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Amazon: The Thread | 5,000 Jobs | 1M SQFT in Nashville Yards


ZestyEd

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27 minutes ago, Armacing said:

So where do the new Amazon employees fall on that spectrum?

They work for a disruptive company that is quite successful. That company has benefited from tax breaks because of its large size, they are far from the only company to do so. Your point is falling on deaf ears. Those Amazon employees would be working for someone else if not Amazon, because they have a valuable skill set. Your post makes me think you are bitter about their success. Don't be. We can expand the pie, just because someone has a large piece doesn't mean you cannot also have a large piece. 

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2 minutes ago, samsonh said:

That company has benefited from tax breaks because of its large size, they are far from the only company to do so.

Well if the phenomenon is occurring frequently, then we are obligated to accept it as an inescapable fact of modern life, right?  I will let the guys down in the garage know that when they reach the size of Amazon they have some sweet tax breaks coming their way.

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From the Tennessean... https://www.tennessean.com/story/money/2019/01/03/amazon-nashville-yards-offices-building-headquarters/2463034002/

Work on Amazon's new Nashville home could be well underway by this summer. 

Design plans for the tech giant's two towers in the Nashville Yards development were unanimously approved Thursday by the Metro Planning Department's five-member Downtown Code Design Review Committee. 

Not sure how many of these renderings have NOT appeared on this forum, but here are a couple FYI: 

574ba36b-a451-4e68-ad1b-6afcb470b993-2towers.PNG?width=540%26height=%26fit=bounds%26auto=webp&key=bbc47127bd7572cc8767586e2602898237fa639b54230797590c853d6a637417

 

1654a09a-e961-469a-bd67-957b7aa9ce9b-upper10th2.PNG?width=540%26height=%26fit=bounds%26auto=webp&key=d467bf81e7796bdc0a6bebc42a704e130a88ff0097d3d6e7a929fcd6da21972f



So these renderings both look to me as if they reflect a reworking of the Church St viaduct to add bike lanes. I don’t think the width is there currently to add those, right? They would need to widen it?
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Native Holly Sullivan chosen as NBJ's Newsmaker of the Year for her work in bringing Amazon'sOperations Center of Excellence to Nashville. 

More about the backstory on all the research, secret meetings, etc. that went into it coming to pass behind the NBJ paywall here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2019/01/03/newsmaker-of-the-year-holly-sullivan-was.html

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On ‎2019‎-‎01‎-‎04 at 9:27 PM, AUNash said:

So these renderings both look to me as if they reflect a reworking of the Church St viaduct to add bike lanes. I don’t think the width is there currently to add those, right? They would need to widen it?

 

The Church Street viaduct already has buffered bike lanes, it just doesn't have a stupid two-way path as shown in the rendering. I wouldn't read too much into the roadway changes, they probably just used stock renderings for items other than the buildings themselves.

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49 minutes ago, AronG said:

Why stupid? I think the renderings look great and the two-way green path (esp. if they add some posts) would be a huge improvement and wouldn't require any more street width. What we have right now feels like a death trap to bike/scoot on, and 99% of people that were interested in getting across there would use the sidewalk instead. Why not provide an actual decent alternative? By all accounts it's certainly something that Amazon is interested in, and we have a large and growing base of people navigating around on scooters. I'd be surprised and disappointed if it doesn't get some kind of improvement as part of this project.

Totally agreed.  In my opinion what is stupid is making half assed bike lines that really do nothing to improve the safety of bikers.  What's the point of painting a bicycle on an existing shoulder and leaving it at that?  If you aren't going to do anything to encourage bikers use those lanes or ensure their safety then you might as well not do it at all.  

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Just now, AronG said:

Why stupid?

The issues in this case specifically:

  • Bikers traveling in either one direction or the other must cross Church Street twice to use the two-way path (at the beginning and end). There's not an easy way to facilitate this other than at a signalized intersection which would likely require a dismount each time.
  • A two-way path (specifically one with any sort of barrier) prevents bikers from switching back and forth between the bike lane and the general-purpose lane. This generally isn't a desirable behavior, especially around buffered bike lanes, but becomes necessary to avoid obstacles alongside the curb in the viaduct (e.g., debris, stormwater spread, or the inlets themselves). Protecting the bike lanes even with flexible delineators makes it harder to sweep them as well.

The issue with two-way paths in general is the violation of user expectation. If you have driveways or side roads on the side with the path then drivers have to check both directions before entering or exiting. This isn't easy, particularly for drivers entering the driveway or side road from the direction without the two-way path, as bikers traveling in the same direction are in the vehicle's blind spot. Same thing for bikers turning left or right from the path across the road, you're not only looking for oncoming traffic (bikes and cars) but traffic behind you is offset across the road. Of course this all assumes that drivers especially know to look for bikes traveling in both directions, which is not a given by a long shot, and signing/marking standards for two-way paths aren't that intuitive.

The Church Street viaduct would be a good candidate for the on-sidewalk shared-use paths seen on Division, 11th Avenue, 28th/31st connector, etc. These are generally starting to look like the better option now that the kids these days are running around with their scooters and whatnot. Of course that would necessitate a change to the curb lines and the bridge is in poor enough shape that it can't be too far from a replacement.

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28 minutes ago, PruneTracy said:

 that it can't be too far from a replacement.

I've wondered when this will happen, as well.   The replacement will certainly snarl traffic  but the Demonbreun viaduct replacement proved to be a huge catalyst for growth on Demonbreun. 

 https://www.tennessean.com/story/money/2015/12/18/evolution-demonbreun-street/77120350/

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12 hours ago, BnaBreaker said:

Totally agreed.  In my opinion what is stupid is making half assed bike lines that really do nothing to improve the safety of bikers.  What's the point of painting a bicycle on an existing shoulder and leaving it at that?  If you aren't going to do anything to encourage bikers use those lanes or ensure their safety then you might as well not do it at all.  

I think the point of it is so that the city can brag about being bicycle- and eco-friendly with thus many bike lane miles without actually having to do anything other than getting Public Works to slap some paint on the side of the road. 

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25 minutes ago, AronG said:

we have the demand and are ready for a few key bike/scooter routes that are designed for actual, comfortable, mainstream use, not as afterthoughts for the 1% of spandex-wearing enthusiasts who are interested in risking their a** shooting in and out of car traffic to dodge storm drains

I am curious how you quantify the demand to claim we are 'ready'? Not arguing, but are there non-biased metrics available to draw such a conclusion?

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On ‎1‎/‎14‎/‎2019 at 2:01 PM, AronG said:

the 1% of spandex-wearing enthusiasts who are interested in risking their a** shooting in and out of car traffic to dodge storm drains.

Why dodge the storm drains?  You should take them head-on.  You are a biker, gosh darn it!  The road should fear you, not the other way around!!

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