Will Duke Energy play a large role in Charlotte now?

[dubone]

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/business/14238603.htm

I don't think it is a secret that Paul Anderson has not been very involved or supportive of this city. Duke and Crescent have so much potential to change this city for the better, but they have taken a backseat and often been noticeably absent from many activities to invest and improve this city. I'm not saying that they don't do anything during Anderson's time, but it is certainly much less than they could have. Especially that is the case with Crescent, who is investing a huge amount of money in Tampa. Other than "C", Crescent has been completely absent from urban development in its home city.

As Jim Rogers will be new to the city, and will be living downtown at first, we have a chance for a new start, and possibly more confidence in the city. It also sounds like he likes to take a booster role in the city:

I want to be very active and involved in supporting the arts and the whole Charlotte community. I want to make sure we get all our people involved. It's very important to have our people involved in every significant organization in Charlotte, as I suspect we are today.

I chaired the United Way here (in Cincinnati) back in '97. I have a long history of chairing capital campaigns. I think that it's important to use your time to reinvest in the community, creating a great place that allows you to attract talent.

[monsoon]

Crescent has build a number of neighborhoods in the area that can be described as nothing more than some of the worst type sprawl in the country. And what they have done to Lake Norman with jamming houses on every piece of shore line is disgraceful. They could have managed the Lake much better than they have, but instead raped it for pure profit.

[dubone]

And this is the type of attitude I hope changes. They act like they are not a local company, and have any long term commitment to this region.

There are even rumors that some leaders at Duke/Crescent didn't even want to orient the "C" project toward the rail line and the LRT station next to their project.

Raising 4 million for arts is nice and all, but if you core business activities are counter to the improving the quality of the city as a whole, it is all for naught.

Over its lifespan, Duke obviously has helped this city tremendously, but more recently, they seem to act like this place isn't important to them.

[monsoon]

They even cut down the tree with the rope swing in Rope Swing Cove.

You can see photos of the rope swing here. It used to be a lot of fun to go to that swing.

[Miesian Corners]

I don't really have much respect for Duke or Crescent. Duke of late has done very little for Charlotte. Crescent is building a new skyline for Tampa, while its parent company sold off its old headquarters building in uptown Charlotte (ultimately) to Novare. Funny that an Atlanta developer has more faith in the Charlotte market than Duke's Crescent Resources.

As far as the lakes are concerned, I can't say much against them for anything they've done there. They built Norman, Wylie, and Mountain Island. And besides, if people choose to buy a house in a Crescent development, then they deserve to sit in traffic and rot.

[atlrvr]

Duke Energy didn't even promise the arts money...Ruth Shaw did, who is the president of Duke Power, a subsidiary....Duke Energy has done nothing but complain about Charlotte, and try to leverage moving their HQ to Houston anytime they don't feel that they are catered too enough.

They have an anti-urban mentality, and only pursue urban projects when they local market place shows a distinct preference for them over suburban schlock.

There are some urban minded people at Crescent who do envision Charlotte as a pedestrian friendly city, but sadly the person who ultimately writes their paycheck lives in (and enjoys) the sprawl he helped create.

Edit** It is always good to get fresh blood into the city, because many cities are doing far more progressive things than Charlotte, and it helps to have that perspective.

[monsoon]

Isn't new CEO of the new company from the Cinergy side of things? If so, I could see the HQ being moved to Cincinnati.

[redjeep77]

I think they already decided that the HQ was staying in charlotte.

[Creasy336]

If they had half of the faith in Charlotte that Novare and Wachovia do the CBD would be on an even higher level than it is right now.