mercuex

Haha I know I just like complaining about the Mets ... best part of being a Mets fan. I know what you mean, I was at first unsure of the whole MLB thing here because I do enjoy Harbor Park, but I went up to Baltimore for a weekend and saw an Orioles game (I hadn't been to a major league game in awhile) and realized just how badly I wanted MLB in Hampton Roads. Now, I too want the Nationals to go belly up and die!! The more likely scenario, unfortunately, is the Orioles doing that. They're having an amazing season but yet attendance is way down. Its like everything Angelos said would happen is transpiring. Really disheartening too ... why would anyone want to go to RFK stadium when they could be going to Camden Yards?!?! Maybe the Orioles will come here. THAT would be a supreme instance of poetic irony!!

I dont think that would really disallow us from having that kind of *sport* system. LoL ... I'm a mets fan and when the Mets and Tides have their annual exhibition game, the Mets usually get creamed ... so if that's any indicator ... haha God those bums...

Same here and Provo/New England. Born there but really don't think I'll ever live there except possibly for grad school. Too cold and too expensive though )

Can it be privatized? Maybe a line at a time? Or through contracting to sew up some loose ends?

hm thats probably the best argument for rail ive ever heard lol i say we just stop dumping money everywhere, period. in theory i agree with everything jpn said but unlike him I'm a huge fan of rail. The problem with amtrak isnt that its a train, its that its poorly managed and budgeted. like the federal government ... and Virginia.

I can't entirely agree with you there. What they're doing is something we in HR don't have much of a notion for. It's called planning ahead. Richmond is growing and while they don't have our level of congestion, it has gotten worse over the last couple of years (I go to school up there and I work in the suburbs). Besides, it'll look fantastic and will be a great boon to that city. Richmond really is an architectural jewel when you look at places like the Fan and Monument avenue.

heh no but they're in fairly advanced stages with regards to a streetcar system a la memphis/new orleans

That's true. As always, I only hope for the best ... though I wonder if in the future, even if we have widespread BRT, if we will have an inferiority complex because Richmond to the North and Charlotte to the south both have functioning and classy rail systems. It may do the same damn thing but sometimes that image itself might speak for more. I dunno. I still like streetcars best but whatever.

Am I the only one who feels that all this talk about BRT is a little premature? I hate to harbor stereotypes, but in my experience bus systems have had this stigma in the south that it's just unable to shake. While BRT systems may look cooler and have dedicated lanes, I'm just afraid too many people would look at it and just think "bus". Bus as in loud, smelly, and ecological nightmares. When it comes down to it, image means a whole lot and a system of sleek new light railcars, at least in my mind, pulverizes the BRT thing ... Not that I don't want BRT to work but I just don't feel as comfortable with it as I do with LRT. If LRT is a problem, maybe a streetcar system would be a good idea instead with the option of expanding to light rail later. That's the plan in Richmond and looks and feels classier than hooked up buses. Streetcars work well in Portland and Memphis and Boston has had a light rail that's notoriously effective (that goes well beyond its urban core).

Great. That's the last thing we need ... Richmonders knowing our dirty little secret that aint so secret no more... ::sigh:: The only thing that can save us now is ... CASINOS... to raise money for light rail and personal skycars, of course.

Sorry If I offended anyone. I too attend church, btw. No matter what your religion is, though, I still believe that Casinos would be awesome here. B)

hahah I reloaded the page and I saw the new thread and at first I was just tripping out I had no idea what the hell had happened lol So ... about that east end ...

Not yet. Give it another five years or so LOL a guy can dream, cant he? Rus, I've never been an organizer on the site so I wouldn't know what to tell you. Does anyone here know how to do that srt of thing?

Sweet. If you set up the Meetup.com group I'll join it promptly!!

hmm ... gotcha. Yeah I can see why you would feel that way then. On a brighter note, having casinos would not only raise enormous amts of money, but would also force Pat and his ilk to pack up and leave town

hmmm.... I signed up for the gala but it doesn't say when it will be. Any idea? As per VDOT employment ... I understand. I don't think anyone here wants to make you an ex-VDOT employee. Maybe Rus should do it.

You know, PeninsulaKiddo, Jesus does love you. ... ... sorry had to do it!! Yeah I tend to have a problem with that too I guess ... though to be frank I can't say I've ever heard him say something like that but I wouldn't necessarily put it past him. At the risk of turning this into a religious debate, what are you anyway? Atheist? Jewish? j/w of course

Well to be honest, the East End has made enormous strides since the 90s. You might have heard about Mariner's Watch ... I think I alluded to it several times in this post somewhere and definitely on Skyscrapercity ... It's an infill project for the East End beachfront that will be new urbanist with shops, condos, apts, homes, and a marina in an upscale setting. There's some other infill development projects down there that I can't identify off the top of my head but they do look promising. In all honesty, the East End is potentially the most lucrative real estate in Newport News and I think some people are starting to catch on.

I'm telling you, man, we need to start a meetup group to promote smart growth transportation initiatives. I mean, there just isn't a place the constituencies can really rant and vent about this stuff... and the entire region is suffering. We're lucky for now, but who knows how many billions of dollars we lose per annum because of transportation travails??? any takers for the meetup thing? Vdogg???

They'd get the idea if all truck traffic was to be diverted to this new crossing by a pan-HR ordinance (oh wouldn't it be sort of cool, even if inefficient and a superfluous expenditure of tax money, to have a pan-HR assembly of sorts?) and we had cops enforce it. Not only would we solve the idiot trucker problem, but we would get all sorts of new revenue from court fees/fines from the idiots being pulled over. BTW, PeninsulaKiddo, I don't actually hate Pat Robertson because, though I may not agree with everything he says or does, Regent University is in fact a boon to the local economy and he's been a pretty strong supporter of local projects/ and constituent-based issues like defense closures, etc. But that thing you were talking about with Tokyo sounds to me like a bigger, adult version of a Chuck-E-Cheese! It's not a terrible idea along the waterfront as a sideshow, but it wouldn't be a destination in and of itself like a real casino would. Even if the prizes were freakin sweet and the managers somehow restrained themselves from overinflating the prices of those prizes for tokens, it's just not the same feeling. Wouldn't it be terribly obscene but secretly awesome (like in the back of our minds that are at first abhorred) if they converted something like the Battleship Wisconsin or some old Carrier into a swanky casino?? HAHA talk about riverboat gambling!!

BTW I'm beginning to think Casinos would be a great idea in Va Beach and Hampton... though Pat Robertson probably wouldn't have it... damn him!

Hm. Maybe for the third crossing it would be wise to make it mandatory that all trucks/buses take that one conduit while leaving the rest free for everyone else? Maybe I'm being daft.

Well its not really about necessarily getting somewhere faster so much as providing a reliable and predictable alternative. If you ride the metro, you know it takes 15 minutes to get from Brookland/CUA to Union Station. If you drive, however, it could take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes or more. I think you see my point. Plus it always takes me like 45 to go from Pembroke to DT even in the heaviest of traffic.

HAHAHA OH MAN That is like my commute to and from Norfolk EVERY DAY. Welcome to my world. LoL... Its a scandal that something isn't done. I say Virginia legalize casinos and prostitution and get the revenues that way. Not only will our economy explode with growth... let's just say our night life may improve a tad haha At least maybe the strippers will be better looking. Not that I'd ever go to one of those morally vacuous institutions of transgression! cough ...

hmmm ... well, I like Richmond, I just don't like how Richmond gets a grossly inordinate amount of money compared to the rest of the state. But I live with it.