[Charlotte trying to be more bike friendly]

Do we have a bike infrastructure/projects page on the main forum yet? I looked and couldn't find one. I think it would be helpful to keep track of all the existing, planned, or under-construction bike paths/multi-use paths in Charlotte, besides just the greenways. 

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

17 minutes ago, JRCLT said:

Found it weird that CPCC is so sprawling… would be nice if they could centralize considering that some students have to jump campuses. I'm sure there was a reason for the way it is now.

I think the idea was that if there were campuses throughout the region, more students would be able to attend college by virtue of an easier commute. The less barriers there are, the more likely attendance is. I don't know if all the campuses were "specialized" the same way they are now, but connecting them together greatly benefits the access to education within the city. 

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

9 minutes ago, CLT2014 said:

The hard thing for trying to eliminate car trips with CPCC is the student body in the Associate's / Transfer bound program overwhelmingly lives in suburban areas away from rail (likely with their parents). They will need a car to get home to their parent's house at the end of the day. A big advantage of community college is to save money living at home... not burn all that on a luxury apartment in South End. 

It would attenuate car trips from areas around the rail.  Extending the rail to the campus would connect it to everywhere the network (which will expand over time) serves. Campus to campus connection eliminates car trips between the campuses.  

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

Nah. At least get it to Levine Campus. So many student have classes at both Levine and Central within the same day. You could eliminate car trips and create TOD around an under-tapped college campus. 

[Ballantyne]

On 1/30/2024 at 6:14 PM, KJHburg said:

Couple more of the new Upper Avenue connecting US 521 to N Community House Road across the old golf course.  It is 2 lanes, with 2 bike lanes and on street parking.   It opens later this week.  

The parking spots should be utilized to separate the road and the bike lane instead of creating points of conflict where vehicles exiting and entering parking must cross the bike lane. A little bit of repainting to permute the bike lane and parking would go a long way. 

[Sugar Creek Station Area Development/Projects]

The plan claims to build affordable townhomes, but didn't list any number specifying what was considered an affordable range. 

Quote

The Economy Inn across Interstate 85 from Baymont is being demolished and will be replaced with affordable for-sale townhomes.  [1]

 

Do we have numbers on how affordable these units will be? I'm skeptical that it will be an improvement, especially since there are many empty plots available to build new housing, as opposed to replacing existing units. 

 

Roof Above seems to be a welcomed change, providing Charlotte with desperately needed Housing First "permanent" housing. However, the requirements for documentation, being an unaccompanied adult, and going through "official" channels greatly reduces accessibility of these units. This is especially the case for undocumented immigrants and disabled people who lack the ability to go through official channels (calling, filling out documents, and other actions that require executive functions).  

Quote

Eligibility

• Referrals come from Coordinated Entry. Individuals must call 704-284-9665 to determine their eligibility for applying to any housing program in the Charlotte/Mecklenburg area.
• Must be an unaccompanied and documented individual, 18 years of age or older.
• Must meet the federal definition of chronic homelessness and provide documentation. 

[2]

 

Additionally, we're still concentrating these housing opportunities geographically, subsequently maintaining concentrated poverty in these areas.  Dispersing these types of housing opportunities throughout the city (as opposed to relegating this type of housing exclusively to dedicated complexes) would desegregate economic enclaves more effectively.

 

Suppose the city purchased a few units in each of the luxury apartments that span the blue line for housing first programs. It would remove unaffordable units from the market (reducing negative impact on low-income individuals), diversify income enclaves (like South End and NoDa), and distribute competition for income-earning opportunities (so everyone isn't competing for the same job).

 

[1] https://www.wcnc.com/article/money/markets/real-estate/affordable-housing-crisis/heal-charlotte-takes-over-baymont-hotel-to-expand-its-temporary-housing-program-charlotte-seeking-solutions/275-441cca10-2e00-4cbe-b2a4-5b9ebf8deaa4
[2] https://www.roofabove.org/permanent-supportive-housing/

[Sugar Creek Station Area Development/Projects]

Removing motels like that really just removes the few units of affordable housing we had left. Poverty is being pushed to a different place with less public transport; it's not actually being attenuated.

[Charlotte wishlist - scorecard]

I would like a network of grade-separated bike lanes and bike paths that rivals the network of roads we have for cars.