, 1967. VB had only existed for 4 years at this point. Here’s another from 1974 with a similar sentiment. And Norfolk-VB more than others. Even as Sidney Kellam was trying to consolidate Princess Anne and VB, Norfolk Mayor Fred Duckworth was trying to undermine that merger. It was from literally day one. It’s a bit like in movies and tv shows when two sworn enemies get handcuffed together, so they’re forced to begrudgingly cooperate. Except it’s usually played for laughs. Not so much laughing here.

Patriotic Festival pulls out of VB, will be held Memorial Day weekend in Norfolk https://www.wavy.com/news/local-news/virginia-beach/patriotic-festival-pulls-out-of-vb-will-be-held-memorial-day-weekend-in-norfolk/ Excerpt: “After weeks of speculation, Virginia Beach’s Patriotic Festival is set to move to Norfolk from its longtime home on the Oceanfront. … The event, now known as Military Festival, is expected to take place at Town Point Park and Norfolk Scope Arena. … According to an invite, the official announcement is expected Monday morning at Chrysler Hall. … This is the third major event to pull out of Virginia Beach in the past few months – following the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon and Something in the Water.”

It’s not that simple though. The problem is that taxpayers do not want their city going into debt for an arena that might sit idle most of the time because there isn’t some pro sports team waiting to move into it. Therefore city councils will often balk at such an idea. However, pro teams often do not want to commit to move to another city based on a “check’s in the mail” promise to build a new stadium. So it’s a very delicate balance.

Nice. I was actually just searching for this the other day after you posted about it.

Heads up on upcoming public meetings on Norfolk’s Multimodal Transportation plan.

They absolutely are. In fact that is even mentioned in the Naval Station Norfolk BRT LRT analysis as a follow on effort. My hope is that once you connect Greenbrier, the Airport, the Naval Base, Military Circle Mall, and the Outlet Mall/IKEA to what you’ve already got, you make it so vital that VB voters view it as something they’d be stupid NOT to approve, lest they risk becoming the city that is left behind when it maybe goes to Portsmouth or something next.

I feel like you read my mind. It really comes off as tone deaf to be like “we hear your ethical/moral complaints, but man look at all this money we made right?” It almost feels like it confirms his concerns in some tangential way.

I sometimes feel like despite all the talk we do about branding around here that this region’s real brand is “unrecognized potential.” Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Pharrell Williams won’t bring back Something in the Water festival By STACY PARKER THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT OCT 05, 2021 AT 5:49 PM https://www.pilotonline.com/government/local/vp-nw-pharrell-letter-1005-20211005-g3sajmxkrjeulodz4y4xxzs2fm-story.html Excerpt: The city’s leadership learned last week that Pharrell Williams will not bring back the highly successful Something in the Water Festival to Virginia Beach in 2022, and begged him in a letter to reconsider. A few days later, the music superstar, who lived as a child in the city’s Seatack neighborhood, sent a letter back to the city manager, explaining his disappointment with Virginia Beach. Williams wrote that he wished the city had taken a more proactive stance after his cousin Donovon Lynch was shot by a police officer in the resort area last March. Virginia Beach, Williams wrote, has been “run by - and with toxic energy.” “I sang about a room without a roof, but I am tired of kindly and politely being shown the door,” he wrote. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk