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What southern city do you see has adequate train and bus transportation? Because I don't see one, not even Atlanta with MARTA. We are car dependent and that is not going to change. They can do it in New York, Philly, Boston, DC, but not here.
But yet the opposite is happening. Those cities have slowed down while Atlanta, Charlotte, Charleston, Raleigh, Nashville, and Greenville have sped up. All heavy car cities, all doing just fine, all "hip" with millennials...
Isn't Austin, Texas like millenial USA right now? What pub trans do they have going on? Looks like another sprawled out mess to me, yet the city is doing just fine. Like I said, people go where the job, housing, and services are. If Charleston can keep up with that, we'll be fine. Once we run out of jobs, affordable houses, or proper medical and civil care, but still have people coming here in droves, thats when the problems will take their toll.
Houston has an all of the above approach to traffic, and it works. Sure they have traffic but alternate routes, park and ride, metro busses and oh yeah...Toll Roads that have taken to pressure off expanding existing 4 land and six lane roads.
Weren't you trying to make a point about millennials? In order to reduce housing costs, we have to build more, not stop it. Rent and buy is so high because supply is not matched with demand. A lot of people want to live downtown and in Mt P, but cant find a place. Same with office space. There isn't much office space in Mount Pleasant, forcing higher lease rates. West Ashley's lack isnt as severe, but theres still a lack.
Being close to the ocean which is seen as a luxury, and lack of space also play a role. Mt Pleasant has a lack of space. It's boxed in by water on 3 sides and a national park on the other. Summerville doesn't have that problem, devaluing the land and making things more affordable. We cant add more room to Mt Pleasant unless we build land artificially, which wont happen, so the only other solution is to build more, so theres more rooms and more offices. The higher the density, the less traffic can be hurt.
You don't have to add pub trans to make solve Mt P's traffic woes. People aren't going to use it. Easiest solution is bringing more jobs into Mt P so Mt P residents dont have to commute to downtown, N Charleston, etc. You keep people in, they have to travel less. And with Mt P's income levels, degree levels, and low crime, corruption, etc issues, it shouldn't be that hard attracting white collar office. The city just has to make a push for it, and build more room for the companies to come.
Houston has an all of the above approach to traffic, and it works. Sure they have traffic but alternate routes, park and ride, metro busses and oh yeah...Toll Roads that have taken to pressure off expanding existing 4 land and six lane roads.
I was just naming booming southeastern cities, but you're right.
Weren't you trying to make a point about millennials? In order to reduce housing costs, we have to build more, not stop it. Rent and buy is so high because supply is not matched with demand. A lot of people want to live downtown and in Mt P, but cant find a place. Same with office space. There isn't much office space in Mount Pleasant, forcing higher lease rates. West Ashley's lack isnt as severe, but theres still a lack.
Being close to the ocean which is seen as a luxury, and lack of space also play a role. Mt Pleasant has a lack of space. It's boxed in by water on 3 sides and a national park on the other. Summerville doesn't have that problem, devaluing the land and making things more affordable. We cant add more room to Mt Pleasant unless we build land artificially, which wont happen, so the only other solution is to build more, so theres more rooms and more offices. The higher the density, the less traffic can be hurt.
You don't have to add pub trans to make solve Mt P's traffic woes. People aren't going to use it. Easiest solution is bringing more jobs into Mt P so Mt P residents dont have to commute to downtown, N Charleston, etc. You keep people in, they have to travel less. And with Mt P's income levels, degree levels, and low crime, corruption, etc issues, it shouldn't be that hard attracting white collar office. The city just has to make a push for it, and build more room for the companies to come.
I'm not for stopping growth. Like the letter writer, I believe there needs to be more of it close to where the people work. If the number of housing units close in or even in the city exceeds demand, let's see how long the prices will remain unaffordable.
I'm a fan of density, but the article makes it seem like the reason Mount Pleasant doesn't have more local jobs is because of commute times and unaffordability. I know none of my current nor previous employers could care less how far I had to travel for work. Mount P does have affordable homes, but you're not going to find a 3000 sq ft home on half an acre in Old Village for $200K. New York isnt affordable by my standards, but people still live and work there.
The fact that employer moved to the neck area just to attract employees who were apparently only attracted to commute times sounds like that isn't the whole story. I doubt any of his employees lives in the neck area of Charleston anyway. Even so, he still had what I assume is the employees he wanted even if they had to commute a whole 15 minutes from Hanahan or wherever. He literally moved his business only 20 minutes away. I get the point of the article but the whole thing smells like BS.
Just looked it up, Cantey Technologies is based on Coleman. They apparently moved less than 10 min away. If you were commuting from anywhere other than MP the new commute is negligible. The entire article is bunk.
But yeah, Mount P needs high paying jobs, but housing affordability is obviously not the problem.
Density everywhere here that's not the peninsula or very near in WA is a complete joke. SFH lots and setback from the street are huge compared to where I moved from. I don't understand it, but for whatever reason people don't seem to mind sprawl and the traffic that creeps along with it as their new area gets more built out.
We all make our own decisions as where to live and we also realize it is driven by so many factors. You weigh the good with the bad and the tolerable with the intolerable. Personally, after 30 years here I've decided to make room for the influx of those streaming in and am swapping the beautiful coast and her humidity for the beautiful mountains of Colorado. I'll always love Charleston but my fondest memories will center around the Charleston of old, not the present day Charleston and what she has become...
Just because there is a demand to live in Mt Pleasant doesn't mean Mt Pleasant has to meet the demand. Yes, housing prices will continue to rise until the market reaches a balancing point. Does that mean some younger folks may not be able to afford to live there? Yes. So what? There will be young people that do have well paying enough jobs to afford it.
Sometimes you can't afford to live where you want and those that can afford it shouldn't be forced to give up the things they value to make it affordable to you. We don't want to live in a mini Manhattan where what's considered affordable are broom closets built on top of each other.
As far as the article is concerned, why do you think you could locate a re-badged Geek Squad with low paying IT workers in a high cost area, then complain that your low paid workers can't afford to live near by? On the flip side, places like San Fran has a large IT footprint with tons of IT startups. Ever try to find housing there? It can be done if the experience you're offering as an employer is worth trading for having to get room mates and living tight.
Some people will moan that's a drawbridge mentality. So what if it is? They got here in time before the bridge needed to come up. Maybe the bridge needed to come up before they got here, but it didn't. That doesn't change whether the bridge needs to come up now.
Last edited by Charlestondata; 11-09-2015 at 08:27 AM..
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