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Perception of Charlotte Nationwide


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13 hours ago, Phillydog said:

Ahhh...I appreciate the clarification.  In this context, absolutely.  Few US cities meet this criteria.  But, LA?  Walkable?  I know it's a cliché, but seriously, there are walkable neighborhoods that are awesome, but a walkable city?  Hmmmmm.....  At the end of the day, I would live in LA any day over SF -- and that's heresy among some in my gang (all due respect my fellow Gay humans).

LA has a lot of *huge* walkable areas though. It’s a metro of nearly 13,000,000 people. That is such a behemoth, many of it’s walkable “areas” are probably far larger and more walkable than metros under 5 million that are considered walkable. 

Edited by AirNostrumMAD
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"It's quite sad really. A couple of years back, I was staying in Downtown, and one morning I took the Metro to Hollywood/Western, walked up Western Ave to the Griffith Park entrance, and then proceeded to walk all the up the hill to the observatory, before walking back down and taking the Metro back to Downtown. My local friends all thought I was completely crazy, and a good number of them had no idea there was a subway that went in that part of town. "

I took the bus from the entrance to the Observatory and had no idea people walked the whole way up AND down.

Edited by tarhoosier
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42 minutes ago, tarhoosier said:

"It's quite sad really. A couple of years back, I was staying in Downtown, and one morning I took the Metro to Hollywood/Western, walked up Western Ave to the Griffith Park entrance, and then proceeded to walk all the up the hill to the observatory, before walking back down and taking the Metro back to Downtown. My local friends all thought I was completely crazy, and a good number of them had no idea there was a subway that went in that part of town. "

I took the bus from the entrance to the Observatory and had no idea people walked the whole way up AND down.

I don’t think that makes, say, Minneapolis, Denver, etc better than LA to live without a car. At very least I’d tou needed a car, it’s hard to argue there’s many cities that are more urban and such than LA county. 
 

if one can enjoy the urbanity Charlotte has to offer, imagine being in LA. 

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1 hour ago, tarhoosier said:

"It's quite sad really. A couple of years back, I was staying in Downtown, and one morning I took the Metro to Hollywood/Western, walked up Western Ave to the Griffith Park entrance, and then proceeded to walk all the up the hill to the observatory, before walking back down and taking the Metro back to Downtown. My local friends all thought I was completely crazy, and a good number of them had no idea there was a subway that went in that part of town. "

I took the bus from the entrance to the Observatory and had no idea people walked the whole way up AND down.

This was in early March so it wasn't too hot or anything, and I'm an incredibly fast walker. It's kind of a hike (there are portions that are paved, but most is on curvy dirt paths) and has a steep elevation change. Lots of good viewpoints along the way up (or down) too.

I would recommend the walk...it kinda changes one's perception of LA (for the better). If you do it on a Saturday, walk back to the Metro and take the Red Line two stops toward downtown and get off at Vermont/Santa Monica and walk east on Santa Monica to Silver Lake and grab brunch/coffee and check out the great flea markets. It's a great way to get out and explore the city away from the traditional tourist scenes. 

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On 4/26/2022 at 2:33 PM, KJHburg said:

Watching Mike Rowe's How America Works show last night and it was about the Wilmington Police Department and after that show ended with shot of Cape Fear Memorial  Bridge over the in downtown Wilmington  the next show came on first shot the skyline of Uptown Charlotte.   This show was My Dream Car a reality show about how someone gets their car of their youth or gives it to someone.  This guy was from Charlotte and he was buying a 1968 Pontiac Firebird for his dad who just moved from Ohio to the Charlotte area.    Lots of shots of the skyline with cranes atop Duke Energy Plaza and the big purple Truist T.   He had a guy in Concord restore it,  a guy in Kannapolis paint it and found some parts at a salvage yard in Shelby.  

https://video.foxbusiness.com/v/6305077429001#sp=show-clips    all filmed in Charlotte area with lots of skyline shots

How America Works was a show about the day and life of a couple Wilmington Police officers doing their job back in December.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/shows/how-america-works   Lots of Wilmington skyline shots and despite it about about police did not make the area look crime ridden just normal city these days.

During My Dream Car I saw an ad promoting another NC filmed show which is comedy on the Fox Network called Welcome to Flatch.   This was filmed in the Wilmington area and surrounding counties in NC.  

https://www.wect.com/2021/05/17/fox-releases-trailer-welcome-flatch/

So watch some of these NC filmed shows and episodes and you will see some local sites.  

 

What happened to Ms Shannon?????

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2 hours ago, rancenc said:

I like la belle helene and good year house. 
 

Merts Heart & Soul, meh. I wish it had a different location (perhaps just larger) Would be cool to see it take over Amelie’s uptown. I think Merts is one of Thom Tillis’ favorite restaurants. He’s given it a few shout outs. 
 

Port City Club in Cornelius is my favorite place and so hidden and not many people know about it. Highly recommend 

Edited by AirNostrumMAD
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7 hours ago, rancenc said:

If I was traveling to Charlotte I would be pretty satisfied (and impressed with many of them) with these choices. 

Getting to them from a hotel would be a different story…

Edited by kermit
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7 hours ago, kermit said:

If I was traveling to Charlotte I would be pretty satisfied (and impressed with many of them) with these choices. 

Getting to them from a hotel would be a different story…

Light rail?  Uber? It would be the same in most cities, including Nashville, Austin, TX, and certainly Atlanta, GA.

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3 hours ago, Phillydog said:

Light rail?  Uber? It would be the same in most cities, including Nashville, Austin, TX, and certainly Atlanta, GA.

Yea. I don’t know what I was thinking with that remark. Looking again everything mentioned is very blue or gold line accessible (or walkable from uptown). 

Edited by kermit
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10 hours ago, JeanClt said:

That last line was undeserved… for Charlotte at least.

DC Metro has a slew of issues, most if not all transit systems in America do, post pandemic…hater-aid.  
 

Thats why I chuckle when people on here through a fit over CLT transit leadership.  They’re  already fighting an uphill battle with the metro as a whole, state and traditional urban metros. I don’t care who you put in charge, it is going to be a struggle and more than likely, end up with worst than you have.  

Edited by Durhamite
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Many of those former riders must be reaching their destination now by other means. This is good, perhaps? Yes, the work-from-home has made some of the difference but not in the bus service decline. Is it a goal to make public transportation serve more riders or is it to allow/persuade them to find other methods of transportation? 

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Many of those former riders must be reaching their destination now by other means. This is good, perhaps? Yes, the work-from-home has made some of the difference but not in the bus service decline. Is it a goal to make public transportation serve more riders or is it to allow/persuade them to find other methods of transportation? 

The pandemic has decreased overall transit but for Charlotte at least it’s merely the regular bus transit that is truly struggling and absolutely declined dramatically. That I think may be due to change is work or like you said maybe finding other means. Finding other means though may suggest that the bus system is unreliable and inconsistent even for riders that would opt to ride it. Mediocre service won’t encourage others to ride it. Express busses and Lynx seem to be doing well. Just those regular bus routes that have been struggling which carry a significant amount of people.

https://charlottenc.gov/cats/boards/MTC%20Agenda%20Package/Final%20MTC%20Agenda%20Packet%20for%20Wednesday%20June%2022%202022.pdf
Page 56-57 Ridership numbers

Transit is to provide a service that allows options but increasing transit use can only be a good thing. I’d say if people found other methods and that being an increase in vehicle use to travel that would be a bad thing. Leads to congestion, more pollution, unnecessarily inefficient as compared to transit. If it’s due to people walking, biking, WFH, etc. not having to travel as much, then that’s not necessarily a bad thing since it doesn’t add to the issue that is our over-reliance on car travel and negative effects.
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1 hour ago, JeanClt said:


The pandemic has decreased overall transit but for Charlotte at least it’s merely the regular bus transit that is truly struggling and absolutely declined dramatically. That I think may be due to change is work or like you said maybe finding other means. Finding other means though may suggest that the bus system is unreliable and inconsistent even for riders that would opt to ride it. Mediocre service won’t encourage others to ride it. Express busses and Lynx seem to be doing well. Just those regular bus routes that have been struggling which carry a significant amount of people. 

If people that have a choice are finding other methods to get around then that DEFINITELY  is a result of an unreliable and inconsistant system, but let's not lose sight of the fact that a sizeable portion of bus riders more than likely ride out of necessity.  It's not like restaurant, retail, and service jobs have work from home options.  Safety is another big piece of the puzzle too.  With two recent shootings resulting in one death you're absolutely going to see people that do have another option choose that.

The seemingly lax response from leadership to these front and center issues cannot be looked over.  Sometimes it feels like the attitude is if readership is depresses then their days are easier now and they don't have to try as hard.  Add to that their knuckle dragging on adding convenience features like realtime bus tracking and maintaining a consistent schedule and there's no doubt that those in charge are dropping the ball.  I mean, that sort of drop in bus ridership numbers can't just be explained away by yelling pandemic.  There is absolutely a leadership issue and it needs to be addressed. 

Blue line numbers aren't quite as bad but with people now saying that cars are packed at peak hours and the inability (or unwillingness) to bump up capacity whenever large events occur uptown why isn't more being done to increase the numbers?  A decent portion of those lost riders could be recovered if Lewis and others were actually doing what they've been hired to do, lead and improve the capability and perception of the system. 

Sure, covid really put a stress on everything but cracks were beginning to show before 2020 and I really don't think the current leadership has what it takes to deliver the system that a city the size of Charlotte requires.  We're growing too fast to not have people in charge that can make quick, confident, and concise decisions.  There needs to be a real vision and I'm not confident Lewis has one. 

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If people that have a choice are finding other methods to get around then that DEFINITELY  is a result of an unreliable and inconsistant system, but let's not lose sight of the fact that a sizeable portion of bus riders more than likely ride out of necessity.  It's not like restaurant, retail, and service jobs have work from home options.  Safety is another big piece of the puzzle too.  With two recent shootings resulting in one death you're absolutely going to see people that do have another option choose that.
The seemingly lax response from leadership to these front and center issues cannot be looked over.  Sometimes it feels like the attitude is if readership is depresses then their days are easier now and they don't have to try as hard.  Add to that their knuckle dragging on adding convenience features like realtime bus tracking and maintaining a consistent schedule and there's no doubt that those in charge are dropping the ball.  I mean, that sort of drop in bus ridership numbers can't just be explained away by yelling pandemic.  There is absolutely a leadership issue and it needs to be addressed. 
Blue line numbers aren't quite as bad but with people now saying that cars are packed at peak hours and the inability (or unwillingness) to bump up capacity whenever large events occur uptown why isn't more being done to increase the numbers?  A decent portion of those lost riders could be recovered if Lewis and others were actually doing what they've been hired to do, lead and improve the capability and perception of the system. 
Sure, covid really put a stress on everything but cracks were beginning to show before 2020 and I really don't think the current leadership has what it takes to deliver the system that a city the size of Charlotte requires.  We're growing too fast to not have people in charge that can make quick, confident, and concise decisions.  There needs to be a real vision and I'm not confident Lewis has one. 

My response was more toward the article saying negative comments about our ridership and that last unwarranted comments of questioning transit funding while using charlottes declining “LOCAL Bus numbers” to justify it. When the LRT and express buss have been increasing since the pandemic. That is not to defend how CATS has been managing the situation as they should be (like I’ve been saying before) way more transparent. They are not a private company and while not everything little thing should be announced to the public, reasoning/justification, strategies to combat issues, and commenting on situations is due to the public as they’re the primary funding source. The public is owed transparency. With the recent bus contractor and the city council not being clearly aware of the arrangements, it is clear that something isn’t working and not enough accountability is being pushed.

The problems exist but I wouldn’t say pulling funding would be an appropriate response. There needs to be a change in management and policy.
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