Telmnstr

I dunno, I'd just like to see the gov't be more responsible with the money they are confiscating from the citizens. I don't have a problem with taxes, but I have a problem with the money collected being spent irresponsibly. The way I see it, we had a library that was usable. But they tore it down for an empty lot with a bus stop. I fail to believe that renovation of the Kirn would cost $100,000,000 or whatever the total is going to be by the time they are done with this new library. And yes, I don't like the modern building connected to the classic building. Half contemporary, half old school. Meh. And yes, I think technology is win. I've got a bookcase or two full of books myself. But the recycled computer sitting in the closet with 10 terabytes of hard drive space wins out.

My curiosity is based around the movement of technology. How many people say, "Oh a library is nice. Even though I don't really need to go there." 15 years ago I'd never imagine a world without a copper telephone line coming into the house. Now we're sitting on a near future where everyone is close to having pretty equal access to information, assuming they are interested in looking for it. Tablet computers less than $100 for new models, the old ones will rapidly trickle down. Google and others have been scanning pretty much everything. So building a new huge warehouse of books at a time when things are close to changing seems questionable. I know, I know. It will look neat. So what if the city is broke. I'm sure friends of the city gov't will get hooked up with fat contracts.

Congrats Mike :-) I still need to stop by and say hi! I didn't realize two businesses were moving in there, I thought it was going to be all a coffee shop.

Who said the "hacker lab" is failing? More members than ever and new people showing up all the time? I was just at a conference in DC and randomly a pretty respected guy with DARPA giving a keynote talk in front of ~1300 said that in the future they are looking to fund projects at spaces like ours. I will say it's a bit of a sad thing that people are constantly planning to leave the area. I have directly witnessed this and continue to do so. It's pretty consistent that some of the best look to move because the jobs here just aren't challenging. And I don't blame them, they are going after good opportunities. There are some projects that we have started that might start some new companies. So if you think I'm somehow bitter over the success we're having, you're wrong. At least once every two weeks something crazy happens that really surprises me and makes me feel like we're doing good. In addition, we fund the space 100%. We're not a cost to taxpayers. We contribute something and make the area better. We're not cheer leading spending other people's money. Meanwhile. Back to them tearing down a building then looking for $80,000,000 to replace it. And taking a beautiful building (The Seaboard Building) and hanging off of the side this new modern building. The modern thing is cool. The seaboard building is cool. Why hook the two together? Can't one of you architecture heads back me up here? The government is broke. Bankrupt. All over the place in Norfolk there are cases of fraud and abuse from the leaders, and theft. And none of it is really being addressed well. I love beautiful buildings as much as anyone, but I'd like a strong country behind it. And I still feel bad for whomever the Kirn people are. They donated money for the old library and it was torn down in what, 30 years? To have their name erased by the Battan guy? Has Battan done that much to really help the region other than spray name with wealth all over?

Hey I post on Pilot, and I'm against this. IT'S UGLY! Why are you going to hook that modern looking extension to the classic beautiful building? Why? Just make two separate buildings. Do the underprivileged really use the library books to better themselves? Does it really take $100,000,000.00 to house some old books? They tore down the old library to force taxpayers to buy a new one. Quit wasting tax money.

It was in the paper that the opening is delayed.

Lighting has been turned on at the station near the New Belmont. It's pretty hideous. Screams over the top rape/murder deterrent. Like, "we know you'd be doomed if this thing didn't look like a super nova star." Might have to put a solar panel in the window and harness some of them photos at night for myself!

Sorry it was late. My point is, I would be their target audience for the train.

A: 189,000+ dollars went missing, that is one case of fraud. The double sets of books, the no-bid contracts. The places where contractors failed to do the job correctly and got paid to do it again (crossings near PETA). The failed leaders leaving with giant parachutes. I mean, open the paper any day and pick a headline. HRT has had a pretty bad reputation since before the project. Examples mostly come from the old Talknet, and examples of waste fraud and abuse. B: failing due to debt. No leaders with any solutions other than to borrow more. Gov't spends too much, top earners hoard too much, etc. C: I've seen a number of people post references to articles about other cities that implemented light rail lines, and them being a failure. Yes. There are examples of these things being a failure for the people paying for it. It's a win for the people with the gov't division that gains more power, though. I totally understand it's a starter line. I live near it. Right near it. I can see the track from where I'm sitting, right now. I rent an office near it. My job is near it (I don't really go to the office much anymore, my employer is mostly failed, and most of the staff is laid off so it's mostly an empty office.)

Yes, I've heard this argument. I first heard it in a documentary calling for the end of oil and everyone having to move back to city centers because the American way of life is not sustainable. It was called Return to Suburbia I believe. It had your usual suspects in it, and is pretty decent. If we're going to do it, do it right.

I was out of town and too busy to look at the intarwebs over the weekend. The office building on Tidewater drive seems like a bad idea.

As long as the odu student card connects to the student loan...

Well, I post there a lot! (Ethan is my name on there.) At the end of the day, the project is riddled with fraud. People stole lots of taxpayer money with the project. They personally took YOUR money and put it in THEIR pocket, and didn't work to earn it. That actually does make some people mad. Currently, the way things are headed, America is going to fail. Yes, fail. You can pretend that the gov't wasting tons of people's personal money is going to somehow make the area bigger. Having 2 million people with 1,500,000 of them under the poverty line isn't really going to help. I'm against light rail. I think it's stupid. I think it's a total, absolute, waste of money. No technical advances came from it. It's redeployment of something that existed before and was torn out. I was all for maglev research and development. That system is forward looking. It is innovation. It leaves something for future generations to be proud of. It could have spawned new industry in Hampton Roads. It could have shown the world that America still invents stuff other than things to kill people with.

Neato. I think with the economic downtown, there are coffee shops popping up everywhere!

We had Fatburgers, which I think were on par with five guys, but they didn't survive. Cause being bad news is what we're all about / We went to white castle and we got thrown out. -- bboys/slow ride

@zepplin14 - I've never had White Castle, and I can't help but think of various songs off of Beastie Boys Licensed to Ill album whenever I hear the name. Farm Fresh in downtown Norfolk cut their hours back to 9pm because the city is dead. It's like a retirement community with a couple of restaurants.

wine fest

www.757labs.org Almost a year into our hackerspace project. We've got around 19 members. We did a high altitude balloon launch against similar spaces around the world and ranked 5th. We've had visitors from Atlanta and Houston. Interns coming to NASA and other places came to visit us, because it's where they could go to find like minded individuals (there are location finders at sites like hackerspaces.org.) We've hosted the 24 hour comics day, the only site in Virginia. The Ruby and Python programming groups meet monthly. We're starting to do more presentations with the HRGeeks II meetings, and I've been working hard to build out a multi-camera setup for recording the presentations. There is a project or two underway that looks like it could really go commercial, as well. Our lab consists of: Two meeting areas and a chillout area with games. Full automation of A/V resources via touchscreen. Sound, video, media storage servers, all that kind of stuff. Electronics work area including 20mhz and 500mhz oscopes, soldering irons and desoldering tools, breadboards, various component parts. Embedded boards from TI, ST, Motorola/Freescale, ARM, Xilinx and more. Heavier tools including a laser engraver project, a CNC router project, a 3d printer project, drill press, band saw, chop saw, various tools. Projects mean they are under construction. Computer lab includes RS/6000 AIX servers, Silicon Graphics host, DEC Alpha Host, A few PC systems, some Cisco hardware, Linksys hardware, various RF antennas, a Cray supercomputer (it's older and slow but real) and more. There is some other work areas, and other stuff as well. We're not really in competition with other incubators. All of our funding comes from the key holding members, $50 a month at a time. We don't really get much love from the local media. Our costs are pretty low, but it's still a challenge making it go. We lost 4 people that were truly great this year. All relocated out of the area, even though they had jobs. They just got better ones. That kind of sucks. None were paying members, but they all were bright. The kind that build things. Next challenge is the next years lease has a 30 day notice clause where we have to be out in 30 days. The spoken agreement was only if a specific tenant wants the building, but in the lease it says otherwise. Haven't signed it, but not a great feeling that they didn't honor what was said. We get a good rate (for us, but I think they overestimate how good the space would be for any other business in the world) and it will be a challenge coming up with a replacement. But I think some good could come out of moving. The way I see it, if something were to happen to the lab it would be savings to me and a loss for the community. (I really need to take updated pictures, these don't do it justice. Sounds like a project for tomorrow.) Oh wait, video I forgot about! Video is a bit outdated. Furniture has mostly been all updated, all nicer tables now.

We're coming up on the 1st year anniversary of our hacker space, that is a clubhouse that is for people interested in building things. Hardware and software. www.757labs.org for more info. We've got one of the best spaces in the USA, and finally getting some stuff going. But it's a struggle. Other areas have twice the membership. Of course we're going to be at risk of loosing the lease as well (30 days notice to get out.) We've seen 5 GREAT people leave the area just because job opportunities here are weak, and better elsewhere. The truly good people aren't going to want to work for gov't contractors. They don't reward excellence, they don't really reward skills, they just want bodies to bill on. Even if you're good you're going to be stuck by people who aren't. It sounds cocky and mean, I'm sorry, it's the truth. So much time spent on BS and red tape and general moron stuff. It's night and day between a vibrant startup and any gov't contractor. Been at both.

I'm suspicious of anything the Pilot says about real estate. Every one of their articles on RE reads like a paid advertisement. Of course they only build so-called upscale buildings now because everyone wants to milk as much money as possible from their investment, and this means finding the point where you can charge the most for the least. And thus I give you granite and stainless steel. FWIW, my apartment building continues to empty. Changing faces. The young and energetic are leaving the area. The older people seem to be replacing them (in this building.)

JFCOM closing isn't going to be pretty.

Yea a friend who grew up here worked for one of the local hospital systems. To move up any, he had to move to Richmond. In Richmond he is paid higher for the same job role, and was able to purchase a nice home outside of Richmond (close to his job.) He said he would like to move back here because of friends, but a similar house would be twice as much ($400K) and of course his employer would pay less, so he would need to switch employers. They don't list Raleigh on the cost of living calculator. And I'd question the accuracy, because Norfolk's housing stock is quite a bit different. I just hit ForRent.com, and found apartment that don't seem too unlike the new ones built in Norfolk in Alexandria, VA at asking prices similar.

The strength of the market doesn't really matter when your doors are locked :-) I thought it was a dispute over rental rates. That part didn't make the article. Perhaps handshake was reached.

Wish five guys was coming to downtown Norfolk (Granby!) Guadalajara reopening will be good. We noticed the dumpster out front yesterday. We figured it was either being remodeled or going away.

Lottery ticket. Cause most people can't get far ahead by working, suing the gubbmint is a good way to riches.