Here we grow again.

[SmellyCat]

I should have said that Japan has the highest suicide rate in the industrialized world. This article says according to the W.H.O., Japan has 24.1 per 100,000 people.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200502/s1296755.htm

[ilektronik]

I should have said that Japan has the highest suicide rate in the industrialized world.  This article says according to the W.H.O., Japan has 24.1 per 100,000 people. 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200502/s1296755.htm

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Since when is Russia not part of the industrialized world?

[sonofaque86]

So in about 20 years will Charlotte have anymore room to grow in Mecklenburg County? The city gonna run out of room sometime.

[peaceloveunderstanding]

there will still be room for infill and the area will become denser.

[dubone]

So in about 20 years will Charlotte have anymore room to grow in Mecklenburg County? The city gonna run out of room sometime.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

"room" is not the problem... compare charlotte's land area to new york city's, and it is clear that there is enough land area for charlotte to grow exponentially.

... the problem is infrastructure. Charlotte will need to continue to expand infrastructure to support increased densities. This will become more and more difficult, in terms of money, space, and politics. it is no longer a matter of greenfield allocation. hard choices will need to be made regarding conversion of lower density buildings to park, transit, widened streets, schools, etc.

Transit will be the primary tool for supporting higher densities, and that strategy is already in motion. The question will be whether the "kinds" of people that make for a stable and healthy city, economically, will remain in the city as it becomes more dense. if middle class people with families start avoiding mecklenburg in favor of surrounding counties, then the increased density might prove to be catastrophic, as it will be costlier to police and school the population without benefit of the higher tax revenue (this is a common problem in city cores). However, if charlotte is able to strategically locate its density on the transit spurs, but maintain a healthy suburban lifestyle in the wedges, it might succeed in keeping existing demographics, while also continuing to grow in a denser pattern.

Politics, however, will definitely need to switch away from people who have no imagination for big city needs.

[citywide_clt]

I have always thought of US cities falling into two categories: Vertical Cities and Horizontal Cities.

Vertical cities would include NYC, Chicago, Philly, Boston, etc. While horizontal cities would include LA, Charlotte, Atlanta, etc.

Of course, it goes without saying that the reason these cities were destined to be either vertical or horizontal is due to early transportation models. The automobile was the "next best thing" during expansion of the horizontal cities, so it would make sense that these cities would be sprawling entities with freeways reaching to the outer most regions of their spheres of influence.

It seems that those of us who frequent these forums would like to see our horizontal cities become more vertical in nature simply because we want all of our amenities and entertainment venues compressed into a smaller area. This would mean that our visitors would see all our city had to offer in one space, a type of "optical illusion" that would make our city seem bigger. In addition, we have seen the failures of adding more roads to solve problems with commute times. In the back of our minds, we dread the though of turning into the largest of these horizontal cities.

Los Angeles- the largest horizontal city. Our city is a near spitting image of Los Angeles County, with a smaller urban core and sprawl. Notice that no one refers to LA's downtown as exciting and a true destination, since it is filled with mostly office and business space. Most of Los Angeles' offerings fall outside of the CBD. However, on the other hand, no one actually WANTS to become a Los Angeles- a traffic nightmare, a behemoth of a county.

My fear is that with the land-grab policies of Mecklenburg, we will be no better off than our west coast sister-city. Though conservative myself, I disagree with the notion that more roads will solve our problem versus mass transit. During Robert Moses' reign in NYC, he added numerous arterial highways to the city, cutting swaths through entire communities, destroying many a peaceful neighborhood. Now NYC's highways resemble a parking lot. My adage has always been, build more roads and more cars will fill them. It is a vicious cycle- a beast that is perpetually hungry, craving more highways to satisfy its appetite. The larger it gets, the hungrier it becomes.

We have seen the failures of our urban designers during the 50's and 60's and desperately want to correct their mistakes. We have a more than adequate amount of land space; let's hope it doesn't siphon more resources from our CBD. One might ask how prosperous our downtown would be if it consistently remained the size of, let's say, Boston. Though I surmise that feelings of guilt and the desire of the south to redefine itself post-war lead to wanton destruction of it's history.

[Fruit Cove]

Jacksonville annexed all of duval county. im sure charlotte could do the same with mecklenburg.

[Raintree21]

Until a fire, city was unwelcome

The huge fire in Mallard Creek the other day had brought second thoughts about opposing annexation by the city. Not being in the city means not getting the city's services, or having a delay in receiving them in this case.