At a quick glance, they have done absolutely nothing! Plus the window has been broken again. My count is over 5 times now. As I stated before, I would not live in that corner unit if you paid me. There needs to be some sort of privacy wall, height difference from the street, or metal bars over the window.
The building itself isn't that bad, but they could have put an ounce of effort in to match the neighborhood's feel. Just because the colors are ugly and they used corrugated siding doesn't mean that it's artistic.
I make sure to eat at a NoDa or Plaza Midwood restaurant once a week and I'm always surprised how few of the patrons are from the neighborhood. Cabo does amazing business any day of the week, but the majority of other restaurants only thrive on Gallery Crawl or when big(ger) acts play the Neighborhood Theater.
The thing that amazes me the most about NoDa is that there is no "pretty" way to get to it. Meaning, anytime a friend visits, they are scared out of their wits by the time they get to 36th and Davidson. Belmont, the Plaza, and north Tryon are all a bit on the rough side. While I have lived around and in much worse, my southern friends think I am in the heart of some gang war laden ghetto.
The Optimist Park/Belmont projects will improve the entire area and could create a corridor of "safe" from city center. But then I'm reminded of my Charlotte native co-workers that wouldn't consider living in uptown because of the "rampant crime" and "all of the people just sitting at the bus stops". I guess the concept of a mixed income neighborhood is just too uncomfortable for those raised in the Burbs. Comfortable and safe are two very different concepts that seem to be confused.
::Sorry for the rant, I just am amazed how taken aback some southerners are when they visit my 'hood. I'm not denying that there are rough characters around, rather just surprised that they couldn't consider a person of different (read: lower) soc-ec class a neighbor.::
