mercuex

Unfortunately its nothing I don't already know ... I've scoured the HRT site for new info but of course there is none. Oh well.

LoL I commute to Norfolk every day and it kills me. If I didn't work here I doubt I'd ever go except on a special occasion. Though I can't imagine what that would be. Don't get me wrong, I like Norfolk and the Southside, but it's some drag getting here. In fact, it's usually faster for me to get to Richmond than to work.

Wow wow wow ... hold up Did you even WATCH the Chelsea-DC United game last week?? Granted, Chelsea won 2-1 ... but damn, DC put up a hell of a fight and walked away with some hard earned respect. They went up against the English champions and did far better than anyone could have ever expected. Our guys aren't paid millions of bucks and don't enjoy the support other countries have, but they have passion and heart and I think eventually that will translate into more momentum for the sport. With high profile names like Freddy Adu, Demarcus Beasley, and Landon Donovan all playing with the MLS and slashing through old stereotypes in the World Cup, I think MLS has a very bright future indeed. And pardon me for wanting HR to be a part of that!

Since you seem to have intimate knowledge of the Port Warwick happenings ... what's going on with the stuff on the other side? I know apartments especially meant to cater to college students are going up and plans call for a light rail station ... but wouldn't that mean we'd need light rail? If anyone has a chance to check out City Center, do it. It's really amazing what a difference the construction between Phase II and III has meant. Before it still resembled a suburban office park with cutesy parking arrangements. Now it looks like a small nucleus of a downtown. It really is fantastic. I encourage everyone to look.

Probably in a week or so I'll probably run by Port Warwick and City Center for a quick photo tour. If someone else wants to put up PW pics thats fine too.

I agree!! Exactly the same for me ... except I would love to see the mets come down to play more, lol. It's not easy to get the Shea even once a yr for me as much as I would love to. Besides, I have secondary teams too. Sort of like how I love the mets but I'll settle for the Red Sox sort of thing.

Hm ... I think an MLS team could potentially do well here. Especially if team USA does as well or better in the 2006 world cup as they did in 2002. It could be the impetus for a lot of momentum for the sport, which has enjoyed a resurgence over the last few yrs or so. The 2-1 Chelsea-DC United game proved to many that our boys can scrap with the best of them and that was a huge spirit boost to many American players. I just wish the stadium wasn't in BFE.

Whenever they decide to light up the atrium i'll try and make sure I get some night shots! The parts that are lit up at night look awesome. I think a recent photo tour of NN development is long overdue ...

That may be true but I think PeninsulaKiddo identified an important aspect of this region's growth that defies such national trends. Another distinction that is arguably more important is the fact that, unlike the urban housing market of yesteryear, people aren't FLEEING because of crime, but just not buying because of just how valuable the property is. This means that even should prices stay static and aloof, the downtown urban areas will remain at least busy and alive despite being prohibitively expensive for some to purchase property (but at least not deserted!). And if it were to go down, maybe a lot of those property owners who wanted a condo or urban apt before would be able to take the chance and get one. It's also important to point out that many of the wealthier residents here in HR live in the suburbs still just because of a huge deficit of urban residential area. There simply isn't enough to cater to the local demand. While it will boost land prices, it's still cheap enough for upper middle class, especially from more affluent parts of the country, to have the option of buying here. I'm really not worried about any of that.

Hahah - I really have no idea what the name of the building is though. I'll email my cousin and see what she says. If so, then maybe we CAN get pix lol

weird.

My aunt lives in really nice highrise in NYC on the 27th floor or something. It's a fantastic view ... you can see like ... everything. The port and the USS Intrepid provide a great view as does the skyline everywhere else. Even New Jersey looks decent from up high (haha its because the haze obscures it from view! ). I haven't been in a long while and I doubt I'll be going back anytime soon ... but if I do I'll def get pictures.

So true! Besides, the Mets represent the forces of light and good in this often dark and scary world.

I too disagree!! I'm a huge mets fan and there's no team worse than the Yankees. In fact, I've been scouring the internet for months looking for an al queda- George Steinbrenner connection that I'm positive must exist. How can entities so grossly evil exist without some kind of interaction? I don't like the Braves much myself, but me and every other mets fan I know respects them even if we don't like them. The Yankees, though ... cant say I respect or like them.

I agree. I am a crazy soccer fan and I'm sure if there was a team on the Peninsula I would go see it. I even go see CNU play sometimes (who have a surprisingly talented squad) ... but I have only been to a Mariners game once. I think the problem with the Mariners can be partially attributed to poor marketing, but I think it really could sell itself if it just had a better location. Most people on the Peninsula, at least that I know, hardly ever go to Virginia Beach even for the beach. Most of us figure that if we're going to go take a long trip it may as well be to Nags Head. The fact that the Mariners are located far away in a relatively obscure location makes it difficult to inspire willingness to go. Especially on the spur of a moment. I hate going to Norfolk enough but to VA Beach it needs to be a damn fine occasion. It's unfortunate that it's that way but it's reality. One of Hampton Roads's greatest assets is our geographic diversity but sometimes it can be a negative too. Our region is delineated and spliced in ways that you really don't see elsewhere.

Yeah that whole newsletter thing is great. I do wish they would update it more regularly, though. Don't they know there are people like us who crave this kind of information! Has anyone seen that place recently? jesus christ it looks like a different city! It's really easy to forget where you are!

Yeah I don't really like those Super Wal Marts ... they are really just scary the way they are crowded. I wonder if it would be more profitable for a developer to do an urban walmart that was designed to make it a more pleasant shopping experience. Would it be a complete flop or would it completely remake the walmart image? Personally, I think it would be cool if Walmart decided to redo their proposal for the area to be a super walmart "shopping village" that has parking garages and is pedestrian oriented in a village-like orientation splitting up the departments into minature "markets". It could be fenced off where people can do the final purchases. It would be ripe for restaurants and fountains and stuff. Just a thought. Could work. By the way, PeninsulaKiddo, there is a Target in Hampton which makes 2 in the area. Just a heads up. Also, you shouldn't forget that all those "low wages" that you keep referring to is part of the solution, not the problem. Walmart workers don't start at 10-15 bucks an hr because the entry level positions are just not at that pay level. Any company that would hire their entry level sales clerks for 10 bucks an hr is doing a disservice to the community simply because they have less money to hire fewer people. So while the lucky ones who manage to land a job are in good shape, there's many more who would be willing to work the same job for less who are completely unemployed. Furthermore, putting an artificial wage floor on companies makes the job competition far tougher and tends to let in peripheral considerations (like race and gender) that might be less or a non-issue when more people are getting hired for lower wages. It's econ 101, man. I may not like Walmart, but they are a HUGE employer. Would you rather they A. raise wages and slash job numbers or B. keep things as they are and hire mor eand more people while encouraging workers to stay and gain useful experience that could be used for advancement within the company or for employment elsewhere? I think that's a no brainer. Backlash criticism on successful corporations is the hallmark of someone who likes to live in a place I like to call lalaland. Business practices aren't ever pretty, but the simplistic notion that higher pay=good can be a perfect formula for making a city or state remarkably uncompetitive for attracting business. I respect your passion for the workers and trust me I can empathize, given all the crap jobs I have taken over the years, but in the end this is the proper way to do things.

Can someone please tell me when Taco bell food became so damn delicious???

Yeah the way money is wasted by various government entities is really scandalous... and then you have to consider how it gets skimmed off from place to place before actually coming back to the those ground level municipal workers who are the ones who light up our lightbulbs and plan our highways (COUGH) ... and a few million is usually lost there. PeninsulaKiddo, you may be tired of people beotching about taxes but I'm tired of people telling me to stop beotching about them when I'm a poor motherf*cker trying to get through school without accruing a house-sized debt. All the while, I'm getting taxed up my ass and sometimes when you're sitting on I-64 E on near Coliseum Central you wonder where the hell all your damn money went to. An outstanding example, to be sure, but hardly uncommon. Most of Virginia's financial problems can be largely attributed to malappropriation and doofus administration - not to mention a frighteningly inept and bloated bureaucracy out of Richmond. I understand the need for taxes ... just not the need for the seemingly commensurate corruption and inefficiency that seems to come with it.

What kind of strange deduction is that? The funny thing is that the dissenting judges in the Kelo case were all the "republican" ones. Shook some of my anarchist friends hard, lol.

Yeah I hear a lot about that one El Salvadoran gang (???) in Norfolk. Apparently there's friction, from what I hear, between the indigenous gangs and the foreigners. How great, eh? By the way, the last thing I want to do is to have HR crime rates compared to Richmond. If you recall, Richmond has a grossly inordinate amount of crime given its size. In fact, just some years ago it had the highest per capita murder rate in the country. YEAH.

Grab your torches and pitchforks, folks!!

yeah record lows or something. and i agree, bud selig is an idiot.

No not just in Norfolk. I'm glad I'm the one bearing the brunt of their incompetence. Airtran serves free drinks btw and no one does a better int'l flight than BA.

I hope United goes belly up. I'm sorry but we need to just let the market do its work. Artificially pumping life into that failing airline is just encouraging their awful service. I have been flying around the last few days and EVERY TIME they have had either some kind of mechanical failure or an issue with my ticketing. They would tell me (and this happened multiple times) that I had a ticket all reserved and ready and when I get to the airport they'd have a completely different story. Ridiculous.