JacksonH

Good analysis here, but this statement is pretty much my point: "don't know if San Diego or Sacramento are a good example of moving faster at light rail construction, they have just been at it longer / started earlier." Charlotte *should* have been building lightrail way before 2007, and should be expanding much faster than it is. And just one example, Charlotte's Gold Line extension started and was completed on almost the same schedule as San Diego's 11-mile Blue Line extension I wrote about above (both projects began and were completed within abouta month of one another), which included this massive bridge structure that you need to see in person to fully appreciate.

Check out Sacramento. It's much smaller than Charlotte but has a far more extensive lightrail system. San Diego is larger than Charlotte but not by much (3.3 million metro population) but lightrail is several times larger than Charlotte's. I major extension (about 11 miles, I think) to one of the lines was recently completed and involved building a mile or so long bridge high above very complicated terrain, but it only took a few years to build the whole thing. Baltimore is another that comes to mind.

It shouldn't have taken as long as it took to build the Blue Line and Gold Line. It shouldn't take as long as it's going to take to build the Red Line and Silver Line. Charlotte is way behind similar-sized (and smaller) cities in building out a mass transit system. I guess the state legislature in Raleigh is to blame for that. https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/charlotte-ranked-10th-worst-city-for-public-transportation-in-new-survey/ar-AA1hWzem

I would! I HATE that drive.

I saw this commercial today for BMW. Is that Charlotte?

Well Cornelius better be prepared because I'm going to be walking around there every opportunity I get. I also walk fast and I refuse to get in a car to go to a place that's less than a 15-minute walk. I will be buying a collapsible shopping cart to transport groceries, and dodging traffic if I have to.

Very interesting data. I would have to think that being at the far end of either side of this chart is not a good thing. For obvious reasons, no city wants to lose population. But the extreme growth that Austin is experiencing, how is that even manageable? So many people showing up at once will inevitably bring all kind of problems, challenging city resources and infrastructure, along with causing housing costs to soar. I would have to think that Charlotte is in a pretty good place in terms of growth: it's growing steadily and quickly, but not beyond all ability to manage it.

I watch his videos frequently and just watched the one on Charlotte. When I got to this part about his walk to Camp North End, I couldn't help but think about the neighborhood in Cornelius where I just bought a condo. It's technically about a 15-minute walk to Birkdale Village but to get there on foot you have to cross a very busy Catawba Avenue where there are NO CROSSWALKS! A few blocks from my place there is a Harris Teeter. I was excited about this until I discovered that at the intersection where the store is located, again NO CROSSWALKS. No pedestrian walk signal, either. This is a very densely populated part of Cornelius. How could they possibly not have considered putting in crosswalks? Here in San Diego, my primary residence, I can't think of an area of the city without sidewalks and crosswalks and pedestrian walk signals, even in the most suburban areas. It's what I'm used to. I don't understand why Charlotte has to be so hostile towards pedestrians.

As of today, I own a condo in Cornelius. Every time I come to Charlotte I am rushing around trying to check out the major new developments and activity but barely ever have time to scratch the surface. I figure the only way to sufficiently take it all in is to have my own place so I can hang out for awhile and take my time. I'm mostly kidding about that. I do have other reasons to need a place back there. But truly, I'm very excited to be bicoastal, and now that I'm going to have more time available in the Charlotte area, I would love to participate in some of these meetups. I'll be there most of the month of July and hope to see you guys then.

Salisbury evokes a number of feelings in me. It is perhaps the most historic non-coastal city in North Carolina, dating back to the colonial era. I recently spent some time touring around old Salisbury and I was struck by the number of historic structures there, including the grand Josephus Hall House, which dates to 1820. And within downtown you may encounter a few buildings that are over 150 years old. Another thing that got my attention was just how large the downtown area is. It's several times larger than Concord, for example. But it's also a victim of suburban shopping centers, which have robbed the downtown area of some of the commerce that used to be there. There are many empty storefronts. That said, there is so much potential. While many downtown buildings remain unused, the city seems to be trying to energize the area and I believe they are building apartments downtown to help in that effort. There is SO much potential because there really are a great many beautiful old buildings that, if brought back to life, could make this town a real destination. One other thing that got me in seeing downtown Salisbury is that it made me realize how much of its own history Charlotte has destroyed. Up until 1860, Salisbury and Charlotte were about the same size. Then in the decades that followed, Charlotte began growing much faster than Salisbury, and by 1900 Charlotte was three times the size of Salisbury. But by seeing the what's left of Charlotte's historic areas downtown, you'd never believe it because the amount if historic buildings in Salisbury completely dwarfs what's left of historic Charlotte. It's sad. I'm just glad that at least Salisbury has cared enough to preserve its past. I only hope they can bring it all back to life because it could be a magnificent place.

I assume that red-roofed building in the foreground is the hotel? They seem to be shamelessly copying the Hotel del Coronado. It's fine to take inspiration from such an amazing architectural gem, but please just give credit where credit's due.

By the way, to further elaborate on my comment, I recently heard a news report about how office capacity in the U.S. is low, but high (back at pre-pandemic norms) in Europe. The conclusions for why this is the case boiled down to differences in urban density/public transportation and unemployment rate. In Europe, most people live close to their jobs and/or have good access from home to office due superior public transportation, versus the U.S. where so many people live in far-flung suburbs and commutes can be a nightmare. So in the U.S., for this reason, there is a far greater desire to work from home. The other factor, unemployment rate: it's waaay higher in Europe. So workers don't have any leverage in negotiating perks such as working from home. But in the U.S., with an historically-low unemployment rate, workers have all that leverage.

Office development is going to remain low for at least as long as the unemployment rate is low. Right now the unemployment rate is the lowest it's been in 50 years. With the unemployment rate so low, prospective employees have the upper hand in the job market, with employers having to offer perks in order to lure them, which clearly includes offering office/work-from-home hybrid work models. Office buildings remain half empty throughout the country and will remain that way so long as workers have the power to demand where they do their job.

If I can't be in Charlotte, it's nice when Charlotte comes to me. Last night, some folks who are part of the administration or alumni committee for UNC Charlotte, and are in California for some sort of convention, came to San Diego and gathered local UNCC alunni together at one of the best restaurants in town. (Now they're up in L.A. doing the same with alums up there.) Seated on my right was a gentleman who lives in Dilworth, on my left a couple from Kannapolis, and in front of me a couple who live here in San Diego. There were about 30 folks altogether, abiut half of whom live here now. The idea is to start up a UNCC alumni chapter in San Diego. I enjoyed chatting with folks about things happenings in Charlotte.

That's exactly it! Those old warehouses and industrial buildings have a certain look and feel that gave South End its cool vibe and charm. And new buildings like the Rail Yard and Lowes have at least tried to mimic that look and feel. But this building screams profit over respect for the neighborhood and for maintaining its charm. Watch this video and you'll see where I'm coming from.