I’ve been thinking about all the downtowns I’d love to visit and learn from, and I think one of the cities that really keeps me curious is Charlotte, North Carolina. After all, it was this city, perhaps, that gave OKC leaders the initial hope that they too could land a major league team (Charlotte, home to the Hornets, and then deemed worthy of a quick replacement team when things went south between the city and Hornets owner George Shinn). And now, this in: Charlotte has a light rail system going downtown and to the city’s airport.
Voters approved creating light rail in 1998. The system opened in November, and reported initial ridership averaging 8,700 daily weekdays. By February, ridership was up to 14,000.
Charlotte has transitioned into a major financial center, and its downtown skyline includes a 60-story tower built for Bank of America. The city is home to seven Fortune 500 companies and its population is 630,000.
Here’s a link to the skyscraper page forum on Charlotte.
And here is a slideshow of downtown Charlotte:
Finally, let’s take a ride on the LYNX, shall we?
May 6th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
This is pretty interesting. I was in Charlotte a few years back for a journalism conference.
It’s quite a nice place.
Here in South Florida, the mass transit is pretty … well… non-existent…especially for an area of something like 6 million folks.
We have Tri-Rail, which runs from Palm Beach County through Broward and Miami-Dade counties. But when I say run, I really mean it’s a single north-south route.
That’s right — no east-west. Except in Miami, where they have a separate line you can board, but it’s a dump and the cars are way past their prime.
May 6th, 2008 at 9:09 pm
[…] good friend Steve Lackmeyer brings up an interesting topic on his blog over at the NewsOK, the Web site of my former employer, The Oklahoman. The Lackman […]