Charlotte Off Topic

[videtur quam contuor]

How would you spend your 1.xx billion dollars with Mega Millions (600 million$ post tax)? Buy every underused property in South End? Bribe your favorite City Council members for Hall House and UDO decisions? Build an alternative airport? Think now so you sound erudite when interviewed on television.

I bought my first ever Mega ticket today. I hope to be a "small" winner. Maybe 20 mil. Something I could actually plan with and let the big winner field all the calls and visits from the psychos and extended relatives.

[15895]

This effects Charlotte too, but it looks like JetBlue is poised to take over Spirit Airlines.

This is beyond great news to me. I'd love to see JetBlue have a stronger Fort Lauderdale presence to South America. Additionally, being Washington D.C. based, I am hoping JetBlue somewhat maintains some Spirit destinations at BWI airport though I don't expect it (and would prefer Dulles). For Charlotte, hopefully it means more JetBlue service too to more destinations. I remember when JetBlue first came to Charlotte - I was super excited. Although Delta is by far my favorite airline but still. JetBlue is my 2nd.

 

Edited July 28, 2022 by AirNostrumMAD

[CLT2014]

On 7/28/2022 at 3:18 PM, AirNostrumMAD said:

This effects Charlotte too, but it looks like JetBlue is poised to take over Spirit Airlines.

This is beyond great news to me. I'd love to see JetBlue have a stronger Fort Lauderdale presence to South America. Additionally, being Washington D.C. based, I am hoping JetBlue somewhat maintains some Spirit destinations at BWI airport though I don't expect it (and would prefer Dulles). For Charlotte, hopefully it means more JetBlue service too to more destinations. I remember when JetBlue first came to Charlotte - I was super excited. Although Delta is by far my favorite airline but still. JetBlue is my 2nd.

 

I think it is possible we see JetBlue slash some of the Spirit routes out of CLT. JetBlue management has struggled to figure out how to make CLT work and only offers service to Boston. When the new higher cost structure of the combined airline comes together, the Spirit routes out of CLT might no longer pencil out. I think the Spirit route from CLT to Las Vegas will definitely be cut.

[kermit]

Interesting discussion here on occupancy and rent declines in Phoenix multifamily. May have some implications for Charlotte (but its not clear)

 

 

[Matthew.Brendan]

1 hour ago, kermit said:

Interesting discussion here on occupancy and rent declines in Phoenix multifamily. May have some implications for Charlotte (but its not clear)

 

 

[videtur quam contuor]

Once, in another universe, I drove across southern Arizona, in July, in an un-airconditioned car. My partner and I had towels with ice from our travel chest draped across us. By sunset we decided to continue driving as long as possible to avoid more daytime sun the next day. The radio at midnight said the Phoenix temperature was 99º. 

[videtur quam contuor]

I have seen some sh!t

[BJKM]

I need someone with a drone to do this for Charlotte. Also Austin is getting some height!

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRyBW397/

[15895]

Austin - especially for it’s metro size - is on fire 

[15895]

The new Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, aka DC Metro (“WAMATA”) general manager from Austin TX is amazing. 
 

He met his wife on Boston’s metro. And he uses DC Metro as a primary form of transit and has just been awesome his first few weeks. Every transit system should be ran by people who use mass transit. He’s worth following on twitter @WMATAgm, IMO, even for those who have zero interest in the DC region. We got lucky with Randy, IMO. I know, it’s too early. But I’m already a fan.

tonight he posted his date night “chauffeur” . It’s dumb and I’m posting this in the Charlotte forum in the context of the CATS leadership needs a total, total haul. I say put Clayton Sealey & our Donut CEO KJ  in charge of CATS. 
 

Edited August 14, 2022 by AirNostrumMAD

[DJ8hep]

I need someone with a drone to do this for Charlotte. Also Austin is getting some height!
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRyBW397/

Seriously though, that’s crazy how much they have going on! I mean 60+ and 70+ floors?? Imagine multiple towers of that scale getting built here… I have always wanted to witness something like that get built.

I should actually take a moment and recognize what we have happening here though. It truly is amazing watching a city quite literally get built and the Duke Energy Plaza is the tallest building I have had the chance to watch get constructed! Minneapolis had already been through its boom during the time I was there, most of the skyscrapers had already been built and any new proposals constantly got shot down… [emoji13]

[Norm2]

11 minutes ago, DJ8hep said:

Seriously though, that’s crazy how much they have going on! I mean 60+ and 70+ floors?? Imagine multiple towers of that scale getting built here… I have always wanted to witness something like that get built.

I should actually take a moment and recognize what we have happening here though. It truly is amazing watching a city quite literally get built and the Duke Energy Plaza is the tallest building I have had the chance to watch get constructed! Minneapolis had already been through its boom during the time I was there, most of the skyscrapers had already been built and any new proposals constantly got shot down…

Not sure what it will take for Charlotte to start building taller. With the way that land values are, towers that or more commonly 40 or 50+ floors will have to be built here at some point.....

[JRCLT]

The tallest are also overwhelmingly Residential (lots of condos/apartments). Quite different from Charlotte where they are overwhelmingly Office.

[DJ8hep]

Both land values and the local markets for sure play a role in the large scale projects being built. Being that Charlotte is a massive banking center, there is a decent market for office space but really tall office buildings are not as likely to be built. Usually mixed-use buildings or projects would more likely be taller such as Queensbridge.

[videtur quam contuor]

https://fortune.com/2022/08/15/falling-home-prices-to-hit-these-housing-markets-in-2023-and-2024/

Usual warnings and such about projections.

[LKN704]

On 8/13/2022 at 9:01 PM, AirNostrumMAD said:

The new Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, aka DC Metro (“WAMATA”) general manager from Austin TX is amazing. 
 

He met his wife on Boston’s metro. And he uses DC Metro as a primary form of transit and has just been awesome his first few weeks. Every transit system should be ran by people who use mass transit. He’s worth following on twitter @WMATAgm, IMO, even for those who have zero interest in the DC region. We got lucky with Randy, IMO. I know, it’s too early. But I’m already a fan.

tonight he posted his date night “chauffeur” . It’s dumb and I’m posting this in the Charlotte forum in the context of the CATS leadership needs a total, total haul. I say put Clayton Sealey & our Donut CEO KJ  in charge of CATS. 
 

Based on the platform layout, that's either the lower level platform of L'Enfant Plaza or Metro Center, though I think it is Metro Center given how brightly lit the upper level seems to be. 

In any case, I hope him and his wife got on that train real quick after they snapped that photo as there wouldn't be another one for 20-30 minutes!!!

I'm cautiously optimistic about Randy. His Twitter account is nice, and it looks like he got WMATA's social media team to finally put Twitter on their phones and tweet during all service hours, rather than just 9-5, but at the end of the day, he is limited by the reign of the union, the dysfunctional mid-level management, the board (none of whom ride Metro except for Dr. Loh, and even then I think she only takes the S-Series/16th Street Line bus), and WMATA's legal department.

He has already somewhat "lied" to the public. At the last board meeting, he said unless there was some sort of huge issue, we would never see no less than 8 7Ks out on the system ever again. As of right now (11:35am), there are only 5 7Ks out on the system. Last night there weren't any at all. Unacceptable. 

He has publicly mentioned that a priority for him is to return to ATO, which really hasn't been a priority for either the agency or the board. Keep in mind that the system was specifically designed for ATO, and not running ATO is basically what's causing the physical infrastructure to deteriorate. Not many people know this, but the trains can be operated without any sort of human intervention onboard. An operator is just necessary to turn each train upon reaching the line's terminus. There were a couple notable cases I read about in the 1990s/2000s where an operator stepped off the train momentarily at a station, the doors closed automatically, and the train departed and continued to service stations on the line. Passengers eventually figured out what was going on, broke into a cab, and pressed the emergency brake. Quite impressive for a system that was designed in the 1960s IMO. 

There's a lot I want answers for. Like how the project to fix the immersed/exposed tube on the Yellow Line under the Washington Channel was originally supposed to take 3-5 months, but now is estimated to take 8 months. Where did the extra 3-5 months come from? Is the tunnel in worse condition than expected? 

The point of my quasi-rant for WMATA, CATS, or any transit agency is that you can have a great GM, but unless there is a huge systemic change in your agency, the GM is essentially a powerless figurehead. 

Edited August 15, 2022 by LKN704

[15895]

26 minutes ago, LKN704 said:

Based on the platform layout, that's either the lower level platform of L'Enfant Plaza or Metro Center, though I think it is Metro Center given how brightly lit the upper level seems to be. 

In any case, I hope him and his wife got on that train real quick after they snapped that photo as there wouldn't be another one for 20-30 minutes!!!

I'm cautiously optimistic about Randy. His Twitter account is nice, and it looks like he got WMATA's social media team to finally put Twitter on their phones and tweet during all service hours, rather than just 9-5, but at the end of the day, he is limited by the reign of the union, the dysfunctional mid-level management, the board (none of whom ride Metro except for Dr. Loh, and even then I think she only takes the S-Series/16th Street Line bus), and WMATA's legal department.

He has already somewhat "lied" to the public. At the last board meeting, he said unless there was some sort of huge issue, we would never see no less than 8 7Ks out on the system ever again. As of right now (11:35am), there are only 5 7Ks out on the system. Last night there weren't any at all. Unacceptable. 

He has publicly mentioned that a priority for him is to return to ATO, which really hasn't been a priority for either the agency or the board. Keep in mind that the system was specifically designed for ATO, and not running ATO is basically what's causing the physical infrastructure to deteriorate. Not many people know this, but the trains can be operated without any sort of human intervention onboard. An operator is just necessary to turn each train upon reaching the line's terminus. There were a couple notable cases I read about in the 1990s/2000s where an operator stepped off the train momentarily at a station, the doors closed automatically, and the train departed and continued to service stations on the line. Passengers eventually figured out what was going on, broke into a cab, and pressed the emergency brake. Quite impressive for a system that was designed in the 1960s IMO. 

There's a lot I want answers for. Like how the project to fix the immersed/exposed tube on the Yellow Line under the Washington Channel was originally supposed to take 3-5 months, but now is estimated to take 8 months. Where did the extra 3-5 months come from? Is the tunnel in worse condition than expected? 

The point of my quasi-rant for WMATA, CATS, or any transit agency is that you can have a great GM, but unless there is a huge systemic change in your agency, the GM is essentially a powerless figurehead. 

Semi-related the horrible dark side of me is watching MBTA and sort of thinking “thank god others feel the pain” xD. Obviously I don’t wish that on other cities but I can at least appreciate the memes coming out of it :p 
 

MBTA has been a mess lately on par with WMATA probably. Even a bus on their bus bridge that was supposed to cover for a down metro line caught on fire lol. It’s not funny but geez. American transit definitely needs hardcore investments. 

Edited August 15, 2022 by AirNostrumMAD

[LKN704]

1 hour ago, AirNostrumMAD said:

Semi-related the horrible dark side of me is watching MBTA and sort of thinking “thank god others feel the pain” xD. Obviously I don’t wish that on other cities but I can at least appreciate the memes coming out of it :p 
 

MBTA has been a mess lately on par with WMATA probably. Even a bus on their bus bridge that was supposed to cover for a down metro line caught on fire lol. It’s not funny but geez. American transit definitely needs hardcore investments. 

I have ridden the T in years but one thing that's always stuck out about the T is how old their infrastructure is, and how little they have done to modernize the system. The T subway looks, feels, rides, and smells old. Stations and trains are nasty and appear to be falling apart.

I get funding is hard and automation takes time, but IMO every subway system should now either be automated, or be making progress towards modern signals and/or automation. It's telling to me that the three systems in the US that look the most run down (Chicago, Philly, and Boston) are also the ones that lack automation on any of their lines and are basically running an operation that haven't been modernized since the early 20th century. 

IMO WMATA has two things going for it in terms of safety that the MBTA lacks. The first is the close involvement of the federal government and the FTA because of WMATA's service area. Congress created an independent WMATA oversight agency in 2017 (the WMSC) and I don't think they have taken similar measures to other agencies with safety issues. The other is that even with ATO turned off, WMATA has so many automated safety measures built into the system that work to mitigate various risks present in older systems like the T.  

[kermit]

4 hours ago, LKN704 said:

It's telling to me that the three systems in the US that look the most run down (Chicago, Philly, and Boston) are also the ones that lack automation on any of their lines and are basically running an operation that haven't been modernized since the early 20th century.

I'll speak up for CTA here. Operationally CTA has been a top performer over the past few years. Thanks to Rahm and Ray LaHood, CTA was able to spend a ton of federal money on rebuilding existing lines (Brown, Red,  portions of Blue and Red-Brown grade separation) rather than on stupid expansions (King of Prussia extension!) and that has (IMO) paid off with very reliable service at reasonable frequencies.  [and at the risk of being pedantic, the Orange Line was built and opened in the early 1990s, so late 20th century improvements did happen.]

On the other hand, public safety on the L has been problematic recently and CTA has been very slow to respond.

Full automation on WMATA is pretty simple thanks to the completely grade separated system. I am not sure if any MBTA lines are fully grade separated. In Chicago the Brown, Orange, Yellow and Pink lines still have large sections of ground-level operations. Automation is theoretically possible in those places but much more complicated and less efficient than on the WMATA. (and I am constantly amazed that CTA keeps electrified third rail at ground level adjacent to sidewalks)

Edited August 15, 2022 by kermit

[LKN704]

26 minutes ago, kermit said:

I'll speak up for CTA here. Operationally CTA has been a top performer over the past few years. Thanks to Rahm and Ray LaHood, CTA was able to spend a ton of federal money on rebuilding existing lines (Brown, Red,  portions of Blue and Red-Brown grade separation) rather than on stupid expansions (King of Prussia extension!) and that has (IMO) paid off with very reliable service at reasonable frequencies.  [and at the risk of being pedantic, the Orange Line was built and opened in the early 1990s].

On the other hand, public safety on the L has been problematic recently and CTA has been very slow to respond.

Full automation on WMATA is pretty simple thanks to the completely grade separated system. I am not sure if any MBTA lines are fully grade separated. In Chicago the Brown, Orange, Yellow and Pink lines still have large sections of ground-level operations. Automation is theoretically possible in those places but much more complicated than on the metro. (and I am constantly amazed at CTA keeping electrified third rail at ground level adjacent to sidewalks)

Good info on CTA, thanks!

I often forget that CTA has grade crossings...it reminds me very much of the LIRR network on Long Island with the third rail near sidewalks and grade crossings. With the exception of the Green Line, I believe all of MBTA's actual subway lines are entirely grade separated. By ground-level operations, do you mean an alignment that happens to run at surface level, or one that runs at surface level with grade crossings? 

If you meant the former, a substantial (I think somewhere around 50%) of Metro runs at surface level, but it is my understanding they had to install various subsystems to allow for automation at surface level.

I'm not sure of the technical name of this system (you may know), but the fence surrounding Metro's tracks at surface level has these little boxes attached that are directly connected to the train control system. If the boxes detect movement, the train control system automatically stops any train in the vicinity. I've never seen any other rapid transit system (at least in the US) with that kind of feature. It's hard to describe, but you can see the boxes on the fence in the image below:

I'm assuming that such a system is probably costly/challenging to install on a line that is already operational. 

[kermit]

3 hours ago, LKN704 said:

 By ground-level operations, do you mean an alignment that happens to run at surface level, or one that runs at surface level with grade crossings?

Sorry, I was using "at grade" as shorthand for ground level WITH gated road crossings (just like the Blue Line). Running at ground level alone is not a big deal (e.g. I-66 center running), but if the rail right of way can get 'contaminated' with pedestrians and cars its a different story. Below is the Google street view of the northern end of the Brown line where line fouling can happen, and can’t really be remediated. The Orange Line in Fairfax County is a much easier to manage network because it lacks these interfaces.

 

Edited August 15, 2022 by kermit

[15895]

I didn’t think this was appropriate for the “Learning from other places” due to the fact DC region is just too different from the Charlotte region, but New Carrollton MD got some Infrastructure $ for a new train hub. (It received $20M) but there are things I'd love to see Charlotte do similar but obviously catered to the laws of gravity for the region.

Union Station is the main multimodal hub, 2nd busiest in the country and is going through billion dollar renovations but also, there are 3 other major hubs, all funded now, that will be major multimodal hubs (Crystal City, Silver Spring, New Carrollton, Union Station) 

The smallest of the hubs is New Carrollton, MD. It will be served by Light Rail, Metro, all day 7/day/week “commuter” train service (I don’t like calling it commuter. But I don’t think we say “suburban train” in the USA) and Amtrak. 
https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2022/08/25/new-carrollton-metro-train-hall/

 

When I lived in Charlotte, I used to always find the South Park station pretty novel. It felt like a secondary hub and I thought it was so cool. I’d love to see Charlotte’s transit Centers upgraded or maybe a couple more Transit Centers in say Ballantyne and throughout the county. They’d be smaller due to ridership but I think something smaller scale like a modernized SouthPark could work here and there and be great.

Or maybe some of the light rail stations with lower utilization can be turned into a larger public/private partner ship community transit center. 

Edited August 25, 2022 by AirNostrumMAD

[NCMike1990]

Bing Maps has updated the satellite imagery for the Charlotte metro area. It's 2 sets of imagery. One from March 2022 and the other from June 2022. The image quality is also better than Google Maps, imo.

Unfortunately, Bing's street view is still from January 2015, so it really needs an update. That's one area that Google Maps does better.

https://www.bing.com/maps/#

 

[15895]

Geez, Austin got several new towers announced today one being over 800 Ft. 
 

see last post but holy smokes. They are leaving other cities in the dust. 

 

[jednc]

I wasn't sure where to put this...

Brown Bag Seafood is opening in Uptown and Southend, but they recently opened their first local store in Birkdale Village. I assume they will all look about the same, so here is a sneak peak at what's coming...