The Good News Report

[elrodvt]

Something is very odd there! Having lived in the center of downtown in both cities I'd expect Denver to not just be higher but an order of magnitude higher.

Probably have to spend a lot of time in the weeds figuring it out though and I'm not that curious! 

[15895]

1 hour ago, elrodvt said:

Something is very odd there! Having lived in the center of downtown in both cities I'd expect Denver to not just be higher but an order of magnitude higher.

Probably have to spend a lot of time in the weeds figuring it out though and I'm not that curious! 

Yeah, I’m not that curious neither but my hypothesis is cities that are typically more sprawly tend to fair pretty well on metropolitan density levels. Charlotte’s metropolitan area is overall more walkable than Denver’s probably whereas per walk score, Denver (city) scores a 61 & CLT (city) a 16.

The little graph below sort of shows the density starts to equal out with further distance with LA actually surpassing NYC in population density around 18 miles out. 

 

That’s my best speculation.  

Edited January 27, 2023 by AirNostrumMAD

[carolinaboy]

14 hours ago, AirNostrumMAD said:

Hmmm… #13 in foot traffic of metropolitan areas goes to Charlotte. I’d say that’s good news. I’m surprised, at least. At least above Denver is surprising (obviously it’s per this source and entire metro area.) 
 

The only place walkable in Virginia Beach is the oceanfront resort area. Norfolk (in the same metro) is immensely more walkable, dense and urban. And no Charleston, SC on this list? I can't believe Charleston has less "walkable urbanism" than Las Vegas or Orlando or Virginia Beach.....

Charlotte at #13 has probably benefited from the growth of SouthEnd.

[CLT2014]

When you actually read the full report, it breaks down Charlotte's score in more detail. We ranked 13th because 39.9% of our metro area office space is in walkable area.... this makes sense due to the concentration of employment in Uptown and areas along the light rail as our largest job center. Denver for example only had 33% of their office space in a walkable area... as their largest office market is the Southeast portion of their metro in the suburban Denver Tech Center / Centennial area / Greenwood Village  along I-25 rather than downtown.

While Charlotte ranked well for office walkability, only 14.3% of our multi-family housing is considered walkable, 11% of our retail, and 2.2% of our housing for sale. Denver received a 23% for multi-family walkability, 6.5% for retail, and 10.6% for housing for sale but still ranked lower than us in this report due to their skew towards more suburban office. Their residential IS more walkable though. 

What I take away from our ranking is what we all know to be true.... while you can walk around Uptown and South End once you actually get there to work or shop.... the vast majority of the metro area actually LIVES in completely unwalkable areas and you often need a car to get to those walkable areas. High walkability for office + low walkability for housing = lots of commuters and cars. This makes sense when you look at Charlotte.... a concentration of skyscrapers clustered together than gives way almost instantly to suburban homes in Dilworth, Plaza, Myers Park, Wesley Heights and beyond. 97%+ of housing for sale being in areas that aren't considered walkable in the metro is why connecting this region via mass transit has been such a problem... people often need to drive to a station to even be able to use the train. People come to work Uptown, walk to lunch, and then go back home to their completely unwalkable home life in the suburbs. 

https://smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Foot-Traffic-Ahead-2023.1.pdf

Edited January 27, 2023 by CLT2014

[RANYC]

42 minutes ago, CLT2014 said:

When you actually read the full report, it breaks down Charlotte's score in more detail. We ranked 13th because 39.9% of our metro area office space is in walkable area.... this makes sense due to the concentration of employment in Uptown and areas along the light rail as our largest job center. Denver for example only had 33% of their office space in a walkable area... as their largest office market is the Southeast portion of their metro in the suburban Denver Tech Center / Centennial area / Greenwood Village  along I-25 rather than downtown.

While Charlotte ranked well for office walkability, only 14.3% of our multi-family housing is considered walkable, 11% of our retail, and 2.2% of our housing for sale. Denver received a 23% for multi-family walkability, 6.5% for retail, and 10.6% for housing for sale but still ranked lower than us in this report due to their skew towards more suburban office. Their residential IS more walkable though. 

What I take away from our ranking is what we all know to be true.... while you can walk around Uptown and South End once you actually get there to work or shop.... the vast majority of the metro area actually LIVES in completely unwalkable areas and you often need a car to get to those walkable areas. High walkability for office + low walkability for housing = lots of commuters and cars. This makes sense when you look at Charlotte.... a concentration of skyscrapers clustered together than gives way almost instantly to suburban homes in Dilworth, Plaza, Myers Park, Wesley Heights and beyond. 97%+ of housing for sale being in areas that aren't considered walkable in the metro is why connecting this region via mass transit has been such a problem... people often need to drive to a station to even be able to use the train. People come to work Uptown, walk to lunch, and then go back home to their completely unwalkable home life in the suburbs. 

https://smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Foot-Traffic-Ahead-2023.1.pdf

Appreciate the analysis.  Makes sense.  I would say this is obviously not a uniquely Charlotte issue, and while Denver residential walkability may be some points higher, it’s not exactly crushing it by any stretch.  I’d also say Charlotte has significant residential walkability “momentum” given multi-family construction patterns along and proximal to transit in the past several years and the scale and intensity of what’s proposed.  I’m very positive on the walkability of Charlotte’s future growth given momentum patterns, and not as focused on the residue of past “sins.”

Edited January 27, 2023 by RANYC

[15895]

7 hours ago, CLT2014 said:

When you actually read the full report, it breaks down Charlotte's score in more detail. We ranked 13th because 39.9% of our metro area office space is in walkable area.... this makes sense due to the concentration of employment in Uptown and areas along the light rail as our largest job center. Denver for example only had 33% of their office space in a walkable area... as their largest office market is the Southeast portion of their metro in the suburban Denver Tech Center / Centennial area / Greenwood Village  along I-25 rather than downtown.

While Charlotte ranked well for office walkability, only 14.3% of our multi-family housing is considered walkable, 11% of our retail, and 2.2% of our housing for sale. Denver received a 23% for multi-family walkability, 6.5% for retail, and 10.6% for housing for sale but still ranked lower than us in this report due to their skew towards more suburban office. Their residential IS more walkable though. 

What I take away from our ranking is what we all know to be true.... while you can walk around Uptown and South End once you actually get there to work or shop.... the vast majority of the metro area actually LIVES in completely unwalkable areas and you often need a car to get to those walkable areas. High walkability for office + low walkability for housing = lots of commuters and cars. This makes sense when you look at Charlotte.... a concentration of skyscrapers clustered together than gives way almost instantly to suburban homes in Dilworth, Plaza, Myers Park, Wesley Heights and beyond. 97%+ of housing for sale being in areas that aren't considered walkable in the metro is why connecting this region via mass transit has been such a problem... people often need to drive to a station to even be able to use the train. People come to work Uptown, walk to lunch, and then go back home to their completely unwalkable home life in the suburbs. 

https://smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Foot-Traffic-Ahead-2023.1.pdf

Thanks for finding that! (I’ve been so busy with a new job I couldn’t find the actual study) and I think you summed up the Charlotte region well. 
 

I annoyingly love graphs so I liked these from the report that CLT2014 amazingly found for us. 

Charlotte’s Ranking Description Category:

[Reverie39]

On 1/25/2023 at 1:14 PM, KJHburg said:

I get that but anybody I bring around Charlotte from out of town or out of the country they remark how clean the city is.   Roadside trash is a big problem in NC for sure. 

Growing up in the Triangle my family and I always remarked about how shockingly clean urban Charlotte was whenever we visited. Compare it to a similar sized city like Baltimore and it is a night and day difference.

[Matthew.Brendan]

17 hours ago, Reverie39 said:

Growing up in the Triangle my family and I always remarked about how shockingly clean urban Charlotte was whenever we visited. Compare it to a similar sized city like Baltimore and it is a night and day difference.

Wow, you mean a small city in the middle of nowhere that didn't even begin to take off until the middle of the 20th century (Charlotte population 100k in 1940) is cleaner than a historic port city that was the size of present-day Charlotte (~850,000) in 1940. Shocking!

[CLT2014]

20 minutes ago, Matthew.Brendan said:

Wow, you mean a small city in the middle of nowhere that didn't even begin to take off until the middle of the 20th century (Charlotte population 100k in 1940) is cleaner than a historic port city that was the size of present-day Charlotte (~850,000) in 1940. Shocking!

Baltimore has also gone from a peak of 950,000 people in 1950 to 576,000 today and the city limits have posted population decline every decade.... it is more blighted than pretty much every core city of the top 30 metro areas with the exception of maybe Detroit and St. Louis... so yeah I agree... not a huge accomplishment for Charlotte to be cleaner than Baltimore. We absolutely should be!

Edited February 3, 2023 by CLT2014

[Reverie39]

Fair, maybe Baltimore wasn't a good comparison given its history as a larger city and eventual decline. I still think Charlotte is very clean though. Maybe something like Portland is a better comparison, it was larger than Charlotte in 1940 but has more than doubled in population since then, experiencing similar explosive growth post WW2. While a very pretty city I don't think anyone would argue Charlotte is sparkly clean compared to it lol.

[elrodvt]

No one there to get it dirty. :⁠-⁠)

Seriously, this sure isn't the reaction I get. Look on the side of 277. It's a landfill. 

Edited February 4, 2023 by elrodvt

[rancenc]

Some good news concerning the state budget of North Carolina!

https://apnews.com/article/politics-north-carolina-state-government-roy-cooper-raleigh-8b863856ec48e1eaad08e7bbfab5da60

[KJHburg]

North Carolina named Business Facilities magazine state of the year in 2022.  And this is the 2nd time in recent years NC has come out as number 1. 

https://businessfacilities.com/2023/02/north-carolina-offers-the-total-package-2022-state-of-the-year/

[JRCLT]

Some good news concerning the state budget of North Carolina!
https://apnews.com/article/politics-north-carolina-state-government-roy-cooper-raleigh-8b863856ec48e1eaad08e7bbfab5da60

…I hope it’s put to good use.

[Reverie39]

On 2/16/2023 at 7:41 AM, rancenc said:

Some good news concerning the state budget of North Carolina!

https://apnews.com/article/politics-north-carolina-state-government-roy-cooper-raleigh-8b863856ec48e1eaad08e7bbfab5da60

A smart state might use part of this to finance and speed along a transit project like the Silver Line. Just saying.

[RANYC]

Question for the thread - would we rather see a piece of this surplus go toward capping 277 or advancing the silver line?

[J-Rob]

^ Is there a way to imbed polls in forum comments? I've always thought that would be interesting to do and see.

To the question, my vote would be silver line, but I don't think the surplus being used for Charlotte transportation needs will happen.

[CTiger]

1 hour ago, RANYC said:

Question for the thread - would we rather see a piece of this surplus go toward capping 277 or advancing the silver line?

Silver Line = Need

277 Cap = Want

[CLT2014]

Increasing teacher pay statewide is an easy bi-partisan win for the Legislature and Governor that gives each county and district a piece of the pie. Unfortunately, light rail in Charlotte is looking very partisan. I don't see the General Assembly moving to transfer much of a state-wide budget surplus to the Great State of Mecklenburg. 

I suspect the NCGOP will also push to accelerate lowering taxes even further saying the tax cuts actually spur growth. 

Edited February 17, 2023 by CLT2014

[go_vertical]

On 2/3/2023 at 10:26 PM, elrodvt said:

No one there to get it dirty. :⁠-⁠)

Seriously, this sure isn't the reaction I get. Look on the side of 277. It's a landfill. 

I understand what your saying, but some litter on the side of an interstate highway isn't quite comparable to systemic and prolonged rot, filth, and decay. 

[tozmervo]

I predict a healthy amount of that surplus will wind up covering construction inflation on projects already in the pipeline, too. Tons of state projects that were budgeted back in 2019-2020 getting into the ground this year are 25-30% underfunded due to the crazy inflation in construction costs. 

[15895]

Austin, Charlotte & Nashville outpacing their peers in office space under construction. 

Charlotte is adding the 9th most office space overall (and the 2nd largest increase over its existing inventory). One thing that sticks out to me is Boston. Geeeez. 

Article here: https://www.commercialcafe.com/blog/office-pipeline-report/

Edited February 18, 2023 by AirNostrumMAD

[KJHburg]

this is just general good news.  Uptown this morning was just packed.  First with the Hot Chocolate 10K at First Ward Park,  and this show at the convention center https://odditiesandcuriositiesexpo.com/   (and believe me it attracted 1000s upon 1000s) and of course the walking tour.   Lots and lots of people on the streets everywhere and it was just great to see.  

[rancenc]

Good news for various communities throughout the state on the economic development front.

https://www.commerce.nc.gov/news/press-releases/2023/02/16/governor-cooper-announces-14-grants-rural-communities-attract-262-new-jobs-and-315-million-private

[Third Strike]

Micro Center is coming to Charlotte. Location will be off South Boulevard, in the Woodlawn Marketplace: 

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2023/02/23/micro-center-enters-market-south-boulevard-store.html