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I looked out of my window yesterday and Twelve-Twelve was glowing in the snow!

Now's our chance to nominate a UP member!!!!!!!!!!!!

FBI affidavit: "CANNON concluded by stating that he looked good 'in an orange necktie, but not in an orange suit.'"

Bigger image: http://www.experiencetryonplace.com/img/main-bg-1920x1080.jpg

Heard about a new office and condo development today that's in the planning stages. Will keep everyone posted when I hear more.

The Big D on E

This frustrates me to no end. We are actually not just one of the largest, but THE LARGEST metro area in the US without a full four year medical school, MD or DO. In addition, the only law school we have is in the lowest of tiers and is "for profit" (coincidentally, the cost is roughly equivalent to WF School of Law, a top tier institution). The only pharmacy school is in Wingate on the very fringes of the metro area, and we have no veterinary teaching schools. Compare our higher education opportunities to the Triangle CSA which has three medical schools, four schools of law that are not "for profit"', three schools of pharmacy, and one school of veterinary medicine. Furthermore, Triangle schools offer a litany of other "non-professional" degree programs which are not offered in Charlotte. And the high concentration of educated professionals in the Triangle is one reason the average annual income in that area, depending on the estimate, is 5-10% higher than Charlotte area incomes. We as a community are undermining our own ability to be economically successful by not investing much in higher education. Sorry, rant over. Streetcar, Sugar Creek Greenway, Memorial Stadium, Novant Health, etc, etc, etc....There, back on topic.

Downtown hotel project delayed. http://nashvillepost.com/blogs/postbusiness/2014/3/26/proposed_sobro_hotel_project_misses_hoped_for_start_date I can't say I am really disappointed. I am hoping for a better project at this location at some point. I would rather see residential, retail, and mixed use along KVB that has some serious height as well. Twelve to Eighteen stories does not do it for me since the area is zoned for unlimited height.

Wow. What a week.

http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/blog/2014/03/amp-bill-moves-to-full-house-finance-committee.html I believe this bill is good news for The Amp. Amp Yes told me that they want the House Bill to pass because it doesn't prohibit BRT in the center lanes, like the Senate Bill does.

The way Lt. Ramseygot up under that cow and won in a milking contest shows just how confident he is in himself. Apparently he's milked a mess of cows in his past, and he even came from behind (in the contest, that is) and still won. This alone shows that he has "majik fingers".

The city will look at those plans we posted on earlier about The James at River Bend, the 16-story highrise apartment building proposed at the foot of Libby Hill, near Pear Street. The original report from CHPN: http://chpn.net/news/2014/02/04/the-james-at-river-bend-aka-pear-street_31771/ The RVANews update: http://rvanews.com/etc/city-to-review-plans-for-13-story-building-at-foot-of-libby-hill/110712?east-end-daily

^Well neither Miesian nor I was comparing EDI to CLT, just pointing out how the ME3+TK want to dominate the world, LOL. Plus their widebody order book will subsidize Boeing and Airbus for a generation...

I saw a great analogy on Twitter for this news: A politician being arrested for corruption is like an NBA referee calling traveling. In other words, it happens all the time, plenty of people know/see it, rarely do they get called for it.

^You make a very valid point. Rather than doling out millions to Chiquita/Fyffes and Good Sports to bring in questionable "headquarters" and supposed tourism, the City should be focused on attracting the things Charlotte REALLY needs over the long term like the professional schools and research institutes you mentioned...

Welcome to the forum Vrtigo. Looking forward to meeting you at some point. Looking forward to more contributions as well.

I'm assuming it will be ASAP. From the WBTV article: "Completing the design now will allow Aviation to solicit bids for and complete the northern portion construction to coincide with the opening of the southern portion"

Finally, it would seem sensibility has prevailed.. "Charlotte City Council approved $75,000 at its meeting last night as part of a $2 million contract that will create a continuous entrance road from Interstate 85 at the Little Rock Road exit all the way to the airport terminal at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport" No time frame mentioned though. Brief article here: Airport to build road to connect I-85 directly to airport terminal

Couldn't quite decide what thread this fit best in, but the new VA Hospital on Tyvola broke ground a couple of weeks ago. http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/blog/health-care/2014/03/va-plans-groundbreaking-for-charlotte-health-care.html has some imagery if the new project, which is almost 300k square feet. Definitely seems to qualify as an "under-the-radar" massive project.

I have no way of knowing for sure, but maybe North Point is waiting to see what happens with the Marriott proposal from Giarratana. If that doesn't fly, then the NP site across KVB might be a good spot for a larger Marriott flag.

This is what you call the end stages of a bubble IMO

If you look at the image provided by the Advocate, you can see the connector connects Airline Hwy with I-10 between Highland and Seigen. Pecue was due to become have an interchange, so this fits in with the plans.

Somebody would have to pay me to park my car there...

My favorite new past time is taking my quadcopter up several hundred feet and taking pictures and video with the attached camera. Here is one I took from Freedom Park in early March.

Just wait if the Supreme Court rules that anyone can ignore any portion of a law on religious groups (contraceptives). Then maybe there will be conscientious objectors to most things in the modern world.

not most of them

can we really call the NC laws "modern".....?

And be replaced with something impressive looking. As opposed to an empty lot for 30 years then a six story apartment complex, like a certain other parcel in the immediate vicinity.

Not sure what that is. I saw it too and trying to research. Also, fencing is going up around the 1515 site. The 18 story Childress Klien location.

No experience needed, just a great long-term vision.

The Observer has an article on 'what went wrong with Gateway' article. http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/03/22/4785948/how-charlottes-grand-central-got.html#.Uy34W7RPaGU Not much there that we didn't already know. It all basically boils down to NS needs assurances that its freight capacity won't be limited, the state still needs to find $200 million (ish) and Haines is probably still involved in the project (although they did not comment on the article). Overall it has just reinforced my sense that NCDOT has _really_ dropped the ball on this project and there are no signs of them getting back on track.

Yeah, why should the city try to improve an area or take advantage of future growth by putting something nice where the trolley line will end? Just make it a big factory site!

I rolled my eyes too, can we get anything other than Mexican/TexMex on East Blvd? But hey, this could be the one to work the best so far in this space. I really believe we need a place that is a bar first and restaurant second there to thrive, and something with a unique focus at that.

Correlation does not imply causation.

Took a walk downtown today across the Shelby Street Pedestrian Bridge (soon to be re-named John Seigenthaler Bridge?) on a beautiful spring day…. A lot of people were enjoying the weather… Looking up Broadway through the ‘Ghost Ballet’ which I’ve warmed up to considerably as public art…. The Hyatt, Encore, Pinnacle staircase. Hopefully to be broken up soon with the 33 story SoBro… Reflections in the façade of the Pinnacle Tower…. Looking up the 2nd Avenue part of the downtown entertainment district which stretches from Hooters to Joes Crab Shack. There’s some sort of story in that. The Bridge…

I wrote in the filming in Charlotte thread that I was bummed but realistic about the end of the Studio Charlotte idea for Eastland. Frankly I really, really, really wished upon a star that this would have happened as I think the effects of it would have gone far beyond economic impact for the East side. Label me Le Sad!

How about perception of Charlotte worldwide? I'm in Dubai right now, and everyone seems to know Charlotte. They don't know NC, but they know Charlotte. All because of the DNC. I've heard comments today after introducing myself like "Oh, that is where Obama was during the convention" and "Charlotte must be a very important city to have the DNC" and "I bet the security in Charlotte was crazy - FBI, secret service, marines, army - you had the President of the USA there after all!" I don't know how much military presence there was, but I didn't correct that guy - just told him we had police from many states in the US there for security. All these comments came from Arabs - not westerners, though Dubai seems about 50% westerners. Aside from the occasional hijab or thaub, you wouldn't realize you were in the Middle East while you are here. Anyway, I thought that was pretty cool to hear people on the other side of the world comment knowledgably about our city!