Learning from Other Places

[KJHburg]

Reading some volcano coverage and came across some videos about the construction of HART Honolulu Authority for  Rapid Transit

They are making great progress.  Mostly all elevated light rail line from west O'ahu to central Honolulu around the Ala Moana Center, the biggest shopping mall in the Pacific.   The only fly in the ointment is my book is that does not go to Waikiki close but still a couple of blocks away.  It does connect the airport the new suburbs out west, downtown and the busiest shopping area in the state.     https://www.youtube.com/user/honoluluonthemove

Most recent video was done in April.  I can't wait to go back and ride.    Lesson for CLT we need to connect to CLT airport not to mention 7-8K people work there. 

E holo kāua! 

http://www.honolulutransit.org/ride/route-map

[southslider]

^Just run a circulator loop around WaiKiki to/from Ala Moana

 

[cjd5050]

On 5/16/2018 at 9:55 PM, KJHburg said:

Lesson for CLT we need to connect to CLT airport not to mention 7-8K people work there. 

1

If I were calling the shots I would connect to CLT before the Silver to Matthews.  The primary reason is that this line has the best opportunity to TOD along Wilkinson.  I think this is more important and beneficial than connecting passengers and workers.  That's just gravy to me.  

 

 

[asthasr]

I agree with that, @cjd5050. In keeping with the theme of the thread, I think you can see an example of prioritizing TOD over connecting commuters in the NoVA area, where Arlington has already been converted into a pretty high-density second city for the DC metro and Tyson's Corner is beginning to show signs of life around its stations. There are still nits to pick--particularly in Tysons--but the extension of Metro out to that point has really made a big difference. It's gotten to the point now that Arlington actually has one of my favorite skylines in the country, purely because of its density around its metro stations; if you haven't been there, I recommend driving from DC into Arlington via the Roosevelt bridge at night.

From the air, you can easily see how the TOD clusters around the Metro stations. I think the Wilkinson corridor could easily be similar.

[asthasr]

I found this really interesting: The World Bank "Sustainable Cities" project is using bike share data to refine TOD standards. This is important because a lot of TOD theorizing is just that: theorizing. The new dockless bike shares are giving a lot more data on how people use urban space. I was also surprised to see separated bike lanes mentioned; I don't know that much about mainland China, but the requisite traffic enforcement is not present in Southeast Asia, and I'd sort of assumed it would be similar. 

[KJHburg]

Rickshaws proposed in downtown Asheville. Interesting proposal and with those hilly streets.  http://ashvegas.com/ashvegas-hot-sheet-rickshaws-proposed-downtown-asheville

I can only think of the Seinfeld episode where Kramer and Newman proposed this. 

[asthasr]

A friend mentioned this movie to me, and I find it interesting, although it's probably dry unless you care about urban design (nobody like that on UP, right?): The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces

[asthasr]

I think it would be cool if we could get lights like this, rather than just the color-changing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnwKo0LWO5s

 

Edited May 28, 2018 by asthasr

[KJHburg]

What can Charlotte learned from an old squared up city like Savannah?  A couple things beyond the obvious historical preservation.  Design for one thing.  Small parks like the Savannah squares make the city very livable and inviting not all parks need to be huge especially in the urban areas where land is a premium.  

My photos got out of order somehow: Photo 2 brand new Embassy Suites Hotel look at the design compared to ours!   Photo 1 this house was falling in when this law firm restored it great restoration.   Photos 3/4 show downtown Savannah retail along Broughton St.  if Savannah can have a downtown Victoria Secret and Michael Kors there is no reason Charlotte can't with our 100,000 office workers plus hotel visitors and residents. (plus they have a Gap, Urban Outfitters, Banana Republic, and many more)   Photo 5 something from everyone including a McDonalds with walk up window and yes I stopped by a Tea as it was very humid.  Photo 6 a new Starwood hotel again great design. 

Now of course Savannah has the largest historic district in US but their design guidelines and controls make even the new fit right on it. 

 

Edited June 1, 2018 by KJHburg

[asthasr]

Here's an article from Singapore that, frankly, could be written about Charlotte: "If this is Home, Truly it Should Look like Home," from the Straits Times. Granted, the architectural heritage isn't the same as our architectural heritage, but the issue is essentially the same: disregard for the past and its sacrifice on the altar of development.

[QCxpat]

  Just published May 8, 2018:   Our Towns, by James and Deborah Fallows, Pantheon Books, NYC, 2018.   Over a 4 year period (2013-2017), the Fallows took their small airplane to approx. 30 heartland cities, including Greenville, S.C.

Excerpts from the chapter on Greenville, SC:

"Every city has a cliche anecdote or slogan.  After a few days in Greenville, South Carolina, we thought of its characteristic phrase as 'Greenville?  Are you kidding?'"  ...  "people think we're hicks, but we know we've developed something great -- evident in a series of specific achievements."  

• Walkable Downtown.  "As mayor starting in 1971, he (Mayor Max Heller) led the effort to make the downtown more European --  that is, walkable." 
• Minor league Baseball Stadium Downtown.  "Heller's latest successor, Mayor Knox H. White, overcame resistance in locating a baseball stadium for a minor league team downtown, at the site of an eyesore, an abandoned lumberyard a few blocks from city hall.  "Even my wife thought that was crazy -- where would people park?"  White says;
• Ringing the Stadium with Condos.   "...in requiring the stadium developers to build adjoining condos as part of the project ("I told them, 'This is how we do things' -- and the condos sold like hotcakes!");
• 17 Mile Greenway.   "...in working with the county to develop the Swamp Rabbit walking-and-biking trail, which now extends for 17 miles;" and
• Falls Park ringed by Clubs, Restaurants & Housing.  "...most of all, in removing the concrete highway bridge that since the 1960s had blocked off the Reedy River waterfalls from the city that had grown up around them.  Now Falls Park is the featured attraction of downtown, with the falls area ringed by clubs and restaurants and surmounted by an elegant 345-foot-long suspension bridge for pedestrians, the Liberty Bridge, conceived of by the same firm that designed Boston's Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge."

Link;  https://harvardmagazine.com/2018/05/our-towns-fallows -- Harvard Magazine, "Our Towns, James and Deborah Fallows explore "what the hell is happening in America," May-June, 2018.

 

Link to Photos:  https://www.google.com/search?q=Greenville+Falls+Park+image&oq=Greenville+Falls+Park+image&aqs=chrome..69i57.4974j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

[QCxpat]

Here's an interesting story concerning the integration of public-private transport in today's Financial Times.

"Pioneer: Helsinki has led the way in 'Mobility as a Service' (Maas) integrated transport."  Image @Getty.  

Excerpt;

Dave Roat, strategy manager of transport tech company Cubic (at Farringdon Station, London), asks:  "How can we as consumers of public transport consume it much the same way we consume things like Netflix?"  "He means transport on demand, driven by technology, with one payment for all strands -- otherwise known as Mobility as a Service (Maas).  This integrates public and private transport into one function, so whereas a journey planner might now suggest you take a bus then the metro or hire an Uber driver for the whole trip, MaaS could say it makes most sense to take an Uber to the nearest train station.  Crucially, you pay for the whole journey through the app or website, rather than for each leg, and payments are distributed among operators."

Link:  https://www.ft.com/content/00b5ac50-4a41-11e8-8c77-ff51caedcde6  --  "Smart travel crosses the public-private divide. Technology enables seamless journeys but threatens investment," by Josh Spero,  Financial Times, June 6, 2018.

[KJHburg]

What can Charlotte learn from Durham, the Bull City right up I-85?  A few things.  Was up there today.  Photos 1/2 the new 26 story mixed use tower One City Center office on lower and residential apartments and condos at top.  Look how they saved the facades and made this the new tallest in downtown Durham not overwhelm the narrow downtown streets.  3. new 555 Magnum office building and adjacent 12 story apartment tower going up.   No photos I will have to resize them later.. several pocket parks downtown and we need more of these little parks in uptown Charlotte.     5. Durham Bulls ballpark    Have a lot more photos on Triangle UP for those interested 

PS If you have not been to Durham you need to make the trip.  Very vibrant downtown with new constructions, lots of independent shops and restaurants,  great ballpark, great historic renovations etc.  Easy day trip from the QC!  Be sure to check out American Tobacco District mix of offices retail residential in old cigarette factories.  

Edited June 8, 2018 by KJHburg

[asthasr]

@KJHburg The one thing I don't like about Durham's downtown is that they still haven't gotten rid of the one-way race track that rings the center. People fly on those two-lane one-ways. It's a menace to pedestrians.

[KJHburg]

^^^ Yes it is still there but the heart of downtown on Main St is a narrow 2 lane street.  I did not think the connectivity to the American Tobacco Campus was good at all.  There were some missing sidewalks and the RR tracks really seem to divide the new downtown from the old one.   I think some better crossings would be better. 

If after 100 plus years headquartered in San Francisco Bechtel can move out so can the stagecoach bank Wells Fargo for Charlotte.   Come east Wells!   Bechtel is moving to DC suburb of Reston. 

https://www.connect.media/bechtel-relocating-hq-to-washington-dc-after-100-years-in-california/?utm_source=mlNational&utm_campaign=mlNational-2018-06-08_15:31-Bechtel_Relocating_HQ_to_DC_Area_After_100_Years_in_California&utm_medium=email&utm_term=united-states top-na lease office&utm_content=Bechtel_Relocating_HQ_to_DC_Area_After_100_Years_in_California&pid=ece4ef0e-7c87-4bfe-bfbb-bca494433d09

[Vitamin_N]

I've seen some complaints on UP about how our non-buried power lines detract from Charlotte's aesthetics. Maybe these photos will make you feel a little better?

Edited June 12, 2018 by Vitamin_N

[tozmervo]

14 hours ago, Vitamin_N said:

I've seen some complaints on UP about how our non-buried power lines detract from Charlotte's aesthetics. Maybe these photos will make you feel a little better?

Kyoto. 2008.

 

[elrodvt]

13 minutes ago, tozmervo said:

Kyoto. 2008.

 

Nice picture. I worked in Nagasaki off and on for years. Their entertainment district looks even crazier. I always thought it looked so at odds to their obsession with safety in most aspects of life. BTW, I had some kinda weird raw bird brain thing during fear factor yakitori with a local friend. I asked what kind of bird it was an he pointed at some sparrow looking thing on those wires.

[KJHburg]

KJ in Raleigh really?  Yes it is true I was  passing through today stopped in downtown to look around.  a few things Charlotte can learn from the capital city.

1. historical facade saves at the new 18 story Dillon mixed used tower  2. Dillon has good architecture too with a sky lobby and 9th floor outside patio

3. Union Station new Amtrak station with retail space and office space above.    4/5/6/7 more photos of the facade save.   This building fits in well into this the warehouse a district which is adjacent to main part of downtown.  

I used to be in the hate Raleigh camp but over the years and more visits not only has that disappeared I like Raleigh better than a lot of cities including the current It city Nashville.  Honestly it is well planned out, lots of trees, a park and greenway  system that is years ahead of Charlotte and a really nice city. No wonder it is one of the fastest growing cities and Charlotte is still my favorite but you will see me defending and promoting Raleigh now as well. 

Edited June 14, 2018 by KJHburg

[rancenc]

Goes to show even in left leaning bastions like Seattle, economic reality trumps social activism!!

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/seattle-head-tax-amazon-starbucks-repeal-today-2018-06-12/

[KJHburg]

Lesson for other NC towns and cities; art can be an attraction and a rallying point for the community like this new park in Wilson. 

Little economically challenged Wilson is using local artist works to help its downtown.   The Whirligig park in downtown Wilson is attracting some new businesses a new brewery and a huge warehouse renovation.  From what I saw and the events it has become a new gathering place with concerts, farmers market etc for Wilson.  Check it out if you down east.  

[QCxpat]

From The New York Times, "How The Koch Brothers Are Killing Public Transit Projects Around the Country," by Hiroko Tabuchi, June 19, 2018.

Explains recent defeat of Nashville's proposed $5.4 Billion Transit Plan.   The Nashville plan would have been funded by raising sales and business taxes.   

Photo CreditWilliam DeShazer for The New York Times

Link to NY Times story:    https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/19/climate/koch-brothers-public-transit.html

[elrodvt]

I read that last night too. Those dudes are akin to the evil billionaires in comics. It makes me wonder, where were the guys who are supposedly fighting for the other side on this one? Is it that much easier to run negative campaigns against all government spending (transit, education) as Koch's have done than to build something?

[deleted]

33 minutes ago, elrodvt said:

I read that last night too. Those dudes are akin to the evil billionaires in comics. It makes me wonder, where were the guys who are supposedly fighting for the other side on this one? Is it that much easier to run negative campaigns against all government spending (transit, education) as Koch's have done than to build something?

Koch's do some good also:

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/19/a-koch-backed-group-and-other-business-leaders-are-calling-on-trump-to-end-policy-on-family-separation.html

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/20/koch-brothers-unveil-first-ads-from-campaign-against-trumps-tariffs.html

https://www.npr.org/2018/05/17/611798012/breaking-with-trumps-gop-koch-brothers-praise-democrats-on-immigration

They didn't support him during the election either.

There's also this:

http://time.com/5123969/koch-brothers-criminal-justice-reform/

They give a ton of money to PBS also.

They are libertarians (small l) and put their money in those areas.  They are no more evil than George Soros (though I disagree with both on 90%+ of issues).  Opposing transit is a reasonable position for a libertarian to take...

 

[elrodvt]

Anti-education is the killer for me moving them into the evil villain billionaire column. I know they claim only to try to be improving education for all but charters and school choice in the end seem to be driving more segregation than anything. I know many you will disagree and there is no consensus in academia. 

You're right though, it's never as simple as I would wish and I personally appreciate their support of public media since I consume it.

I should have just left that out as I'm really more curious why there was not an equivalent amount of support for the transit issue from folks like Soros.