The Rhino Times will hold its Country Club Schmoozefest on Thursday, May 25 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Starmount Forest Country Club at 1 Sam Sneed Drive. Those who sign in and wear a name tag are welcome to enjoy free hors d’oeuvres and beer and wine (while supplies last).
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Nobody said that building the $78 million Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts as a public-private partnership would be easy.
The start of the site work has been delayed because the contractor and the city couldn’t agree on a price. This is not good news, but it isn’t the disaster that some have made it out to be. The city can do some of the site work itself and the contract can be rebid.
Coliseum Director Matt Brown, during the negotiations, said that he was surprised at the attitude of Skanska-Rentenbach, the contractor for construction of the downtown facility, about the site work contract.
It seems, in the long run, the city may be better off finding out about the contractor’s attitude now rather than halfway through the project.
This is not the first delay and it is unlikely to be the last delay in the completion of The Tanger. But compared to the construction of the Downtown Greenway, another public-private partnership that is past the 15 year mark now, The Tanger is moving along at lightning speed.
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Until I read the article in this issue of the Rhino Times, I didn’t know much about Airbnb. I thought it was renting a room in someone’s house, which didn’t sound appealing to me. I didn’t realize that you can rent an apartment or an entire house on Airbnb. I started looking up places in cities I frequent and there are some really good deals in great locations. I can’t wait to give it a try.
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The Muse and I took a trip to Charleston last weekend. Greensboro may want to be Charlotte, and Greensboro is never going to be Charleston, however that doesn’t mean that we can’t learn something from Charleston.
In Greensboro we seem to have the idea that sidewalks have to wide, flat and completely unobstructed. Charleston has a different attitude. Old trees are allowed to exist right in the middle of sidewalks, tree roots are allowed to buckle the sidewalks, making them far from flat but keeping the tree alive, and if there isn’t space for a wide sidewalk, a narrow one will do.
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Bus ridership is down 18 percent in Los Angeles. It’s also down in Phoenix, Miami and Orlando.
One reason is the economy. With the economy picking up and gas prices down, people find it far more convenient to drive than to ride the bus.
Public transportation always takes huge subsidies from the government and it’s a double edged sword because the more successful the public transportation is at attracting riders, the more it costs the government to run it.
So if a transportation system adds stops and buses to make riding the bus more attractive, the result is it costs more to run the system.
