The Naked City Blog

Just back from three days in the Bay Area, and came away with a few thoughts that seem relevant to the transit- and transportation-besotted Naked City readership:

1. I drove U.S. 101 from the airport south to Palo Alto one day, and the next drove from Palo Alto to San Jose.

One observation: Although San Francisco and San Jose have more than 900,000 residents each and the stretch between the two where Palo Alto lies is full of municipalities, I saw far less litter on 101 than you see on Charlotte’s highways. Either they pick up the trash more often or people don’t litter as heavily. Makes me even more embarrassed at our slovenly roads — both city- and state-maintained roads.

Another: The pavement itself was in horrible shape — even worse than ours. I even saw green stuff (weeds? moss? hard to tell at 60 mph) growing in the pavement potholes and crevices.

2. Took Caltrain from Palo Alto into San Francisco one day. This is Amtrak-like service, which runs as often as every 10-15 minutes during rush hour, and every half hour or so other times, between SF and the suburbs south of San Jose. I took it into the city at midmorning and it was almost filled. Coming home at 3 p.m. it was only partly filled. One-way fare between SF and SJ is $8.25.

Sure would be nice if we could have something similar between, say, Charlotte and Raleigh. Or even Raleigh, Greensboro and Winston-Salem. Anything to relieve I-85 and I-40.

3. San Francisco and its metro area offer multiple public transportation options: In addition to Caltrain, there’s the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), which is “heavy rail,” meaning electrified trains fed through the rail below the train. Muni is San Francisco’s Municipal Transportation Agency, which runs buses, light rail, historic streetcars, electric trolley coaches and the famous cable cars. And that’s just in San Francisco.

Other suburban areas have their own transit systems: e.g. SamTrans, the San Mateo County Transit District which provides bus service and the VTA, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, which has bus and light rail service. And Palo Alto offers free shuttle service around the town.

Near as I can tell, the region needs them all — and more. I took Caltrain, then two buses to get to an art museum, then took a taxi back to the Caltrain station. Trying to make a train (that I missed by 5 minutes) the cabbie went on one of the freeways. It was bumper to bumper. At 2:30 p.m.

What does this mean for Charlotte?

First, we have to be patient. BART began as an idea among civic and government leaders after WWII. Voters approved a BART plan in 1962. Construction started in 1964. It carried its first passengers in 1972.

Second, you can’t have effective transportation in a large metro area without multiple choices.
Unless this region’s economy tanks, we’re going to get a whole lot bigger in coming decades. Starting to build a rapid transit system now will be monumentally cheaper than waiting until we’re already choked and built out, because land will be even more expensive then. Adopting a “roads only” approach because the region hasn’t hit urban densities as high as older, larger areas is about as smart as waiting until your kid is a sophomore in high school to start saving for college.

Just back from three days in the Bay Area, and came away with a few thoughts that seem relevant to the transit- and transportation-besotted Naked City readership:

1. I drove U.S. 101 from the airport south to Palo Alto one day, and the next drove from Palo Alto to San Jose.

One observation: Although San Francisco and San Jose have more than 900,000 residents each and the stretch between the two where Palo Alto lies is full of municipalities, I saw far less litter on 101 than you see on Charlotte’s highways. Either they pick up the trash more often or people don’t litter as heavily. Makes me even more embarrassed at our slovenly roads — both city- and state-maintained roads.

Another: The pavement itself was in horrible shape — even worse than ours. I even saw green stuff (weeds? moss? hard to tell at 60 mph) growing in the pavement potholes and crevices.

2. Took Caltrain from Palo Alto into San Francisco one day. This is Amtrak-like service, which runs as often as every 10-15 minutes during rush hour, and every half hour or so other times, between SF and the suburbs south of San Jose. I took it into the city at midmorning and it was almost filled. Coming home at 3 p.m. it was only partly filled. One-way fare between SF and SJ is $8.25.

Sure would be nice if we could have something similar between, say, Charlotte and Raleigh. Or even Raleigh, Greensboro and Winston-Salem. Anything to relieve I-85 and I-40.

3. San Francisco and its metro area offer multiple public transportation options: In addition to Caltrain, there’s the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), which is “heavy rail,” meaning electrified trains fed through the rail below the train. Muni is San Francisco’s Municipal Transportation Agency, which runs buses, light rail, historic streetcars, electric trolley coaches and the famous cable cars. And that’s just in San Francisco.

Other suburban areas have their own transit systems: e.g. SamTrans, the San Mateo County Transit District which provides bus service and the VTA, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, which has bus and light rail service. And Palo Alto offers free shuttle service around the town.

Near as I can tell, the region needs them all — and more. I took Caltrain, then two buses to get to an art museum, then took a taxi back to the Caltrain station. Trying to make a train (that I missed by 5 minutes) the cabbie went on one of the freeways. It was bumper to bumper. At 2:30 p.m.

What does this mean for Charlotte?

First, we have to be patient. BART began as an idea among civic and government leaders after WWII. Voters approved a BART plan in 1962. Construction started in 1964. It carried its first passengers in 1972.

Second, you can’t have effective transportation in a large metro area without multiple choices.
Unless this region’s economy tanks, we’re going to get a whole lot bigger in coming decades. Starting to build a rapid transit system now will be monumentally cheaper than waiting until we’re already choked and built out, because land will be even more expensive then. Adopting a “roads only” approach because the region hasn’t hit urban densities as high as older, larger areas is about as smart as waiting until your kid is a sophomore in high school to start saving for college.

Got this e-mail, sent to a large number of recipients, from a former Charlotte City Council member who, like many of you, doesn’t support light rail. Here’s his comment, unedited:

“It is my belief that truth always wins. The fact that socialist propagandists and smart growth advocates want public rail systems for control and taxation to redistribute wealth, will fail. America is strong because Americans are good. We should begin the process of eliminating the negative messages produced by those who would overthrow our values and culture by countering them at every turn. Let’s get the message out .”

Um, does that mean if you support light rail you’re a socialist? Good grief.

And that to support light rail means you want to overturn American values and culture? Note, the e-mailer says “negative messages” should be eliminated. Down with that pesky freedom of speech thingie.

Reality: Plenty of Americans think light rail is a good public investment. Plenty don’t. There’s room for many opinions in America. Many of you who comment on this blog are living proof of that.

To disagree about what kind of public transportation should get public money doesn’t make anyone a socialist. Some folks need to get a grip.

Got this e-mail, sent to a large number of recipients, from a former Charlotte City Council member who, like many of you, doesn’t support light rail. Here’s his comment, unedited:

“It is my belief that truth always wins. The fact that socialist propagandists and smart growth advocates want public rail systems for control and taxation to redistribute wealth, will fail. America is strong because Americans are good. We should begin the process of eliminating the negative messages produced by those who would overthrow our values and culture by countering them at every turn. Let’s get the message out .”

Um, does that mean if you support light rail you’re a socialist? Good grief.

And that to support light rail means you want to overturn American values and culture? Note, the e-mailer says “negative messages” should be eliminated. Down with that pesky freedom of speech thingie.

Reality: Plenty of Americans think light rail is a good public investment. Plenty don’t. There’s room for many opinions in America. Many of you who comment on this blog are living proof of that.

To disagree about what kind of public transportation should get public money doesn’t make anyone a socialist. Some folks need to get a grip.

You watch. We, the taxpayers, are going to wind up shelling out to fix the mess left behind by elected officials who let developers rape East Charlotte.

This morning a panel from the nonprofit Urban Land Institute presented its recommendations for what to do about Eastland Mall. Read tomorrow’s Observer for details. Here’s the story from Friday’s Charlotte Observer. The report is also on the city’s web site.

The ULI panel is recommending a far-reaching redevelopment of almost the whole Eastland site. New name, new streets, scraping the site clean and starting afresh. It will be expensive and will likely require public investment in better infrastructure, and possibly other incentives. Without it, they said, East Charlotte will be in trouble.

If property values there tank, and crime rises, the whole city will be in trouble because East Charlotte is a huge chunk of territory.

Mayor Pat McCrory, who spoke at the presentation, was pointed but precise in his “corridors of crap” analysis. “We built pure crap in a lot of these corridors,” he said. He referred to the design of commercial buildings throughout East Charlotte, built in the 1960s and ’70s under what he rightly termed “lousy zoning,” and slack local ordinances that didn’t require sidewalks, trees, parks or much of anything.

Here’s the underlying problem. For decades your elected officials – both city and county – just rolled over for developers. They took their money, in campaign donations, and let the developers have their way. Didn’t even need pimps.

The ULI panel found one reason Eastland Mall has been in such distress the past 10 years is a “dramatic oversupply of retailing in the area.” The number of retail square feet built (30 square feet per capita) is 50 percent more than the national average of 20 square feet per capita.

The panel found “obsolete, deteriorated” strip shopping centers. It found the public realm – that means streets, sidewalks, parks and public open space – “does not match consumer expectations.” It found that multiple big box stores allowed to be built in the area have taken away Eastland’s customer base.

The market in the area isn’t bad, they said. There’s just way, way too much retail space to serve it. And who approved all that excessive retail space? Your City Council. (In earlier years, the county commissioners approved stuff outside city limits, so they probably share blame.)

Whose zoning rules were so slack they allowed ugly strip shopping centers? Your City Council. Whose ordinances were so slack they didn’t require sidewalks or trees or open space? Your City Council and your county commissioners.

They were sweet-talked by developers and didn’t believe in putting onerous restrictions on the private sector – anywhere, not just in East Charlotte. Let the market sort it out, they said as they cavalierly over-zoned retail space in the University City area in 1993.

In 1999 the City Council approved a rezoning for Lowe’s and Target big box stores on Albemarle Road that the planners, the planning commission and neighborhood residents begged them to deny it, saying it would cause ugly sprawl and undermine Eastland Mall’s viability. Thanks to Patrick Cannon, Malachi Greene, Mike Jackson, Nasif Majeed, Don Reid and Lynn Wheeler, who voted for the rezoning, those predictions came true.

Now, 30 years after Eastland Mall opened, it’s clear somebody (mall developer Henry Faison tops the list, but it’s a long list) made a ton of money on the mall and the attending “crap” on Albemarle Road.

And if anyone ever has to clean up the mess elected officials allowed them to leave behind, it’s probably going to be all of the rest of us.

This is an open letter to the state education official who was kind enough to send a letter to our home last week:

Dear Dr. Elsie C. Leak:

If someone gave Nobel Prizes for impenetrable writing, I’d nominate your recent letter. Your command of educratese is superb. I have read it through several times and still haven’t the faintest idea what it is about or why you spent state money to mail it to me.

You must understand, Dr. Leak, that I’m not an illiterate or uncaring parent. As it happens, I scored over 700 on my verbal SAT and I graduated Phi Beta Kappa from a well-respected university. I have made my living writing – and reading – for decades. But I can’t make heads or tails of your letter.

It is notifying me that Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools “is entering Title I District Improvement under No Child Left Behind.” I even know what a Title I school is – and that my daughter’s school is NOT a Title I school! And still you’ve managed to baffle me.

Here’s what my buddy, Observer education reporter Pete Smolowitz, says the letter means: CMS has slipped into what’s known as Title I District Improvement status, because it did not hit federal benchmarks under the No Child Left Behind Act. Half the state’s school systems now fall into that category. CMS must now spend a certain percentage of federal money on professional development for teachers. Because of the change in status, the money can be used at a wider range of schools, not just the ones with the highest poverty rates.

Dr. Leak, you work at the N.C. Department of Public Instruction. You are associate superintendent of curriculum, instruction and accountability services. Whatever that is. You have a doctorate in education.

Did they teach you how to write this way in education school, or are you just naturally gifted?

Perhaps the work you do does not require clear communication. We, the taxpayers, can only hope that is the case, and that this letter is the only instance during your career that you will be expected to write anything, to anyone.

A word of advice, if you’ll permit me to offer it: Don’t ever even think of going near a job in the classroom. Those kids would eat you alive!

It looks as if the greenway protection gang in south Charlotte won its fight with City Hall. (To be precise, they were fighting Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities, a city department, and the county Park and Recreation Department.)

I wrote about them in my Urban Outlook column Jan. 20, “Once foes, now greenway fans work to save it.” Then I got sick in February (as did everyone in my house) and I didn’t close the loop to make sure what looked likely at the Feb. 7 Mecklenburg county commissioners’ meeting really did happen. It did. Unanimously. The commissioners agreed to use a compromise route for a new sewer line that wouldn’t plunder a bottomland forest along the Lower McAlpine Greenway.

Barry Shearin, CMU’s chief engineer, said today the utility department is proceeding with what was called Alignment 1A, which doesn’t cross the creek or require any disruption of the greenway forest. It turns out, he said, the cost of Alignment 1A (an estimated $4.7 million) is roughly equivalent to the cost originally projected for the project, along what came to be known as Alignment 1, before development in the area made that alignment more expensive.

Here’s the good news and the bad news. I’ll start with the bad. Not only was CMU not looking very creatively for ways to protect the creek and the greenway from sewer construction and easement disruption, the county park and rec department did not appear to be pushing them very hard to do that. After all, the county owns the greenway.

Here’s the good news. Neighbors in the area DID push to protect their greenway, and it was their pressure that inspired CMU to find a more environmentally benign option that didn’t cost much more money. It’s too bad they had to push the park and rec department, too. They used to full advantage the park department’s admirable network of citizen advisory committees, up to and including the park and rec commission.

It worked. Bravo!

South Charlotte neighborhood activist Angela Pumarada shares her perspective, after reading my column of Feb. 17, “Got enough schools? Roads? No? Read on.”

Pumarada, like many who live in fast-growing Charlotte, is fed up with development that gets a green light when we lack enough schools, roads, or other infrastructure to serve it.

But before I get to Angela’s remarks, Jonathan Wells of the city planning department says if you’d like to take that survey on infrastructure needs online, it’s posted now. Here’s a link.

Here’s what Angela said in an e-mail to me:

Over the years I have fought rezoning petitions and won. I have attended meetings with planning staff and developers. One time, at one of those 6 p.m. meetings, I was one of three non-developers in the room. At that meeting I was amazed at how developers argued every change [then-Planning Director] Martin Cramton proposed and how they got their way every single time. Stores the size of Target are allowed pretty much anywhere.

I was involved when the General Development Policies were updated a few years ago. Those are the ones with the infamous grid with points [which make a proposal more likely to win planners’ recommendation] for when a school is nearby. I witnessed how one major developer argued for points when farmland was across from a proposed development and there was not enough infrastructure to get a point, saying planners should envision the future and give points for what could be built there someday. Do city planners have a crystal ball they can consult? I would like to have one of those.

Residents get sick and tired of the developers getting their way. I have an acquaintance who tried hard to get the City Council to adopt an adequate facilities ordinance, but nobody wants to take the heat. Impact fees are taboo here. Other communities thrive even when impact fees are in place. Developers there build schools and roads and some pay a hefty fee to build houses.

In Charlotte, developers line their pockets with money, then walk away, leaving an undue tax burden on local residents. They argue impact fees are taxes on new residents and that taxes should be spread among all citizens. That is hogwash. New development should pay for itself when it comes to schools, roads, parks, fire stations, libraries, etc.

My neighborhood around The Arboretum is pretty much built out and we are seeing incredible traffic issues. With a few newer schools, we are seeing fewer trailers. I feel sorry for the residents of the Ballantyne area.

As far as attending meetings, Charlotte should allow for meetings at other times besides 6 p.m. I can go to an occasional meeting at that time but I cannot commit to regular meetings at 6 p.m.

If the city wants input, they can hold two sessions, one in the morning and one in the evening. I am sure I can get a few people there during the day.

I will be contacting Jonathan Wells and asking for more information on the planned nfrastructure discussions.

Are you sick of trucks and other sloppy drivers gouging huge tracks in your front yard?

Some residents in the southern Mecklenburg subdivision of Providence Plantation got fed up and planted a bunch of 3-foot wooden posts to fend off drivers, and protect their lawns. The city ordered them to remove the posts, saying they were a hazard and violated code.

The residents fought back and – get this – they won. Here’s a story about it.

The Charlotte Department of Transportation looked at the posts and concluded they weren’t much of a hazard because they were relatively small and were on low-speed streets. CDOT rescinded its removal orders and drafted new guidelines.

In our neighborhood people have used metal spikes with plastic tape, fancy metal grillwork (what ARE they thinking?), decorative plastic dividers, wooden stakes with string – you name it.
At our house we use big rocks.

Still the big construction trucks just plow into all those supposed barriers. Anyone have any success stories to share?

Grow ’Em Big

Huntersville is now bigger than Monroe, Salisbury and Statesville.According to 2005 Census estimates, Huntersville has also topped Shelby, Lenoir, Albemarle and Boone, among other well-known municipalities. The 2005 Census estimate puts Huntersville at a little more than 36,000. But Huntersville town staff used 2000 Census data and certificates of occupancy to come up with an estimated 40,082 residents. That puts it neck and neck with Hickory, which was at 40,232 in the 2005 Census estimates. Here’s a story about it.