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The Transportation and Mass Transit Megathread


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We ended up staying and choosing private school...it was the correct decision, but we sacrificed family vacations and news cars for years....in fact we had only 1 car under a couple of years ago when my oldest received his DL... It goes without saying Davidson County loses many due to incredibly poor performance of Metro schools.

25 minutes ago, Pdt2f said:

I know people who were happy as larks living in places like east Nashville and west end, but when they had kids they moved to Franklin so fast it made my head spin. I would personally love to stay in Nashville long-term but I’m also not going to be sending my kids to Davidson county schools so if the finances aren’t right when my kids are school-age we’ll probably be late for Sumner or Wilson county. 

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My mom is a school teacher and has been for 20+ years. She says without fail, if the parents preach education as important at home, then the kid will. 

Now if the school underperforms there might not be AP classes and things like that. But there are plenty of non-school extracurricular activities that can boost college admission resumes. 

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2 hours ago, nashville_bound said:

I do not when you grew up, but I am curious, how did your friends' plans workout? Did they indeed move to Nashville (or another city) and send their kids to public schools?

When our kids reached school age, our choices were few and all carried risks. Move to Will Co. for schools and sports, continue to live downtown and pay for private schools, send the boys to the most und performing school zone in the county and go into the lottery.

 

 

Many of my friends went to Williamson or Davidson schools, as well as some of the more well known private schools. I went to both private and Williamson. Private school in this city is vastly overrated unless sports are your thing. I am young enough that the only people with school age kids are those that married the first girl they met in college and they send their kids to religious affiliated schools. 

 

I have friends that work in metro and Williamson schools and understand there are challenges for both. If my kids can’t make it through those basic challenges they are going to really struggle in life. And that would be on me as a parent.

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Paul,  it is great your mother is  a Metro teacher.  My MIL taught in Metro schools from late 70's until 2014 when she retired. She had five children and they were either in Magnet schools or private schools during k-12. In fact, she said almost all of her Metro teacher friends did the same with their kids.  That is not to say a student can not prosper in Metro schools, only that statistically the path is far from smooth. Parental involvement is a critical factor for success, but even with that the son/daughter is away from the parent(s) and enmeshed in a less that stellar environment for 10-12 hours/day....hard to overcome such influences, but not impossible.

 

48 minutes ago, PaulChinetti said:

My mom is a school teacher and has been for 20+ years. She says without fail, if the parents preach education as important at home, then the kid will. 

Now if the school underperforms there might not be AP classes and things like that. But there are plenty of non-school extracurricular activities that can boost college admission resumes. 

Like everything else, there are Great/Good/Fair/Poor Private Schools in Davidson Co.  Many of the religious schools are unchallenging academically, but then their primary mission is not academic but spiritual development.  I agree challenges are incredibly formative as children develop. Of course, there are good/healthy challenges (academic, athletic, social, healthy competition) and bad/unhealthy challenges (violence, drugs, gangs). I think most parents do their best to select eductional options which emphasize the former and deemphasize the latter. 

12 minutes ago, samsonh said:

Private school in this city is vastly overrated unless sports are your thing. I am young enough that the only people with school age kids are those that married the first girl they met in college and they send their kids to religious affiliated schools. 

 

I have friends that work in metro and Williamson schools and understand there are challenges for both. If my kids can’t make it through those basic challenges they are going to really struggle in life. And that would be on me as a parent.

 

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18 hours ago, nashville_bound said:

We ended up staying and choosing private school...it was the correct decision, but we sacrificed family vacations and news cars for years....in fact we had only 1 car under a couple of years ago when my oldest received his DL... It goes without saying Davidson County loses many due to incredibly poor performance of Metro schools.

Similar experience here; my parents considered a move to Davidson Co. in 2000, but backed out for Williamson. If you want your kid to get a decent education in Davidson, it's wise to invest in the private schools. I'm not informed of what it would cost to send a child to FRA, USN, MBA, St. Cecilia's (etc.), but I imagine it was enough to defer my parents' decision. They settled in Williamson Co. instead.

 

And so I became a spoonfed Millennial knucklehead who grew up in a "Brentwood box" :lol:

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On 8/19/2018 at 4:22 PM, Dale said:

At least the heat is off Millennials. It's the light-rail fetishists concocting the narrative of having to placate Millennials because they don't like cars or Olive Garden.

Since we're already off-track here, you're right about our disdain for Olive Garden. A lot of the classic sit-ins aren't performing too well because many people realize they can cook better meals at home at a lower price. 

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/These-big-restaurant-chains-are-expected-to-close-11824802.php

And it's not just Olive Garden, as you probably knew already. All of these places must recognize a paradigm shift during the next two decades. Once the pre-1960 generation passes on, many drive-to and sit-in restaurants won't have a footing in American culture. It's hard to imagine the contiguous U.S. void of so many towering IHOP, Denny's, and Applebee's signs as you drive across the country on a major interstate, but that will be reality by 2040. 

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Nothing new here.  Millennials will influence the growth & demise of certain travel options...businesses...industries...just like the Boomers & Gen Xers have done.  However...there will be the group right behind the Millennials (who I believe are just now graduating high school) that will soon start influencing trends...and Millennials will also soon start gnashing their teeth over the perceived failures by that generation.  Believe me...as a Gen Xer...I've heard it all before.  Nothing new. 

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12 minutes ago, titanhog said:

Nothing new here.  Millennials will influence the growth & demise of certain travel options...businesses...industries...just like the Boomers & Gen Xers have done.  However...there will be the group right behind the Millennials (who I believe are just now graduating high school) that will soon start influencing trends...and Millennials will also soon start gnashing their teeth over the perceived failures by that generation.  Believe me...as a Gen Xer...I've heard it all before.  Nothing new. 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-20/gen-z-to-outnumber-millennials-within-a-year-demographic-trends

Yep. Nothing new.

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It will be interesting to see the next generation's take on transportation.

Saw this the other day, obviously this person's take is on city living and is anecdotal. Still Ford is taking notice and that's their job to sell cars.

https://www.npr.org/2017/12/08/568362029/generation-z-may-not-want-to-own-cars-can-automakers-woo-them-in-other-ways

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The article is spot on ...at least with my observations. It is when generations start to wed and produce children the need for cars will become evident.

 

3 hours ago, PaulChinetti said:

It will be interesting to see the next generation's take on transportation.

Saw this the other day, obviously this person's take is on city living and is anecdotal. Still Ford is taking notice and that's their job to sell cars.

https://www.npr.org/2017/12/08/568362029/generation-z-may-not-want-to-own-cars-can-automakers-woo-them-in-other-ways

 

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Actually I was in favor of the vote. It limits MDHA from giving tax dollars to able developers. Frankly this is an overreach of their power IMO. Nothing would stop developers from doing development in this area, just not setting up and collecting special taxes set aside for these developments. I think most of you know how I feel about MDHA, but if not here is my take. MDHA should only be involved in housing only and have nothing to do with design, development districts or TIF or anything else that detracts from its mission of managing the affordable housing in Nashville. Cayce homes is fine, that is what they are there for, but to set forth design guidelines for the 222 building or The Joseph hotel is just stupid. There are other committees that are around for this including the downtown design review committee. All you have to do is expand the areas the are in charge of reviewing. 

At times a developer in the downtown area inside a MDHA district has to go in front of the MDHA board, then the DTC committee, then planning. In other areas of town its just planning.

IMO, its just Metro red tape that needs to be cut. You make your boundary, state your guidelines, get rid of the height restrictions in a larger area, and you let Metro Planning take care of the rest. There are people on the MDHA board that are clueless about design and function and these people should be professionals if the board is to continue.

With the budget concerns right now in Nashville, it would take away form the general tax fund and put it into this area only.

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TDOT to improve I-24 Murfreesboro to Nashville commute. From Public radio WMOT in Murfreesboro....

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There’s some small relief on the horizon for the 115,000 plus motorists struggling to get from Murfreesboro to Nashville and back again each day along I-24.The  Tennessee Department of Transportation is gearing up to make a number of improvements to that overworked traffic corridor that should offer at least some improvement.

TDOT says the changes will not include widening the interstate. They say doing so just isn’t cost effective. Spokesperson B.J. Doughty says more modest improvements are being considered at about 15 locations along the 30 mile corridor.

"There will be some on and off ramp extensions. There’s going to be a heavy ITS component. That’s intelligent transportation system. That’s the cameras, the overhead signs and we’ll just be taking that to the next level.”

In addition, TDOT is in talks with Murfreesboro, Smyrna and LaVergne about making improvements along Murfreesboro Pike to make that route a more attractive alternative to I-24.

This sounds suspiciously like a light form of the Integrated Corridor Management plan a brilliant TDOT ITS (Intelligent Transportation System) Manager added to the ITS budget some years ago.

It sounds like it will also include active improvementsf the US 41/Murfreesboro Road highway to make it an efficient alternative to I-24.

I drove to Murfreesboro during rush hour on US 41 just for fun a month or so ago and it is a (insert adjective) mess. There is no semblance of coordination. I hope this project will provide coordinated signals in addition to variable message signage on the highway and connectors. I'm really glad to see this come about.

Now if they would only add the BRT on I-24.

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Good thread, with lots of articles on how far cars these cars have to go and some good examples. 

Considering the amount of infrastructure spending this country is behind on, it's going to be even harder for AVs to drive around.

Just think of the most annoying turn/crossing you have to get through on a daily basis then imagine a self driving car trying to figure it out.

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31 minutes ago, PaulChinetti said:

Good thread, with lots of articles on how far cars these cars have to go and some good examples. 

Considering the amount of infrastructure spending this country is behind on, it's going to be even harder for AVs to drive around.

Just think of the most annoying turn/crossing you have to get through on a daily basis then imagine a self driving car trying to figure it out.

But I was told they would be here within 6-8 months. 

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55 minutes ago, markhollin said:

Lime, a San Fran-based dockless scoter and bicycle endeavor, will debut in Nashville today.  They have gotten the jump on Bird, which hopes to re-introduce themselves in the coming weeks.  Hee's hoping the new Metro ordinances help keep things from getting too sloppy.

More at NBJ here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2018/08/31/lime-launches-dockless-scooters-bikes-in-nashville.html

Just walked by 4 of them in front of Icon.  Let the fun begin!

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Was chatting with a friend on a downtown sidewalk yesterday evening before LOTG and we noticed a guy on a scooter zipping up and down the sidewalks along 5th, along Union, Deaderick, etc.     It wasn't a lime, looked like a bird or could have been his personal scooter.      Point is, I thought the new ordinance restricts riding them on sidewalks in "commercial districts".     I just can't see how that is ever going to be enforced.      

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