The Bad News Report

[kermit]

3 hours ago, KJHburg said:

I remember when some scoffed at Texas a few years about rolling blackouts now look what is happening here:

As extreme temps drive unusually high energy demand across the Carolinas we have begun short, temporary power outages. These emergency outages are necessary to protect the energy grid against longer, more widespread outages. We appreciate your patience.

from Duke's Twitter

To me this is unacceptable what about the peak production plants they have?  We need more power plants for this growing region.  

I scoffed at the Texas grid foibles because those issues were clearly going to hurt their economic growth. Unfortunately Duke’s situation last night will also make it harder for Duke to recruit industrial power users to come to North Carolina. Server farm recruitment is likely to take the biggest hit (not a big economic tragedy), but this will discourage any capital-intensive, three-shift, industrial facilities from setting up new facilities in NC, semiconductor production might be be our biggest (future) loss from this.

On the plus side, we do not have the variable rate structure that ERCOT has, if we did many of us would have run up $1000+ power bills from last night alone.  Electric costs in Texas last night were nearly 3000% higher than normal for consumers there. Texans dodged blackouts, but it was at a substantial cost.

I’ll be interested to hear Duke’s PR response to this and their explanations for how to they plan to prevent it in the future — perhaps they had an usual number of plants down for maintenance during a period of low industrial use? Duke’s options for wheeling more power in from outside their region were also limited due to issues with fossil fueled plants at TVA yesterday. Maybe this was a one time event? Or maybe Duke has failed to keep up with growth? We need to know.

Edited December 24, 2022 by kermit

[RANYC]

10 minutes ago, kermit said:

I agree, this event is going to make it much harder for Duke to recruit industrial power users to their region. Server farm recruitment is likely to take the biggest hit (not a big economic tragedy), but this will discourage any capital-intensive, three-shift, industrial facilities from setting up new facilities in NC, semiconductor production might be be our biggest loss from this.

You're spot on.  I've been waiting for this region's so-called high-growth trajectory to butt up against "constraints," and this appears to be an indelible one.  I'm sure more details will come out in the days ahead, but I find it confounding that with so much notice and with scenario analysis models, a plan to avoid taking away so many people's heat given forecasted deep cold wasn't already designed and activated.  On the other hand, it's unclear whether this region really should have more growth.  It doesn't really have the right attitude toward proactive infrastructure investing & capital planning at both the state and local level to deserve to be the high-growth state it wants to tout.  Perhaps my expectations were unrealistic, but this is not the same place I viewed it as in 2018.

Edited December 24, 2022 by RANYC

[KJHburg]

How could Duke not not know their power usage would go up with the weather predictions???  Local tv weathermen have been screaming this for a week now.  This is extremely poor planning on Dukes part and maybe their rush to close older power plants was too much.  We need extra peak production and that is usually done through gas power plants that can be ramped up to provide more power.  

[kermit]

4 hours ago, KJHburg said:

How could Duke not not know their power usage would go up with the weather predictions???  Local tv weathermen have been screaming this for a week now.  This is extremely poor planning on Dukes part and maybe their rush to close older power plants was too much.  We need extra peak production and that is usually done through gas power plants that can be ramped up to provide more power.  

I agree, this was extraordinarily poor planning on Duke’s part. Having said that, one of the problems with the Texas grid is that it does not have sufficient connections  to adjacent grids to purchase power from out of state producers. We have those connections (and they are often used to cover peak capacity shortages, particularly when maintenance is happening), so I do wonder why those interconnections failed us (too cold everywhere  probably). Contributing to this failure of wheeling was that TVA experienced unexpected shutdowns of several coal and gas generating plants which forced them to shed loads (blackouts) so there was no additional power available from the West. This really isn't a story of alternative energy failing us, in fact wind was the thing that saved Texas from widespread blackouts.

Edited December 24, 2022 by kermit

[KJHburg]

Yes the TVA has suffered major problems and they supply power into Nashville and most of the state.  Of course to the south Georgia is cold if not colder than we are so no relief in our southeastern grid until maybe Florida.  But even Florida is chilled and there is little natural gas there thus electric usage in the central and northern parts of Florida is probably sky high too. 

But I do want answers like you all do. 

[RANYC]

Hard to imagine that the operator of this beauty isn't using advanced predictive analytics to calibrate capacity based on various expected demand scenarios in order to avoid an outage.

Edited December 25, 2022 by RANYC

[KJHburg]

from a Joe Bruno tweet 15 minutes ago

""Duke Energy tells me they are no longer rotating outages. The focus now is power restoration.""

My entire Harris Teeter shopping center near my house is out of power and has been for hours.  

[videtur quam contuor]

NFL says game in Nashville delayed due to rolling blackouts. Stadium has backup generators which will be used to reduce load for game and provide additional service elsewhere.

[turbocraig]

1 hour ago, RANYC said:

Hard to imagine that the operator of this beauty isn't using advanced predictive analytics to calibrate capacity based on various expected demand scenarios for avoiding outages.

But have you seen Lynn Good's silver Mercedes SL550?  It's nice.

[Durhamite]

On 12/24/2022 at 12:14 PM, KJHburg said:

from a Joe Bruno tweet 15 minutes ago

""Duke Energy tells me they are no longer rotating outages. The focus now is power restoration.""

My entire Harris Teeter shopping center near my house is out of power and has been for hours.  

Well, it’s the RTO requesting several power companies to take these measures to ensure grid reliability, other words, an authority beyond Duke…see PJM. The grid is really one interconnected entity and to work in harmony, requires a lot of coordination beyond Duke  to manage an event of this magnitude.

[KJHburg]

Well this does not sound so good.  Uptown Charlotte zip code 28202 has lost more businesses based on US Post Office change of address requests than any other zip code in the city.  My thoughts this is many smaller offices or even though in coworking spaces that can get mail at their coworking places that went home and never came back etc.  However this is something to be concerned about in my opinion. 

From the Biz Journal this morning:

""Since the beginning of 2020 — a period largely shaped by the Covid-19 pandemic — ZIP codes in and around uptown Charlotte experienced a net decrease in the number of addresses that received business mail deliveries. That’s according to data from the U.S. Postal Service, which tracks the number of change-of-address requests from people and businesses who have recently moved.

Between the start of 2020 through October 2022, uptown’s primary ZIP code — 28202 — saw a net loss of 762 businesses, the most of any ZIP in Charlotte. That net decrease is calculated by subtracting the number of businesses that filed a change-of-address out of the 28202 ZIP code from the number that moved into the ZIP.

The net decrease stems from the 603 businesses that started having mail delivered to 28202 during that period and the 1,365 businesses there that had mail delivered to a new ZIP. The May 2020 net loss of 383 businesses from 28202 was the largest monthly net loss of any ZIP code in Charlotte between January 2020 and October 2022.

A few caveats: The data provided by the USPS includes only businesses that filed requests for a change of address. It does not indicate if that change is to a new physical location in Charlotte or elsewhere, or to a post office box. Nor does it indicate the type of business or the number of employees. The data also does not capture newly formed businesses.""

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2022/12/27/usps-change-of-address-uptown-south-end-businesses.html

 

 

[RANYC]

41 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

Well this does not sound so good.  Uptown Charlotte zip code 28202 has lost more businesses based on US Post Office change of address requests than any other zip code in the city.  My thoughts this is many smaller offices or even though in coworking spaces that can get mail at their coworking places that went home and never came back etc.  However this is something to be concerned about in my opinion. 

From the Biz Journal this morning:

""Since the beginning of 2020 — a period largely shaped by the Covid-19 pandemic — ZIP codes in and around uptown Charlotte experienced a net decrease in the number of addresses that received business mail deliveries. That’s according to data from the U.S. Postal Service, which tracks the number of change-of-address requests from people and businesses who have recently moved.

Between the start of 2020 through October 2022, uptown’s primary ZIP code — 28202 — saw a net loss of 762 businesses, the most of any ZIP in Charlotte. That net decrease is calculated by subtracting the number of businesses that filed a change-of-address out of the 28202 ZIP code from the number that moved into the ZIP.

The net decrease stems from the 603 businesses that started having mail delivered to 28202 during that period and the 1,365 businesses there that had mail delivered to a new ZIP. The May 2020 net loss of 383 businesses from 28202 was the largest monthly net loss of any ZIP code in Charlotte between January 2020 and October 2022.

A few caveats: The data provided by the USPS includes only businesses that filed requests for a change of address. It does not indicate if that change is to a new physical location in Charlotte or elsewhere, or to a post office box. Nor does it indicate the type of business or the number of employees. The data also does not capture newly formed businesses.""

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2022/12/27/usps-change-of-address-uptown-south-end-businesses.html

 

 

This headline is possibly making the picture appear far more grim for uptown versus other places than it actually is.  For example, a small, closely-held business may have had 5 partners receiving mail in uptown pre-covid, and to the extent 3 of the partners are now receiving mail at a different location or even at home, that quite possibly was 3 change-of-address requests but not necessarily a business relocation, per se.  So the net change in businesses might actually reflect a net count of folks heading into uptown on a regular basis.  Also, businesses that are winding down or in some form of liquidation may have mail going to a trustee or law firm or some other liquidating agent, but that's quite a different narrative than "businesses fleeing uptown."  There's natural attrition each year in uptown and in other zip codes with businesses closing or in wind-down, but again, that's not a "flee uptown" narrative.

Edited December 27, 2022 by RANYC

[KJHburg]

Honestly I think it is a lot of people in coworking space who went home during the pandemic and may have not returned.    the article further noted that this has slowed down in the last year.  

Areas like Steele Creek and Ballantyne area showed increases in net new  business.   I think uptown's major employers are committed to uptown but many of the small offices and those in coworking may not be now.    Uptown is not at a 100% pre covid for sure but seems to be doing a lot better than the low point.   Everyone tells me Friday and sometimes Mondays are lighter uptown.   This is why we need much more residential uptown to create an even bigger neighborhood.  I would like to see a 5 to 1 ratio on residential buildings vs commercial structures. 

[kermit]

^ yea, three day a week office presence does not, by itself, provide enough of a consumer base for lunch or after work spots in uptown to be profitable. They end up closing down, which just makes Uptown more like a crappy suburban office park (no good lunch options, not much reason to go outside). Increased residential would smooth out this demand, and new restaurants and bars would would appear, making it a much more fun place to be (and corporations would seek out that environment in order to keep their workforce happy). The timing of covid was really tragic for uptown, we had -just- reached the point where sports/entertainment uptown had become a regular, year-long phenomena, but when work from wherever came along the 9-5 component of uptown was gutted.

The residential / commercial mix of Southend smooths demand for consumption businesses, so its restaurant scene has flourished. IMO this is a large part of the reason for the dramatic office growth we are seeing there (its a fun place to work). The lower Third ward office district (mostly Legacy Union) might survive thanks to proximity to Southend, but 277 remains a huge barrier (suddenly the removal of the Belk can be sold as helping uptown flourish).

Edited December 29, 2022 by kermit

[15895]

1 hour ago, RANYC said:

This headline is possibly making the picture appear far more grim for uptown versus other places than it actually is.  For example, a small, closely-held business may have had 5 partners receiving mail in uptown pre-covid, and to the extent 3 of the partners are now receiving mail at a different location or even at home, that quite possibly was 3 change-of-address requests but not necessarily a business relocation, per se.  So the net change in businesses might actually reflect a net count of folks heading into uptown on a regular basis.  Also, businesses that are winding down or in some form of liquidation may have mail going to a trustee or law firm or some other liquidating agent, but that's quite a different narrative than "businesses fleeing uptown."  There's naturally attrition each year in uptown and in other zip codes with businesses closing or in wind-down, but again, that's not a "flee uptown" narrative.

I 1000% agree with you. Also. The data sets go all the way to Jan 2020 and only show businesses “leaving”.  I can’t see behind the paywall but all it says is “700 business left Uptown since 2020.” I personally view the article as relying on a narrative that will no doubt cause a stir and clicks.
 

That said. There are conversations to be had on how uptown can pivot and I think I mention that often. I think the city is behind the curve on pivoting to a post pandemic world for uptown (the crown economic jewel of the Carolinas) which I believe is sort of due to a void of leadership. From the mayors office to the banks,   there seems to be less vision and leadership on the urban core than in the past  but that has been the case for the banks for over a decade now, but we’ve had enthusiastic mayors and older stakeholders to balance that). I think there’s a level of auto-pilot & I think Charlotte government across the board has said “it’s the pandemic” and it seems like some agencies of the city points at another city and shrugs and says “see, it’s happening everywhere” when it’s cherry picked to another city that’s unique to that city and those cities are responding to it. 

Our cities can boom & be more active & be better than before and a lot are…. It’s going to be different for each city. Austin probably doesn’t need to change given it was predominately a residential boom in its core. SouthEnd in Charlotte too doesn’t need to change direction & I think is strong, better and more robust than ever. For DC, all the neighborhoods have exceeded Covid and some neighborhoods have has crazy transformations except a portion that was heavy on office but in *early-mid 2020* the city aggressively started to come up with a plan and allocate money towards turning offices to residential and DC government has websites for it, the mayor talks about it quarterly etc (and it hasn’t even slowed new construction.) it’s a big deal & DC above and beyond has the most office to residential conversions with seemingly a new announcement biweekly. See below from a Dec. 15 2022 release from DC: 

Currently, 92% of the Central Business District is made up of commercial space versus just 8% for residential. The COVID-19 pandemic led to a number of high office vacancy rates due to remote work and hybrid work trends, creating a new opportunity for the District to convert vacant and underutilized office spaces into new buildings for residential and retail use, including affordable housing units. 

“We have approached our downtown reimagination strategy from three lenses: Change the Space, Fill the Space, and Bring the People,” said Deputy Mayor John Falcicchio. “We know that creating new housing in downtown will lead to a more vibrant neighborhood and 24/7 economy. The Housing in Downtown Abatement Program will incentivize more conversions, and bring about more housing affordability and retail opportunities.” 

The Housing in Downtown Abatement Program will incentivize future residential transformations by providing tax relief for new residential projects in the Central Business District. The program requires projects to include 15% of units to be affordable at 60% of the Median Family Income. DMPED will issue regulations in early 2023 for public comment and a Request for Applications later in the year. Beginning in FY24 through FY26, $2.5 million will be available for this abatement, increasing to $6.8 million in FY27 before increasing by 4% annually.  https://dmped.dc.gov/release/mayor-bowser-celebrates-future-housing-downtown-dc

I think the Charlotte needs to throw $$$ towards affordable & low-income housing uptown & start investing in bike lanes, sidewalk widening, more pocket parks like 4th ward park, money towards Marshall Park, money towards Irwin Creek Greenway, maybe a new High School uptown, etc. It would take a couple years before things materialize, etc. But I think that’s what Charlotte needs to focus on for uptown. If we create a vibrant mixed-use uptown, I feel like the office towers and businesses will keep rolling in. I think moreso as long as uptown maintains its image of being a place people want to be.

Every city is going to need a different approach & I’d like the city of Charlotte to be a little more aggressive & proactive on uptown. It’s not grim, etc. but time is ticking on who is going to emerge from the pandemic being the leaders and the laggards. I like Charlotte being a leader. 

Edited December 27, 2022 by AirNostrumMAD

[CLT2014]

I go to Uptown 3 days a week for work and bring my own salad for lunch as an easy way to cut back on spending. I'd rather save that $15 lunch for a meal with my family or friends after work... Sorry to Uptown fast casual. Compared to before the pandemic, I've found colleagues are less interested in going out for lunch during the day as many are bringing their own lunch and the banks have across the board restricted expensing meals when you are in your base city. The times I do go out for lunch (we all agree/plan to not bring our lunch in advance), I'm amazed how quiet things are compared to how it was before the pandemic. Lines are shorter and the energy just seems lower, even on "peak" days like Tuesday. The main bright spot of Uptown being less crowded now is traffic is still way better than before the pandemic. My parking garage never has a line to exit now and there really isn't any heavy traffic until you get out of Uptown. I do miss the old energy that existed during the workday before the pandemic and it still doesn't feel the same despite there being more new buildings and towers all around us... That seem like ghost towers... I mean watch the Legacy Union Towers at lunch.... It's so quiet. Is anybody in there?

Edited December 27, 2022 by CLT2014

[KJHburg]

I hope this article does wake up the Charlotte Center Partners which I think could have done a LOT more during the pandemic than they did.   And I think this article is not sensational at all just factual.   Explaining it a way does not help change it.  ALL of us admit uptown is not as vibrant than it was before Covid.   As for encouraging residential towers uptown lets do this maybe a a couple of years of tax abatement for new residential.  Houston did this a few years back with great success and now they dont need to do anything.  We have more vacant land uptown than any section of the city except for the fringe and we need to activate it.  I believe the leadership business and political has put Uptown on autopilot and it needs some attention.  Just look at all the high rise residential proposals in Southend vs Uptown it is like 2 to 3 to 1 in favor of Southend.  

I will note the Knights have done more for uptown Charlotte and Mr Tepper with his concerts and teams than the Charlotte Center city partners have.  

[RANYC]

1 hour ago, KJHburg said:

I hope this article does wake up the Charlotte Center Partners which I think could have done a LOT more during the pandemic than they did.   And I think this article is not sensational at all just factual.   Explaining it a way does not help change it.  ALL of us admit uptown is not as vibrant than it was before Covid.   As for encouraging residential towers uptown lets do this maybe a a couple of years of tax abatement for new residential.  Houston did this a few years back with great success and now they dont need to do anything.  We have more vacant land uptown than any section of the city except for the fringe and we need to activate it.  I believe the leadership business and political has put Uptown on autopilot and it needs some attention.  Just look at all the high rise residential proposals in Southend vs Uptown it is like 2 to 3 to 1 in favor of Southend.  

I will note the Knights have done more for uptown Charlotte and Mr Tepper with his concerts and teams than the Charlotte Center city partners have.  

I'll be honest, I'm not exactly clear on what Charlotte Center City Partners does, but despite the large salary of its CEO, I've started likening it to the administrative arm of an HOA.  It employs and manages the leaf-blowers, the street-sweepers, other uptown-focused vendors, does some minor event programming, compiles an annual report, and acts as a quasi-forum for an array of uptown stakeholders.  This works to keep Uptown looking like a very tidy center city living room (like the living room that's quiet and only for the really important special guests of your parents, but everyone knows the party happens in the family room).  It doesn't design or undertake any profound, economic development or redevelopment strategies.  It's also Center City Partners and not just "Uptown Partners," so it really isn't designed to be accountable for Uptown vivacity.  Uptown can be in the doldrums, but I can point to South End and other places to justify its funding.

Love the uptown residential tax abatement idea, and am perplexed it doesn't already exist.  I just see a profound void in leadership in Charlotte at the moment.  I know the mayor is just a figurehead, but I can't even bear to hear her speak any longer.  She sounds so incoherent and never lets an opportunity to pass the buck pass her by.  From transit to Uptown re-activation to battling surging homicides, she just seems out of gas and based on her responses in interviews, I have little confidence that any complex problem-solving methodology is systemically ingrained in the operating activities of city government and is in effective use.  

A 3rd party study of CATS just came out and the leadership dysfunction was so glaring, I couldn't see how it could be isolated to just CATS.  CATS is just behind the Police Department as a massive recipient of taxpayer funding.  

At any rate, I digress.  Would love to see an incentives program for uptown residential w/"select" affordable housing set-asides.  Would also love for that to be paired with an uptown-focused, fine-grained, highly-tactical & frequent trolley system so that someone spending the day in Uptown can get around without thinking he/she has to drive from point to point, but isn't relegated to walking up and down hills on Church Street.

Edited December 27, 2022 by RANYC

[elrodvt]

2 hours ago, KJHburg said:

Honestly I think it is a lot of people in coworking space who went home during the pandemic and may have not returned.    the article further noted that this has slowed down in the last year.  

Areas like Steele Creek and Ballantyne area showed increases in net new  business.   I think uptown's major employers are committed to uptown but many of the small offices and those in coworking may not be now.    Uptown is not at a 100% pre covid for sure but seems to be doing a lot better than the low point.   Everyone tells me Friday and sometimes Mondays are lighter uptown.   This is why we need much more residential uptown to create an even bigger neighborhood.  I would like to see a 5 to 1 ratio on residential buildings vs commercial structures. 

But I thought all most forum participants care about is high rise count? Been complaining about this and predicting the result since we moved here in '14.

[KJHburg]

38 minutes ago, elrodvt said:

But I thought all most forum participants care about is high rise count? Been complaining about this and predicting the result since we moved here in '14.

Covid as some have said exposed uptown's weakness that being it needs more residential to balance out the office space and other commercial uses. We have big landowners that have stalled uptown out Levine, Mecklenburg County and the city.  Meck County owns all that land on N Tryon several blocks including the Hal Marshall Center.  Nothing done on that land in at least 10 years. 

1 hour ago, RANYC said:

I'll be honest, I'm not exactly clear on what Charlotte Center City Partners does, but despite the large salary of its CEO, I've started likening it to the administrative arm of an HOA.  It employs and manages the leaf-blowers, the street-sweepers, other uptown-focused vendors, does some minor event programming, compiles an annual report, and acts as a quasi-forum for an array of uptown stakeholders.  This works to keep Uptown looking like a very tidy center city living room (like the living room that's quiet and only for the really important special guests of your parents, but everyone knows the party happens in the family room).  It's also Center City Partners and not just "Uptown Partners," so it really isn't designed to be accountable for Uptown vivacity.  Uptown can be in the doldrums, but I can point to South End and other places to justify its funding.

Love the uptown residential tax abatement idea, and am perplexed it doesn't already exist.  I just see a profound void in leadership in Charlotte at the moment.  I know the mayor is just a figurehead, but I can't even bear to hear her speak any longer. 

CCCP does do some of the stuff you mention but I see no real leadership unless it is leadership from behind.   There is no residential tax abatement plan and one is needed to jump start more growth of residential in uptown as the rest of the city is doing fine.    No high rise residential has been started uptown since the completion of 500 West Trade am I correct?  Yes some proposals and the whole thing with Brooklyn Village giving control to one developer was a big mistake in my mind.  Should have been done block by block.  

[RANYC]

16 hours ago, KJHburg said:

Covid as some have said exposed uptown's weakness that being it needs more residential to balance out the office space and other commercial uses. We have big landowners that have stalled uptown out Levine, Mecklenburg County and the city.  Meck County owns all that land on N Tryon several blocks including the Hal Marshall Center.  Nothing done on that land in at least 10 years. 

CCCP does do some of the stuff you mention but I see no real leadership unless it is leadership from behind.   There is no residential tax abatement plan and one is needed to jump start more growth of residential in uptown as the rest of the city is doing fine.    No high rise residential has been started uptown since the completion of 500 West Trade am I correct?  Yes some proposals and the whole thing with Brooklyn Village giving control to one developer was a big mistake in my mind.  Should have been done block by block.  

Was reminded today of the Old Duke Energy re-do into residential, and the imminent announcement of Millennium Venture's plans along College by the Convention Center, and did think to myself that perhaps Uptown is doing pretty well on construction without incentives, perhaps on a relative basis for a sunbelt city.  We should also finally see historic commission approval of plans for the bread factory re-do into residential in 4th ward.  We also have residential coming in an area still showing traces of tent city, right on Tryon Street just north of the 277 overpass.  I'd thought that area was un-developable.  The project that was to count Publix as an anchor hasn't shown  gotten off the ground, but would that change because of a tax incentive, or is that some idiosyncratic issue with the development team not getting its act together.

Edited December 28, 2022 by RANYC

[KJHburg]

and please no one take my comments about uptown as negative this is what I call tough love.  We need a change in direction of uptown leadership.  For example Mecklenburg county owning all the land at N Tryon and N College St,  That land totals over 11.5 acres of vacant land only building on any of it is old Hal Marshall Center (old Sears)   This is what has stalled development on this side of uptown.   (and I am talking about 600 and 700 blocks of N Tryon and N College not any of the 7th St development) 

Then granting Don Peebles the control of development over most of 2nd Ward was a mistake.  What should have happened is a block by block disposition of the property and demonstration projects,  If Mr Peebles started and got something going on his first block then another parcel could be optioned and so forth.  He is far too busy in LA NYC and Miami to be concerned what happens to this property fast.  

Mr Levine massive land holdings waiting for this perfect time to develop has held uptown back as well.  But the city and county are just as guilty in my book.  

Tax abatements to get people to develop their property for a couple of years can jump start development.  Tax revenues on a parking lot can't be as much as a high rise or even mid rise apartment building. 

Houston and San Antonio both did incentives to get residential jump started in their downtowns with much success.  I believe uptown Charlotte has been resting on their laurels and needs to be change directions.  Get aggressive or Southend and other areas will eat your lunch.  Midtown Atlanta is most urban  and exciting part of urban Atlanta not downtown.  I don't want to see the same thing happen here in Charlotte.  

Uptown Charlotte especially the south end of uptown have plenty of development with Legacy and the Duke Energy properties being redeveloped and all that has happened along former Stonewall St. 

Edited December 28, 2022 by KJHburg

[davidclt]

22 hours ago, AirNostrumMAD said:

That said. There are conversations to be had on how uptown can pivot and I think I mention that often. I think the city is behind the curve on pivoting to a post pandemic world for uptown (the crown economic jewel of the Carolinas) which I believe is sort of due to a void of leadership. From the mayors office to the banks,   there seems to be less vision and leadership on the urban core than in the past  but that has been the case for the banks for over a decade now, but we’ve had enthusiastic mayors and older stakeholders to balance that). I think there’s a level of auto-pilot & I think Charlotte government across the board has said “it’s the pandemic” and it seems like some agencies of the city points at another city and shrugs and says “see, it’s happening everywhere” when it’s cherry picked to another city that’s unique to that city and those cities are responding to it. 

<snip>

I think the Charlotte needs to throw $$$ towards affordable & low-income housing uptown & start investing in bike lanes, sidewalk widening, more pocket parks like 4th ward park, money towards Marshall Park, money towards Irwin Creek Greenway, maybe a new High School uptown, etc. It would take a couple years before things materialize, etc. But I think that’s what Charlotte needs to focus on for uptown. If we create a vibrant mixed-use uptown, I feel like the office towers and businesses will keep rolling in. I think moreso as long as uptown maintains its image of being a place people want to be.

Every city is going to need a different approach & I’d like the city of Charlotte to be a little more aggressive & proactive on uptown. It’s not grim, etc. but time is ticking on who is going to emerge from the pandemic being the leaders and the laggards. I like Charlotte being a leader. 

I wish Charlotte were more aggressive across the board acting like the city we're becoming rather than the town we were in 1950 to the city we're becoming in the 2000s. Which of our city departments isn't a fatal half-measure at seeming rather than being? Charlotte's motto should probably be: Videri quam esse (to seem [to be a real city] rather than being [a real city]).

I decided at the end of 2022 to grade each of Charlotte's city departments . . . Would love thoughts:

City of Charlotte
Departments and Divisions Report Card
Department	Description	Grade	Justification
Aviation	Manages the Charlotte-Douglas International Airport	C	Maintains low-cost for their "customer" American Airlines. Otherwise classic penny-wise, pound-foolishness
Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS)	CATS is the largest transit system between Atlanta, GA and Washington, DC with more than 70 local, express and regional bus routes, a light rail line, services for the disabled, and vanpools serving more than 23,000,000 trips each year.	D-	Poorly managed, neglected, focused on cost, not value.
Charlotte Communication & Marketing	A professional, talented team provides a multitude of ways to share effective messaging across a variety of communications channels, from storytelling to public affairs, community engagement to marketing and creative services, and web services to video production	B-	Sporadic communication, not transparent, not timely
Charlotte Department of Transportation (CDOT)	Committed to enhancing the driving, bicycling and walking experience through planning, operating and maintaining the City's transportation choices for residents and visitors	F	Poor vision, poor maintenance of facilities they have already, no coordination with other city departments (i.e. CATS, Charlotte Water, Charlotte Storm Water). With the exception of Uptown and South End, no parking enforcement.
Charlotte Fire Department	Operates out of 42 fire stations and provides fire protection for approximately 792,862 people living in a 300-square-mile area	A	They do their jobs competently
Charlotte Planning, Design & Development	Provides integrated planning services that promote sustainable growth to improve our community's quality of life	C	Not sure they are as focused on sustainability as much as they are focused on sprawling growth
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD)	The largest law enforcement agency in Mecklenburg County and the largest police department between Washington, D.C. and Atlanta. CMPD's goal is to make Charlotte one of the safest large cities in America.	B	In spite of some well documented problems and trying to manage them with PR . . . I generally think CMPD does a fairly good job. There are things I wish they would do differently and better.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services	Improves the storm drainage system to ensure stormwater runoff drains effectively from streets to streams, reduces flood risks, and protects the quality of surface waters for our community	B+	Generally they keep the water flowing where it needs to go.
Charlotte Water	With more than 954,644 customers, Charlotte Water (formerly Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utility Department or CMUD) is the largest water service utility in the Carolinas.	B+	Failing infrastructure notwithstanding and some poor management decisions ("save water but we'll charge you for it because of decreasing revenue") they deliver a good enough, drinkable product consistently.
City Attorney	Provides legal advice and representation to the Mayor, City Council, City Manager and other City officials and employees on a broad range of issues. The Office represents the City, including its officials and employees, in litigation filed by or against them.	C+	Lacking transparency to the public
City Clerk	Provides services that connect citizens to their government and maintains a recorded history of government actions. These services include Mayor and Council assistance, records management and research, boards and commissions, and customer service to both internal and external customers.	B	They do a good job collecting and sharing most information
Community Relations	The human relations agency for the City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County.	D	I don't see them doing a whole lot anywhere
Economic Development	Shapes places and provides resources to empower Charlotte’s residents and businesses to thrive. This work is accomplished through the lens of Equitable Economic Development using our uncommon perspective of and service to Charlotte’s increasingly diverse residents, built environment and industry sectors.	D	It's good if you're a business, not so good if you're a human
Finance Department	Responsible for maintaining the City's general ledger, billing and collection of utility payments, accounts payable and receivable, issuing bonds, risk management, financial reports, and managing the City's investment portfolio.	A	They have "one job"
General Services	(previously Engineering & Property Management) Handles design and construction of City infrastructure projects, regulates development, cares for the tree canopy and landscaping and manages real estate and facilities portfolios.	C+	I think some of the design is lacking and far too "value engineered"
Housing & Neighborhood Services	Focuses on creating vibrant, diverse neighborhoods through the delivery of five major service areas: community engagement, code enforcement, housing services, environment and sustainability, and CharMeck 311.	D	Inlivian is just the tip of the iceburg for the problems, also why is Community Engagement not foldedin here to create a sense of place in every neighborhood?
Human Resources - City of Charlotte	City of Charlotte is proud of its diverse, 7,000-plus member workforce that serves the community through professional, administrative, public safety, technical, clerical, skilled and labor and trades work. Build your career where you live.	B	Their methods and processes are mired in the 1970s
Innovation & Technology (I&T)	Provides executive-level leadership for the City’s technology governance policy, delivers technology services to city departments and partnership agencies, and coordinates information technology initiatives across the organization to support, enhance and advance citizen service delivery.	C	I'm seeing no technical leadership here
Internal Audit	Provides reasonable assurance that the City has an operating and effective system of internal controls and assists members of management in evaluating the efficiency and effectiveness of operations	A	They have "one job"
Strategy & Budget	Responsible for the development and oversight of the City of Charlotte's annual operating budget and five-year Community Investment Plan	C	How often do we follow our "five-year plan"?
Solid Waste Services	Provides a variety of quality, efficient and cost-effective services including the collection of bulky waste, garbage, recycling and yard waste	B-	Still haven't adopted PAYT to incentivize reduce, reuse, recycle

[kermit]

Duke is still being super vague about what happened but they say that 'multiple generators failed'. Sounds like they thought they had everything covered but poor maintenance and bad luck bit them.

https://www.wral.com/multiple-generating-units-failed-to-respond-ahead-of-duke-energy-rolling-blackouts/20646932/

[JRCLT]

Duke is still being super vague about what happened but they say that 'multiple generators failed'. Sounds like they thought they had everything covered but poor maintenance and bad luck bit them.
https://www.wral.com/multiple-generating-units-failed-to-respond-ahead-of-duke-energy-rolling-blackouts/20646932/

I may have heard that they knew this might have happened by unexpected immense surge in power drawn from the grid. This huge draw is also by the systems in place in homes in North Carolina. The gird a complex megastructure that is aging significantly. Of course steps are being taken to restore it when damaged to be more resilient and useful for future prospects, but that will take time and a huge sum of money. I think Infrastructure capacity and age along with the general demand rise over time and the spike did the system in.

The grid is a network interconnected by wires and huge/rapid fluctuations can cause the (in some ways fragile) system to malfunction or this case to avoid a malfunction the system was “throttled” in this way. Not sure how they solved the issue or when. Some on here were comparing this to Texas, but frankly I believe it was not nearly as bad or as dramatic. Yes more outages is bad, but do not directly say length of time. In Texas people had no power for days on end….nothing compared with just the now more than few hours which is how long most should have lasted. Yet, I would agree Duke Energy has some explaining and reports to hand over to the governor I have seen. I wonder what if any will be available to the public to review. I would like to see the specific issues that lead to these rolling blackouts being so long and why they were necessary.