The Bad News Report

[nonillogical]

I've had some REALLY close calls with car mirrors while on the sidewalk on Park as well.  I have visions while I'm jogging of a car simply hopping a curb at 50mph and taking me out for good.  It's terrifying to walk there and I don't blame anyone for driving.  There are other examples across the city, but Park just sticks in my mind.

I rode my bike down Park ONCE, and never again. I'm extremely fortunate that I live at the nexus of a few of the more bike friendly parts of the city around Freedom Park, and have a couple of bike friendly routes to Uptown, PM and NoDa, but the number of roads that are complete no-gos is pretty limiting. South Park is pretty much the limit of how far out I can go before riding amongst traffic becomes too dangerous and drivers too aggressive.

 

People are always surprised when I tell them where I ride, because it is all the densest parts of town, but those are by far the safest. I feel very comfortable biking uptown fwiw; the only truly dangerous areas are Graham, 3rd/4th in 2nd ward, and Stonewall and only really at rush hour. 

[Spartan]

I believe that a huge problem is the width of sidewalks and the lack of pedestrian subways and over-walks (over the streets). For example, I love going to Montford Drive and Park Road Shopping Center by foot.  Every time I walk up Park Road, I worry about getting hit by a text messaging driver  with the narrow  width of the sidewalks and, it is terrifying crossing Park Road. There needs to be a under ground crossing in places like Woodlawn and Park Road and other entertainment areas. But seriously, we are Americans and people that I know that complain about walkability wouldn't walk to work if it was two blocks away. People walk for exercise, not necessity and I don't know if that is really bad. I live in a very walkable area and am amazed at the lack people that drive to amenities in stead of walking. For me, I prefer a place where I don't need a car, but again, I can't just hop on the rail like in Europe.

 

Under and overpasses for bikes and peds only work for crossings of major interstates or limited access freeways. They're incredibly expensive and people just don't use them. The one at JCSU over Beatties Ford is a great example of where the kids don't use the bridge - and there are others around town that have been closed over the years like the one under 10th Street at Piedmont Middle. There are the occasional exceptions - but in general the better (and cheaper) solution would be to add a signal or something else to help people get across the street.

 

That being said, you are absolutely right about the difficulty of crossing the street in this city. The spacing of signals outside of uptown creates fewer opportunities for people to make it cross the street conveniently- and most of the in-town streets are four lanes without a median or turn lane area to create those islands that have been added on South Blvd (and other places).

[ah59396]

Under and overpasses for bikes and peds only work for crossings of major interstates or limited access freeways. They're incredibly expensive and people just don't use them. The one at JCSU over Beatties Ford is a great example of where the kids don't use the bridge - and there are others around town that have been closed over the years like the one under 10th Street at Piedmont Middle. There are the occasional exceptions - but in general the better (and cheaper) solution would be to add a signal or something else to help people get across the street.

 

That being said, you are absolutely right about the difficulty of crossing the street in this city. The spacing of signals outside of uptown creates fewer opportunities for people to make it cross the street conveniently- and most of the in-town streets are four lanes without a median or turn lane area to create those islands that have been added on South Blvd (and other places).

 

 

This is how I feel about our entire cycling and walking status: (full disclosure, I couldn't really find a decent picture of cycling in Charlotte to use)

 

 

[Guest]

This is how I feel about our entire cycling and walking status: (full disclosure, I couldn't really find a decent picture of cycling in Charlotte to use)

 

bike-in-traffic.jpg

 

Harris-Blvd-at-I-77-in-Charlotte-NC-CLTPathmaker.jpeg

 

Hang on there negative nancy!

 

Interests in biking and biking safety are finally coming up. We've recently had an event with a city councilwoman showing off our biking lanes and biking stations. It was easy and safe, mind you with a whole squad of police escorting us. It's progress though.

 

The city's trolley has just made a return and soon we will have a cross city trail. It's a woefully slow process but its coming.

 

Edit : We are behind Atlanta! No! Impossible!

Edited April 10, 2015 by mazman34340

[ah59396]

Hang on there negative nancy!

 

Interests in biking and biking safety are finally coming up. We've recently had an event with a city councilwoman showing off our biking lanes and biking stations. It was easy and safe, mind you with a whole squad of police escorting us. It's progress though.

 

The city's trolley has just made a return and soon we will have a cross city trail. It's a woefully slow process but its coming.

 

Edit : We are behind Atlanta! No! Impossible!

 

We are behind everybody, not just Atlanta.  The problem I have is that you are RIGHT, interests in biking and biking safety (and pedestrian for that matter) are up across the city.  The issue is the city has decided to deal with it by building out a greenway and pedestrian plan by 2020 that will put us on par with our peer cities back in 2000.  Not to beat a dead horse, but imagine $160m in biking and pedestrian infrastructure instead of the NHOF.  We need that type of legitimate investment to even get caught back up at this point.

 

We need city leaders with the vision to actually promote (and more importantly ACT) on a future for Charlotte that doesn't involve those of us that travel by foot or bike having to fend for our lives out there.  I've been supportive of the "we will eventually get it done" attitude for a good decade.  Now I've decided to just start shaming us for our ineptitude.  Grumpiness be damned.

 

Edit:  The city also just sunk $87.5m into Bank of America renovations, on top of the soon to be $33.5m for Time Warner Cable.  I love our sports teams, but when is the city going to decide to put that kind of money into actually making the city more LIVABLE and not making sure we've got extra corporate suites so we can host an All-Star game in 6 years?

Edited April 10, 2015 by ah59396

[lewy2000]

We are behind everybody, not just Atlanta. 

 

Careful with the "we", pal. According to that website my neighborhood (Wilmore/South End) has a walk score of 71, putting me on par with Toronto.

[Guest]

Well, at least we are not Fayetteville. That city is the least walk-able in the entire North American continent. It's also where I applied for an internship...

 

It don't look pretty on Google Earth.

 

kill me

[HopHead]

Not sure this really falls under "Bad News" since a lot of us weren't all that optimistic about them coming to the state, but Volvo has ruled out North Carolina for its North American plant. It's down to to Charleston (surprise) and Savannah, GA. 

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/blog/outside_the_loop/2015/04/sources-north-carolina-ruled-out-for-volvo-plant.html

Edited April 21, 2015 by wend28

[js4life]

^^^NC doesn't have it's house in order nor do our ports have the type of infracture that Savannah or Charleston have. This is not totally bad news since Charlotte is close to both ports & there will be some spill over benefit to other areas. Charleston would increase the possibility Charlotte landing the North American HQ

[cltbwimob]

^^^The one thing about this news that makes me sick is the fact that had this happened a year earlier, I think there would have been a strong chance that the Volvo plant would have been located in the Charlotte region at the I-77 megasite in Chester (given that the site was fully certified by McCallum Sweeney).  Although Giti tire is a "nice to have", I wish the tire plant would have been located at any other site in the region besides the megasite because that was the only site in the region certified as suitable for automotive assembly.  While 1700-2000 employees is probably where the tire plant will max out, an automobile assembly plant in most cases will start with 2000+ employees and will end up with 4000-6000 employees (in BMWs case, nearly 9000).

 

All other tire plants that have opened recently in the US have been on 250-500 acre sites, why did Giti need almost 1200 acres?

Edited April 22, 2015 by cltbwimob

[caterpillar2]

I don't get how that's measured as I find uptown very walkable (biking...eh not so much). I guess I see the much broader definition of "Charlotte" not very of either, but still I find myers park/dilworth/uptown to be nice walks.

 

Edit: oh it has uptown as being pretty great for walking...its the rest of the city thats the problem.

I agree. I compared a few of the walkability score sites and found lots of variation.  On one, I saw an uptown score of "90" and on another, "24."  It all depends on which one you chose to believe.  I agree that there are many parts of Charlotte that are not walkable, but many are. I believe that where I live in Cornelius (ratings differ from "56" to "73"),it is walkable. I can walk to all amenities  in 15 minutes. Unfortunately, Americans don't generally like to walk except as exercise. A fifteen minute walk would be out of the question for many. Nevertheless, there is much room for improvement. For example, I believe that Park Road would be a great walk area if the sidewalks were more than 3 feet wide. Overall, Charlotte is very walkable if you live close in. If you live in the burbs, it isn't.  It isn't bad that people like cars and big lots. It is a sign of prosperity. The bigger the house, the less walkable.  I also believe that it would be very beneficial to invest in pedestrian over walks and pedestrian subways at busy, dangerous intersections. Like the Red line that is out of the question, the city should be more pro active. Our population is booming, so should preparedness.

[15895]

I agree. I compared a few of the walkability score sites and found lots of variation. On one, I saw an uptown score of "90" and on another, "24." It all depends on which one you chose to believe. I agree that there are many parts of Charlotte that are not walkable, but many are. I believe that where I live in Cornelius (ratings differ from "56" to "73"),it is walkable. I can walk to all amenities in 15 minutes. Unfortunately, Americans don't generally like to walk except as exercise. A fifteen minute walk would be out of the question for many. Nevertheless, there is much room for improvement. For example, I believe that Park Road would be a great walk area if the sidewalks were more than 3 feet wide. Overall, Charlotte is very walkable if you live close in. If you live in the burbs, it isn't. It isn't bad that people like cars and big lots. It is a sign of prosperity. The bigger the house, the less walkable. I also believe that it would be very beneficial to invest in pedestrian over walks and pedestrian subways at busy, dangerous intersections. Like the Red line that is out of the question, the city should be more pro active. Our population is booming, so should preparedness.

Especially in LKN there needs to be better pedestrian crossings.

The buses run by my place at amazing frequency. But, it can take me 500 years to cross Statesville or Catawba in my car, let alone running for dear life.

I see people playing frogger Running for dear life across Statesville trying to get to Gateway

It's also annoying in LKN when they're are great sidewalks in LKN and all of a sudden nothing... Then a couple miles the sidewalk comes back.

Or nice bike lanes (that people drive in anyway) that randomly end to the most dangerous place to ride a bike. In particular on Eastfield right past the Walmart after the bridge.

Edited April 22, 2015 by AirNostrumMAD

[teeg]

It's also annoying in LKN when they're are great sidewalks in LKN and all of a sudden nothing... Then a couple miles the sidewalk comes back.

Or nice bike lanes (that people drive in anyway) that randomly end to the most dangerous place to ride a bike. In particular on Eastfield right past the Walmart after the bridge.

 

I don't know your area, but I see that all over town in areas that have been developed in the last 20 years or so.  I think it's the case that developers of new subdivisions, commercial centers, etc, are now required to bring their road frontage up to the new street standards, but there's nothing requiring existing owners to do the same (I personally don't think there should be) and the city hasn't gotten around to it.  So you drive down the old two lane road with no shoulder, nowhere to walk, then pass the new subdivision with the beautiful sidewalk and bike lane, then right back to nothing.    

[AuLukey]

Or nice bike lanes (that people drive in anyway) that randomly end to the most dangerous place to ride a bike. In particular on Eastfield right past the Walmart after the bridge.

 

The Eastfield bike lanes blew my mind when they first added them (they also added them to Independence Hill for about a quarter mile and then they disappear in farmland.  Right now they'll be entirely unused but I believe they are part of the grander plan for the Eastfield area down to Skybrook and Highland Creek.

 

It's as teeg said, new developments require these upgrades, but existing ones will have to be done by the city... baby steps.

[tozmervo]

Existing ones are required to upgrade if a major renovation is undertaken on the property. We just dealt with this on Harris Blvd at one of the existing offices out there.

[CLTProductions]

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/crime/article19825296.html

 

Overall, violent crime in the first quarter is up 21% over the same period as last year. Uh what the hell CMPD, step up your game. I get it's all a game of numbers but homicides being up 80% is INSANE. Also, citizens of Charlotte, wtf......like in Baltimore, we are all trying to live in a society here, let's get it together.

 

I gotta say though, homeless or not, the number of sketchy characters in uptown (for example) now is much more noticeable than it was 4 years ago when I moved here. I wonder what is driving that, but whatever it is, it needs to cool its jets. I still don't feel unsafe in uptown, just more uncomfortable than I used to.

Edited April 29, 2015 by Jayvee

[videtur quam contuor]

I was at the Westinghouse-I 77 Exit yesterday and it was worked by a young white man and a young white woman begging at the medians.WT indeed F

[nonillogical]

I was at the Westinghouse-I 77 Exit yesterday and it was worked by a young white man and a young white woman begging at the medians.WT indeed F

Is this shocking? Whether for the specific area, for Charlotte, or for any city? In any case I don't believe this is what the Bad News Report thread is for.

[RaleighHeelsfan]

Is this shocking? Whether for the specific area, for Charlotte, or for any city? In any case I don't believe this is what the Bad News Report thread is for.

 

Lol, everytime I see this thread bumped I almost have a heart attack! Lets keep this thread buried for a long, long time!

[Niner National]

Lol, everytime I see this thread bumped I almost have a heart attack! Lets keep this thread buried for a long, long time!

Me too. This thread was supposed to be for economic bad news (i.e. job losses), not crime, walking scores, and homeless people. Every time I come here and see this I'm afraid that one of our major employees is laying people off or relocating jobs.

[Deleted.]

^Yes! I always think things like Charlotte is losing 1000 jobs and BoA is moving their HQ to Boston. Please don't post in this forum because it scares the crap out of me!

Oh and FYI, AA is going to be hiring around 1500 flight attendants this fall with around 300 based here in Charlotte. This is not confirmed but we are 99% sure we will be hiring as more senior flight attendants are being selected to work as trainers. But perhaps I should post this in the good news thread?

Edited April 29, 2015 by Piedmont767

[CLTProductions]

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2015/05/01/thinkgate-closes-uptown-hq-a-year-after-move-from.html

 

Thinkgate mysteriously closes; Assumed 70 uptown jobs lost, as well as a promised 120 over the next 3 years. This is a strange and crappy closure.

[HopHead]

^Something about this company really stinks...

[rancenc]

Curious to know if Charlotte was a contender for this headquarters....and if not...Why????

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/print-edition/2015/05/01/banking-software-company-chooses-atlanta-for-hq.html

[ssh214]

Curious to know if Charlotte was a contender for this headquarters....and if not...Why????

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/print-edition/2015/05/01/banking-software-company-chooses-atlanta-for-hq.html

Nonstop flights to Amsterdam maybe??