Charlotte's Light Rail: Lynx Blue Line

[davidclt]

43 minutes ago, tarhoosier said:

three short streets named for Confederate generals: Hill, Vance and Jackson. Clearly the lost cause memory. Hill persists but the other two have disappeared over time. 

A closer view from 1955 . . .  It looks like one good thing came from creating the future Belk 277 River (but look at what else was lost):

[Madison Parkitect]

4 hours ago, CLTdev18 said:

^Out of curiosity, what would would be your preferred street/station name?

 

4 hours ago, TGIBridays said:

Would it be better in your mind if it was just Brooklyn instead of Brooklyn Village?  Personally, I feel like most anything is better than having it named after a confederate general.

Yeah, Brooklyn Ave would have been better. Obviously it's better than Stonewall but adding "Village" in is a mistake. It was never called Brooklyn Village, that's only the name of a prospective future development.

[TGIBridays]

14 hours ago, tarhoosier said:

Stonewall pre-existed or was conferred its name at a time that was not for the General. Impression and appearances are everything and evidence is discounted. I fight a lonely battle.

That's all well and good, but are we gonna put a sign up next to each street sign saying, "Not the General"?  When someone comes to the South and sees "Stonewall" they think of the general. Connotations and associations matter. 

[kermit]

It’s been a while for me so this probably isn't news but this 4:50 train from East-west is pretty full

 

Edited May 26, 2022 by kermit

[dylansukkert]

This is that the train has looked like for a few months. 8:30am-9:30am and also 4:30pm-6pm. 15 minutes just isn’t cutting it. Also after Charlotte FC games it’s 50x worse. But I have noticed they have started checking tickets a lot more often. 

[Windsurfer]

On 5/20/2022 at 3:59 AM, TGIBridays said:

That's all well and good, but are we gonna put a sign up next to each street sign saying, "Not the General"?  When someone comes to the South and sees "Stonewall" they think of the general. Connotations and associations matter. 

Do they?  Some of the young folks I talk with today don't know the difference between The Civil War and WWI.  It's pathetic.   And, perhaps a marker wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing if you think about it. It would be an opportunity to enlighten.

[JRCLT]

Do they?  Some of the young folks I talk with today don't know the difference between The Civil War and WWI.  It's pathetic.   And, perhaps a marker wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing if you think about it. It would be an opportunity to enlighten.

The name change (as a young folk lol) doesn’t really make much sense to me. I don’t see an issue with this name. Words are all meaningless and meaningful at the same time (mind boggling to wrap your head around that). I in fact do know the difference but I’m afraid I may be an outlier in my age group. Unless the name has a distinct meaning not muddled by any other significance than sure. Perhaps naming a street after Adolf Hitler is not such great idea considering what he is infamous for and that legacy should not be instilled in his name.

[CLT2014]

What was Stonewall Street named for if not for the General? My understanding is the street was named to honor Stonewall Jackson and there are historic notes  from 1869 , just four years after the Civil War ended, documenting the city alderman voting to create Stonewall, Hill, Vance, and Lee Street. The timing of this change and all four names being associated with Confederate generals (Stonewall Jackson, Zebulon Vance, Daniel Harvey Hill, and Robert E Lee) has led most historians to consider this name change as being in honor of the Civil War Confederacy. That is not explicitly mentioned in the note though. 

The other possibility is Stonewall was named in honor of the general's wife, Mary Jackson (born in Lincolnton, lived in Charlotte in the war, died here in 1915). However, the other three names are all associated with males.

Edited May 27, 2022 by CLT2014

[videtur quam contuor]

There is the possibility that there was a stonewall street from about the time of the Civil War and at some later time some electeds chose to confer the name post hoc for the martyr. That is a decent guess. 

Ike street for Eisenhower? LBJ? Teddy (Roosevelt)? Black Jack (Pershing)? Unthinkable.

[RANYC]

2 hours ago, JeanClt said:

The name change (as a young folk lol) doesn’t really make much sense to me. I don’t see an issue with this name. Words are all meaningless and meaningful at the same time (mind boggling to wrap your head around that). I in fact do know the difference but I’m afraid I may be an outlier in my age group. Unless the name has a distinct meaning not muddled by any other significance than sure. Perhaps naming a street after Adolf Hitler is not such great idea considering what he is infamous for and that legacy should not be instilled in his name.

I'll take any and every opportunity to unwind, undo, erase any and every imprint, marker, or trace of big-government, anti-liberty confederate treason outside of where such imprints, markers, or traces may exist in a museum or library bookshelf for research & study.  Young people being ignorant of past conflicts perhaps because there are movements afoot to sugar-coat the ugliness of this part of America's past aren't relevant.

Edited May 27, 2022 by RANYC

[JRCLT]

I'll take any and every opportunity to unwind, undo, erase any and every imprint, marker, or trace of big-government, anti-liberty confederate treason outside of where such imprints, markers, or traces may exist in a museum or library bookshelf for research & study.  Young people being ignorant of past conflicts perhaps because there are movements afoot to sugar-coat the ugliness of this part of America's past aren't relevant.

There is a difference between record and Embracing/Honoring individuals in history. Statues that praise some individual is not record keeping of history. Frankly not objective and to be honest it really never was, the victors wrote the books and losers did not often. Ignorance can be an enemy and an ally depending on the circumstances. I would not condone the destruction of knowledge and history but neither will I stand for the glorification of people especially those who ended the lives of others.

[TGIBridays]

On 5/27/2022 at 1:36 PM, Windsurfer said:

Do they?  Some of the young folks I talk with today don't know the difference between The Civil War and WWI.  It's pathetic.   And, perhaps a marker wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing if you think about it. It would be an opportunity to enlighten.

I'm sorry, but what young people are you talking to? Two year old kids? There are people of every age that just don't care about history so they remain ignorant about it, but that's not a function of age.

Personally, I think we should leave the despicable parts of our history in the history books, classes, and museums and name our institutions and infrastructure after things that aren't despicable (even if maybe the street was originally  named after an actual stone wall or something). 

Edited May 31, 2022 by TGIBridays
Removed an irrelevant part.

[15895]

On 5/20/2022 at 6:59 AM, TGIBridays said:

That's all well and good, but are we gonna put a sign up next to each street sign saying, "Not the General"?  When someone comes to the South and sees "Stonewall" they think of the general. Connotations and associations matter. 

Nah.

It should be "Stonewall (The Gay one)"

 

[Windsurfer]

4 hours ago, TGIBridays said:

I'm sorry, but what young people are you talking to? Two year old kids? There are people of every age that just don't care about history so they remain ignorant about it, but that's not a function of age.

Personally, I think we should leave the despicable parts of our history in the history books, classes, and museums and name our institutions and infrastructure after things that aren't despicable (even if maybe the street was originally  named after an actual stone wall or something). 

"Despicable" is a very subjective word.  Just look at the censorship hitting school libraries.  

As far as young people....high schoolers.

Edited May 31, 2022 by Windsurfer
grammar

[kermit]

Come on CATS, do better. 98 degrees is hot, but its not unexpected or unusual. And why is this the first (almost) summer I remember this happening?

Transit needs to be reliable above all else.

 

 

Edited June 14, 2022 by kermit

[davidclt]

1 hour ago, kermit said:

Come on CATS, do better. 98 degrees is hot, but its not unexpected or unusual. And why is the the first (almost) summer I remember this happening?

Transit needs to be reliable above all else.

So who's responsible for the ongoing failure of the line north of the 7th Street not being built properly to be within tolerance from 0F-110F? Surely the engineers could design for this.

[LKN704]

Forgive my technical ignorance, but what exactly is the issue?

Lots of LRT systems operate in climates that have more extreme high temperatures than Charlotte (Phoenix's Metro Rail) and I have never heard of similar issues elsewhere. 

[Desert Power]

39 minutes ago, LKN704 said:

Forgive my technical ignorance, but what exactly is the issue?

Lots of LRT systems operate in climates that have more extreme high temperatures than Charlotte (Phoenix's Metro Rail) and I have never heard of similar issues elsewhere. 

According to their Twitter today, it is due to the HVAC system shutting down from too much heat.

I'm, sorry, but this is one of the more ridiculous things I've seen. A great example of why I'm currently paying almost $200 a month for parking instead of walking to the stop. It's just too hot to rely on a service that has proven so unreliable and doesn't have real time tracking.

[LKN704]

1 hour ago, Desert Power said:

According to their Twitter today, it is due to the HVAC system shutting down from too much heat.

I'm, sorry, but this is one of the more ridiculous things I've seen. A great example of why I'm currently paying almost $200 a month for parking instead of walking to the stop. It's just too hot to rely on a service that has proven so unreliable and doesn't have real time tracking.

Interesting, as the S70 Avanto is the same model that Phoenix and Houston also utilize. 

[TGIBridays]

41 minutes ago, LKN704 said:

Interesting, as the S70 Avanto is the same model that Phoenix and Houston also utilize. 

It wasn't the HVAC systems for the trains themselves but for the substations serving the trains.  So, supposedly, it was a fluke. 

 

[Reverie39]

I am more concerned about patterns than flukes. If this happens repeatedly then it's a problem. Until then, whatever - other transit systems have hiccups sometimes too.

[Madison Parkitect]

18 hours ago, TGIBridays said:

It wasn't the HVAC systems for the trains themselves but for the substations serving the trains.  So, supposedly, it was a fluke. 

Sure, it's a fluke that has repeatedly happened in the past when it gets hot like this. I don't know if CATS just doesn't service their units regularly or what, but I've been on multiple trains over the years that had this problem during the summer.

[TGIBridays]

24 minutes ago, Madison Parkitect said:

Sure, it's a fluke that has repeatedly happened in the past when it gets hot like this. I don't know if CATS just doesn't service their units regularly or what, but I've been on multiple trains over the years that had this problem during the summer.

Ah. I didn't know there is a history of this.  That's problematic. 

[Durhamite]

27 minutes ago, Madison Parkitect said:

Sure, it's a fluke that has repeatedly happened in the past when it gets hot like this. I don't know if CATS just doesn't service their units regularly or what, but I've been on multiple trains over the years that had this problem during the summer.

I’m sure they do, but my experiences with DC metro rail were similar.  Rode it everyday for years and summer time always introduced a bevy of new maintenance issues. All of these public transportation systems experience frequent problems….these things come with the territory and common. I came to the conclusion that anything can happen on any day to disrupt normal operations.  Winter storms, high heat etc etc.  

[videtur quam contuor]

I *believe* that our LRT has had issues in the past during the hottest of weather with rail distortion due to the expansion of the metal. Anyone else recall this. It prevented normal operation.