The Bad News Report

[CLTProductions]

I was just in Seattle and the homeless population is exponentially more aggressive and present than in Charlotte. 

That said, they are getting worse in the square. Lately there has been an unhealthy mix of vagrants and homeless that just move in to the busses and shelters and call it home. I'm sympathetic towards their situation, I am, but you can't just move in to a bus shelter. 

That said, the city has been covertly removing benches here and there which I would assume is to combat this. Which, regardless of homeless, we have 0 need for the 8 billion benches we have uptown. 

Furthermore, this conversation is way off topic with this thread lol. 

 

In real bad news, there is a pending announcement (can't say which one) that has been delayed by HB2. Not sure if it'll ultimately fall through but things aren't moving forward currently as they would have sans HB2. 

[Neo]

On 5/21/2016 at 3:29 AM, Piedmont767 said:

@Neo Can you please tidy up this thread? Move it to the coffeehouse? I'm waiting for actually bad news. 

I'd say most of us are actually waiting for good news. 

[15895]

3 minutes ago, Neo said:

I'd say most of us are actually waiting for good news. 

 

Yes... I'm ready for some banking and financial jobs.... Or energy. 

[Silicon Dogwoods]

18 hours ago, Jayvee said:

I was just in Seattle and the homeless population is exponentially more aggressive and present than in Charlotte. 

That said, they are getting worse in the square. Lately there has been an unhealthy mix of vagrants and homeless that just move in to the busses and shelters and call it home. I'm sympathetic towards their situation, I am, but you can't just move in to a bus shelter. 

That said, the city has been covertly removing benches here and there which I would assume is to combat this. Which, regardless of homeless, we have 0 need for the 8 billion benches we have uptown. 

Furthermore, this conversation is way off topic with this thread lol. 

 

In real bad news, there is a pending announcement (can't say which one) that has been delayed by HB2. Not sure if it'll ultimately fall through but things aren't moving forward currently as they would have sans HB2. 

That's a shame.    

[vicupstate]

Charlotte and Raleigh's loss is Columbia's gain. Maroon 5 schedules concert there. 

[HopHead]

5 hours ago, vicupstate said:

Charlotte and Raleigh's loss is Columbia's gain. Maroon 5 schedules concert there. 

I couldn't care less about Maroon 5 personally, but South Carolina stands to really benefit in this department. If I'm a concert promoter in SC, I'm contacting every non-country musician's promoter who's scheduled to be in NC the rest of the year. Proximity makes it a fairly easy thing to do without having to reroute a lot of tours. 

Edited May 25, 2016 by HopHead
typos

[urbanlover568]

Gotta be F kidding me!!! First solar, now electric cars????? 

N.C. Says Tesla Can't Sell Cars At Charlotte Store

http://wfae.org/post/nc-says-tesla-cant-sell-cars-charlotte-store

 

 

Edit: VOTE VOTE IN NOVEMBER! 

Edited May 25, 2016 by mpretori

[FrankNash]

^^^That is shocking^^^

[HopHead]

3 hours ago, mpretori said:

Gotta be F kidding me!!! First solar, now electric cars????? 

N.C. Says Tesla Can't Sell Cars At Charlotte Store

http://wfae.org/post/nc-says-tesla-cant-sell-cars-charlotte-store

 

 

Edit: VOTE VOTE IN NOVEMBER! 

I'm waiting for an emergency session where they vote to ban drinking on Sunday's.. That can't be too far down the list of NCGA stupidity. 

[rancenc]

40 minutes ago, HopHead said:

I'm waiting for an emergency session where they vote to ban drinking on Sunday's.. That can't be too far down the list of NCGA stupidity. 

Apparently Tesla is facing the same problem in liberal CT......both states (CT and NC) require new cars to be sold through dealerships I guess

.http://wshu.org/post/conn-ban-direct-sales-hasn-t-slowed-tesla-down

[Nick2]

This is more due to the intense lobbying of the traditional dealers already in the area and the state auto dealers association though I'm sure it didn't help their case having the NCGA being like it is right now.

[deleted]

4 hours ago, mpretori said:

Gotta be F kidding me!!! First solar, now electric cars????? 

N.C. Says Tesla Can't Sell Cars At Charlotte Store

http://wfae.org/post/nc-says-tesla-cant-sell-cars-charlotte-store

 

 

Edit: VOTE VOTE IN NOVEMBER! 

This has nothing to do with the GA, Republicans or Democrats.  This is similar to resistance to efforts (by Republicans) to end vehicle inspections.  Inspection shops objected (in 2009 and 2013) and it went nowhere.  That would have been a law change...this is simply enforcing an existing law.  It is 100% boneheaded and borderline corrupt but you have to blame auto dealers and bureaucrats at the DMV.  The solar thing isn't happening.  As a Prius driver looking at electric cars and solar panels for my roof, I'm on your side...I don't think how you vote in November will change much on these issues though.

[kermit]

^ yea, but only one party promotes itself as the head cheerleader of free markets and then goes and creates legal barriers to competition.

[deleted]

http://www.engadget.com/2014/07/17/tesla-motors-us-sales/

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blogs/competition-matters/2015/05/direct-consumer-auto-sales-its-not-just-about-tesla

My point is that the legal barriers to competition in this instance were created a long time ago and not specifically by Republicans (reminder, I'm NOT a Republican).

[kermit]

^ you are correct, mia culpa.

I should have used the word 'maintains' rather than 'creates'. I'll try again.

For a party that spends much of its time talking about the virtues of small government and deregulation they seem awfully reluctant to remove regulations which suits their donors (car dealerships, beer distributors, etc.)

 

[Matthew.Brendan]

NPR had a piece on this very issue in the last week or two. Should be able to find it online. 

[jwntim]

I have heard some very credible rumors that PayPal is now deciding between Tampa (was previously #2 to Charlotte) and Jacksonville for the replacement of the Charlotte facility. 

[urbanlover568]

2 hours ago, jwintim said:

I have heard some very credible rumors that PayPal is now deciding between Tampa (was previously #2 to Charlotte) and Jacksonville for the replacement of the Charlotte facility. 

Guess Paypal has spoken and moved on i guess... Sad. 

[deleted]

Compared to Rick Scott (who among other things was an early Trump supporter), our Governor could be described as a very reasonable man (though he should have vetoed HB2, IMO)...

[Silicon Dogwoods]

1 hour ago, mpretori said:

Guess Paypal has spoken and moved on i guess... Sad. 

Very sad. 

This is the high cost of theocratic ignorance and stupidity.

[rancenc]

4 hours ago, jwintim said:

I have heard some very credible rumors that PayPal is now deciding between Tampa (was previously #2 to Charlotte) and Jacksonville for the replacement of the Charlotte facility. 

I would not be surprised that it will be Tampa!

Edited May 31, 2016 by rancenc

[KJHburg]

I walked around uptown today for about 24 blocks and was panhandled asked for money INSIDE of Bank of America Plaza right by the Walgreens. Panhandling is becoming a huge problem uptown as are the homeless. The city has many many services for the homeless and for whatever reasons they don't want to utilize them. I counted 24! benches in one block on south Tryon between Chima and Bank of America plaza. That is a relic from when the Transit mall where all the buses stopped there back in the 1980s.  That block needs no where near that. Imagine the new retail at the BofA Plaza overlooking this. Aggressive panhandling makes a city appear unsafe and this threatens tourism, conventioneers, surburbanites coming uptown to eat etc. I came out of Ruth Chris a couple of months ago and right by the valet stand a homeless person lit a paper bag on fire. This really needs to be addressed sooner rather than later. Perceptions can become reality in many peoples' minds and all the new building in the world won't change that. But this panhandling problem needs to be addressed and dealt with! 

[CLTProductions]

I agree it's getting worse and worse. The square has always been bad but it's exponentially worse. It threatens the future success of places like Essex. 

I will say, we're still nowhere near as bad as cities like Austin, Seattle, etc but it's getting worse. The vagabonds are taking over for the actual homeless and they're way more aggressive and mean. 

[Deleted.]

Still not as bad as Barcelona. Sheesh! 

 

Limbless beggars, people walking around outside patios begging, getting angry when you don't give them money. 

[rancenc]

3 hours ago, KJHburg said:

I walked around uptown today for about 24 blocks and was panhandled asked for money INSIDE of Bank of America Plaza right by the Walgreens. Panhandling is becoming a huge problem uptown as are the homeless. The city has many many services for the homeless and for whatever reasons they don't want to utilize them. I counted 24! benches in one block on south Tryon between Chima and Bank of America plaza. That is a relic from when the Transit mall where all the buses stopped there back in the 1980s.  That block needs no where near that. Imagine the new retail at the BofA Plaza overlooking this. Aggressive panhandling makes a city appear unsafe and this threatens tourism, conventioneers, surburbanites coming uptown to eat etc. I came out of Ruth Chris a couple of months ago and right by the valet stand a homeless person lit a paper bag on fire. This really needs to be addressed sooner rather than later. Perceptions can become reality in many peoples' minds and all the new building in the world won't change that. But this panhandling problem needs to be addressed and dealt with! 

I agree.  I have always taking a very hard approach towards homeless people, especially single men.  A large percentage of these individuals actually WANT to live this "hobo" lifestyle, they do not want the responsibility of managing a lifestyle of work, home, and family.  Of course there is the large percentage of individuals who are just psycho whack jobs that their own family can't deal with them.  Now I do have sympathy for those homeless that have children in tow (the vast majority seem to be women), because of leaving an abusive relationship or just unexpectatingly kick out of a residence due to a job loss or something of that nature.  The overwhelming majority of those in Charlotte that are wandering the streets are single men! And the city needs to be VERY unwelcoming to those folks!