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Norfolk Light Rail and Transit


urbanvb

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I loved the Philly station, spent some time down there in January when I went to Philly for the day.  Though I will say the coffee tastes like ass in that station so avoid it at all costs.

 

Sorry about the homeless experience, I have lived in a few cities where homelessness in urban areas are just apart of life, at one point or another someone is gonna ask you for change and give you a story.  As a matter of fact, I had a guy give my subway car a story about why he is panhandling.  You get use to it after a while and learn how to tune it out.

 

Yes, I know all about that.  I have been going to NYC since I was a child (my whole family is there) and I lived in the east village (Stuytown) for 3 years up until last year.  I have experienced subway car monologues, subway car mariachi bands, subway car a capella groups, drum groups, guys who were laid off and their wives and kids left them, break dancing gymnast, acrobats, crazy people who smelled, crazy people yell at me for not giving them money, one even yelled something antisemetic at me.  I currently live between DC and Virginia Beach now depending on where my work needs me for long periods of time.  

 

You are right, there will always be problems with the homeless and panhandling.  I can accept that with major cities, especially in the Northeast.  However, downtown Norfolk is a much smaller city, and I think Norfolk can afford a police presence at all transit hubs to prevent those kinds of things.  You can't redevelop blighted areas and try to attract new people when those kinds of things are happening.  It will immediately turn off people who aren't experienced with it.  Heck, I am experienced with it and I still hated what happened in Philly.  In all my years living in NY and DC, it's the first time I felt almost threatened by someone begging for money by starting the conversation "I just got out of prison."  

 

Once Norfolk becomes a well established city like NY, DC, etc, then it can loosen restrictions on the homeless panhandling. Right now it is fighting against a stigma, and those things just add fuel to the fire.

Edited by mistermetaj
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  • 2 weeks later...

I see LRT ridership is climbing...

I think starting off it was around 3k right?

now it seems like its steading upward around 5500^^^

that's good to see and hear.

When they start adding in street level festivals, it should increase tremedously.  They should be using those vacant lots for temporary stagings and let acts perform for free..  Many people would ride in to see that.

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They should be using those vacant lots for temporary stagings and let acts perform for free..  Many people would ride in to see that.

 

If the land is privately owned then the owner must obtain a "Special Exception for Entertainment" before allowing events, live music, etc.  "Entertainment" is defined as anything more than one unamplified musician, so unless a guy is playing his violin alone without an amplifier then city code is being violated.  

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If the land is privately owned then the owner must obtain a "Special Exception for Entertainment" before allowing events, live music, etc.  "Entertainment" is defined as anything more than one unamplified musician, so unless a guy is playing his violin alone without an amplifier then city code is being violated.  

 

Yeah I assume something similar, but I think it would be worth it in my eyes. The council has tunnel vision and they aren't providing people with their vision.

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I see LRT ridership is climbing...

I think starting off it was around 3k right?

now it seems like its steading upward around 5500^^^

that's good to see and hear.

When they start adding in street level festivals, it should increase tremedously.  They should be using those vacant lots for temporary stagings and let acts perform for free..  Many people would ride in to see that.

I quickly parsed the information off the HRT website. It's not 100% accurate b/c it was from a cut paste from PDF to Excel, so there were some issues with formatting, but it's pretty close. Ignore the chart title, it's daily ridership averages per month obviously, so the trend is definately that more people wereusing it for a given month in 2012 than in 2011 (ignoring the august 2011 outlier when it opened).

 

overall daily average is 4927

 

post-3048-0-07140200-1362120330_thumb.jp

Edited by Glassoul
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Despite it's crappy location, plans have been released for the bus transfer station.  http://norfolklive.blogspot.com/2013/04/downtown-bus-transfer-station-plans.html#!/2013/04/downtown-bus-transfer-station-plans.html

 

 

Oh yeah, and Norfolk Live! is on Facebook now so give it a follow...https://www.facebook.com/pages/Norfolk-Live/156226581212034?bookmark_t=page

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Despite it's crappy location, plans have been released for the bus transfer station.  http://norfolklive.blogspot.com/2013/04/downtown-bus-transfer-station-plans.html#!/2013/04/downtown-bus-transfer-station-plans.html

 

 

Oh yeah, and Norfolk Live! is on Facebook now so give it a follow...https://www.facebook.com/pages/Norfolk-Live/156226581212034?bookmark_t=page

This whole thing is a joke...

Harbor park was a better selection. They could have killed two birds with one stone. Got ride of those crap apts that are back their decaying while revitalizing the area. It could have been more than a bus stransfer, but in classic norfolk sub-suburban strive, they made it so...

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It may be the right decision, but it should not have been necessary.  The original plans for the light rail station had the stair and elevator at the proposed location of this new stair/elevator.  NSU fussed about the stair location, even though the previous president had approved it.  They said it would create a security problem.  Norfolk changed the station to place the stairs on the opposite side of Brambleton, even though any fool could see that it would create safety problems for students trying to cross six lanes of traffic.  The changes to the stair, and other changes to the station that Norfolk agreed to just to placate NSU, cost the taxpayers about one million dollars.   Now Norfolk will spend more taxpayer dollars to correct a bad decision that should never have been made.

 

I think Norfolk State should foot the bill for this. 

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I don't disagree Pe, but as a Project Manager if I allow a client to create a dangerous situation, it doesn't absolve me of responsibility. The city and HRT allowed NSU to bully them into making changes that created an unsafe situation, yet did nothing to mitigate the danger. I, my wife, and my kids drive by there every day. Even if you think a j walking student "deserves" what they get, what about the driver of the vehicle? What about occupants of the vehicle? The simple fact is, the city and HRT created a danger and should be responsible for correcting it. As for money? City tax dollers vs. state tax dollers.

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It may be the right decision, but it should not have been necessary.  The original plans for the light rail station had the stair and elevator at the proposed location of this new stair/elevator.  NSU fussed about the stair location, even though the previous president had approved it.  They said it would create a security problem.  Norfolk changed the station to place the stairs on the opposite side of Brambleton, even though any fool could see that it would create safety problems for students trying to cross six lanes of traffic.  The changes to the stair, and other changes to the station that Norfolk agreed to just to placate NSU, cost the taxpayers about one million dollars.   Now Norfolk will spend more taxpayer dollars to correct a bad decision that should never have been made.

 

I think Norfolk State should foot the bill for this. 

I agree with this. Hard to tell people in Va. Beach that light rail isn't a waste of taxpayer dollars when all they have to do is look down the street and see us wasting taxpayer dollars. NSU needs to reimburse the cost of every change that has been made. Anything less will be detrimental towards the goal of extending light rail into Va. Beach. This does not look good.

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Man, someone should have put this up for lottery, I think everyone on this board said that this would happen. I honestly thought it would have been ten years from now and not this early.

What a freaking joke.... Not sure what the heads of NSU were thinking when they rallied against this and saddly we will never know.

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Partly, the new president of NSU wanted to put her mark on the project, and not just inherit the project from her predesessor.  She wanted to establish her credentials that she could stand up to the city.  Bust mostly, it was about money.

 

She was thinking she could shake down HRT and get some concessions, benefits, and money from HRT.  And she was right.  At the time NSU was extorting this money, construction was just starting on the light rail project.  It was cheaper for HRT to pay off NSU than to risk delays in the project, and NSU knew it.  I suspect NSU owns the vacant lot at Brambleton and Park Avenue, where the gas station and car wash used to be.  Whether they develop that site themselves, or sell it to a developer, they can now market it, not as "convenient access to light rail" but "exclusive stair and elevator to light rail".

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Partly, the new president of NSU wanted to put her mark on the project, and not just inherit the project from her predesessor.  She wanted to establish her credentials that she could stand up to the city.  Bust mostly, it was about money.

 

She was thinking she could shake down HRT and get some concessions, benefits, and money from HRT.  And she was right.  At the time NSU was extorting this money, construction was just starting on the light rail project.  It was cheaper for HRT to pay off NSU than to risk delays in the project, and NSU knew it.  I suspect NSU owns the vacant lot at Brambleton and Park Avenue, where the gas station and car wash used to be.  Whether they develop that site themselves, or sell it to a developer, they can now market it, not as "convenient access to light rail" but "exclusive stair and elevator to light rail".

I thought that lot was supposed to be for phase 2 of the "NSU Rise Center" which was supposed to have been built years ago. I might be mistaken though. It would be nice to see perhaps a highrise apartment tower for students in that location, kinda like they have for VCU up in Richmond.

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