I’ve really tried to make some sense out of Charlotte spending $3.8 million for electronic parking signs for Uptown. But I just cannot shake the fact that such signs seem intended for something contained like an airport, office park, or college campus rather than a jumble of busy city streets.

Besides, people seem to fall into two categories when they drive into urban settings. One, they call their destination ahead of time and scope out parking in detail, or they just wing it and drive toward their location looking for those giant green “P” signs or, on game day, some guy with a flag. Either way, the electronic signs do not seem to add much.

Oh wait! Maybe the signs can blink and change color like Ron Tober’s Disco Party Transit Canopy. Trade Street needs more flash and what better way than a $1 million bus stop. It’ll make people ride transit, you know. Center City Partners is behind that idea, too.

Meanwhile, one traffic choking practice seems to be spreading. The Wackenhut security folks working the Bank of Wachovia buildings routinely commandeer a lane in order to conduct security shakedowns of delivery vehicles. Maybe we need to save one of those awful Uptown surface parking lots for remote shakedowns and keep the traffic lanes moving.

disco
Transit! Uptown!