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I would guess that by 2050 we would definitely have more commuter rail in Charlotte including a line to Gastonia, the long sought for Lake Norman, and possibly one to Kannapolis.
As for light rail - I would love to see the Blue Line extended to at least Carowinds (NC/Mecklenburg side) which I think is more likely than to Rock Hill. It would still serve as a major Park and Ride stop for South Carolina Residents and also aid the amusement park. On the other side of the line - I would think extended the Blue line (when built to UNCC) to the Motorspeedway and Concord Mills is the most sense and most likely for the light rail to cross county lines.
I never said tech companies would be the reason why commuter trains would be built. I merely used them as an example of how telecommuting isn't going to result in this massive decentralization that you're claiming. Again, data centers don't employ a lot of people anyway so that doesn't help your argument.
Data centers do employ massive numbers of people and almost all of them are remote. It's decentralization on a mass scale.
If they happen to be office workers, there is no need for them to be in expensive skyscrapers. We can only hope that these jobs will even be in the USA. IBM is managing its vast servers farms in RTP with people located in Dublique, Iowa. It's far cheaper to put their offices there. It's industry, that didn't exist 20 years ago, employing vast numbers of people, who have no need to be in a center city to do their job.
My point that is that technology changes, including those which have yet to appear, are not going to drive new jobs into the centers of cities as they once did in the 19th & 20th centuries. The data center & server farm example is a good one, I am glad you brought up Yahoo & Google.
The trends are not there which would justify spending a billion+ dollars to build a commuter rail line from Rock Hill to the center of Charlotte.
I would guess that by 2050 we would definitely have more commuter rail in Charlotte including a line to Gastonia, the long sought for Lake Norman, and possibly one to Kannapolis.
As for light rail - I would love to see the Blue Line extended to at least Carowinds (NC/Mecklenburg side) which I think is more likely than to Rock Hill. It would still serve as a major Park and Ride stop for South Carolina Residents and also aid the amusement park. On the other side of the line - I would think extended the Blue line (when built to UNCC) to the Motorspeedway and Concord Mills is the most sense and most likely for the light rail to cross county lines.
I'm with you on extending the BLE extension to the Speedway! I also think that extending light rail at least from Pineville to Carowinds also makes sense!
"Gateway Village, an uptown office project by Bank of America, was also considered. The bank had offered Microsoft substantial incentives including free employee parking to lure the company to the campus that is under construction downtown. Ultimately, Microsoft picked Arrowpoint because the park offered room for future expansion, "
"Gateway Village, an uptown office project by Bank of America, was also considered. The bank had offered Microsoft substantial incentives including free employee parking to lure the company to the campus that is under construction downtown. Ultimately, Microsoft picked Arrowpoint because the park offered room for future expansion, "
The complete opposite of what you stated as "Uptown lost to Arrowpoint." It's called business and future growth.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Barфsa
The trends are not there which would justify spending a billion+ dollars to build a commuter rail line from Rock Hill to the center of Charlotte.
Are you from Canada or something? In many American cities of Charlotte's size and larger, there is commuter rail traveling from suburbs to the anchor city. This isn't disputable.
I'm with you on extending the BLE extension to the Speedway! I also think that extending light rail at least from Pineville to Carowinds also makes sense!
Carowinds? Can't see that leg being busy during school or winter. Ditto with the speedway.
Carolina Place/Ballantyne & Concord Mills seems like a good traffic generator? Still I doubt any that will happen this century...
CityLynx Gold Line, Lynx Red Line, Lynx Blue Line Extension, Bus Rapid Transit (or slim chance Light Rail) down independence and the longest shot being streetcar down Monroe Road. Thats all we all on here ever get to look forward to one day (unless anyone here is 5 or 10)
Anything else within 50 years or so - IMO - is a long shot, pipe dream.
The complete opposite of what you stated as "Uptown lost to Arrowpoint." It's called business and future growth. Are you from Canada or something? In many American cities of Charlotte's size and larger, there is commuter rail traveling from suburbs to the anchor city. This isn't disputable.
I don't understand your first remark about Microsoft. You said you didn't believe it, so I linked an article that proved it happened. They tried to lure Microsoft to the center city, MS wasn't having it. I think that Gates was involved and they failed to impress him.
I agree that your second comment about trains isn't disputable. Some cities do have commuter trains. How are any of these unnamed cities applicable to the situation in Charlotte 2050? Tell us that, then we can judge if it would be relevant or not.
I don't understand your first remark about Microsoft. You said you didn't believe it, so I linked an article that proved it happened. They tried to lure Microsoft to the center city, MS wasn't having it. I think that Gates was involved and they failed to impress him.
You specifically said "Microsoft's largest development center on the East Coast is in Charlotte. They turned down, twice, efforts to get them to locate in the center city and instead located out in the suburbs. I believe this is ~3,000 jobs." Your link states the exact reason Microsoft preferred the Arrowpoint location rather than the Uptown location. More space. Microsoft has a very nice campus, entirely to itself. That wouldn't be possible if it were built at the location Uptown your link refers to.
You make it sound as if Charlotte asked Bill himself if he would put the jobs in Uptown and Bill said no because Uptown wasn't worthy enough to add the Microsoft name to the list of corporate businesses, the suburbs were. That is far from the case. At least according to the link you posted. Did you get fired from Microsoft?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Barфsa
I agree that your second comment about trains isn't disputable. Some cities do have commuter trains. How are any of these unnamed cities applicable to the situation in Charlotte 2050? Tell us that, then we can judge if it would be relevant or not.
Considering everyone posting is correcting almost everything you say, there's no "us." No one can tell the future, but it's very obvious the trains will serve the suburbs in the future. You're on your own if you're trying to dispute that.
Data centers do employ massive numbers of people and almost all of them are remote. It's decentralization on a mass scale.
If they happen to be office workers, there is no need for them to be in expensive skyscrapers. We can only hope that these jobs will even be in the USA. IBM is managing its vast servers farms in RTP with people located in Dublique, Iowa. It's far cheaper to put their offices there. It's industry, that didn't exist 20 years ago, employing vast numbers of people, who have no need to be in a center city to do their job.
My point that is that technology changes, including those which have yet to appear, are not going to drive new jobs into the centers of cities as they once did in the 19th & 20th centuries. The data center & server farm example is a good one, I am glad you brought up Yahoo & Google.
The trends are not there which would justify spending a billion+ dollars to build a commuter rail line from Rock Hill to the center of Charlotte.
Data centers absolutely do NOT "employ massive numbers of people." Where are you getting this from? The Google data center in Lenoir, which represented a $600 million initial investment, only employs 120 people. AT&T's $200 million data center in Kings Mountain will only provide 100 jobs. Apple's $1 billion data center in Maiden only employs 50 people. Facebook's two data centers in Forest City, which represent an investment of almost $1 billion, only employ a total of 40 people. So we're talking about a total of four data centers for high-profile companies, representing a combined investment of about $3 billion dollars, only employing a little over 300 people.
So unfortunately, you have yet to prove that changes in technology will not result in jobs continuing to locate in the core of metropolitan areas (central cities and surrounding suburban areas). It's nothing more than speculation on your part and if current trends are any indicator, it only demonstrates that metropolitan areas are disproportionately attracting jobs. The decentralization that's occurring economically is happening within metropolitan areas, where there are increasingly more nodes of employment--which makes the case for the impending need for commuter rail.
Carowinds? Can't see that leg being busy during school or winter. Ditto with the speedway.
Carolina Place/Ballantyne & Concord Mills seems like a good traffic generator? Still I doubt any that will happen this century...
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You seemed to not have read my post fully.
I said Carowinds terminus as a Southern extension was more likely than Rock Hill as it would stay within the Meck County and still serve as a huge commuter Park and Ride. The same point goes for the Concord Mills terminus.
Concord Mills and CMS I think is an eventual given though because I think it will include shared build costs with Cabbarus/Concord.
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