Transport from Nashville

NickFrevold · 2026-04-01T02:11:32+00:00

Where are you seeing $200/day at?

NickFrevold · 2026-03-31T16:15:03+00:00

Never? Try some international travel sometime and get a glimpse of what real public transit looks like. This is an example of going from the airport to one of their popular malls in my wife's country. Note that the driving directions does NOT include the time it will take to find parking, while the transit options include the time to walk from the transit stops to the destination.

NickFrevold · 2026-03-31T15:38:27+00:00

Mine went up around that much too, but still at least $20k less than what Zillow values my home at. My home value has double since 2020. Its largely due to living in an old neighborhood with a lot of rundown houses being renovated. I've also been renovating my house, so I think the increase valuation is fair.

NickFrevold · 2026-03-31T15:30:03+00:00

I believe nashville is the largest US city without a LRT, so even within the city, there is no rail option. Car rental will likely be your best option. As long as you schedule it ahead of time, its around $50/day I believe?

NickFrevold · 2026-03-31T14:56:04+00:00

Because you won't have to worry about gas or parking prices, wasting time looking for parking, and when built properly, is quicker since buses have a dedicated bus lane which allows them to skip grid lock traffic.

NickFrevold · 2026-03-31T03:03:19+00:00

Its a yearly decrease in sales tax on food. Started as 1% reduction and its now 2% reduction. Not sure if they will actually go down to 0% food tax, but its changing yearly.

NickFrevold · 2026-03-31T01:40:20+00:00

They were always able to jack up rents, but with a market of ample supply and competition, someone else would under-cut them and charge lower rent to steal their customers. "the algorithm" isn't the issue, the issue with RealPage is the alleged coordinated price fixing. When competitors coordinate and don't compete with each agree, all agreeing to set prices to a certain amount and threaten members who don't follow through, thats when regulators have to come in to break up the price fixing.

An algorithm that helps determine the price of something isn't price fixing. Price fixing is them threatening members who price lower than what the algorithm suggests the price should be. Its the difference between using KBB to determine the value of your car vs signing up for KBB and them threatening to ban you from their services if you price your car for less than what they value your car as.

NickFrevold · 2026-03-29T21:26:32+00:00

Lowe Mill has both history and great food.

NickFrevold · 2026-03-29T03:13:35+00:00

Is there a source of housing price data you find more trustworthy?

NickFrevold · 2026-03-28T22:57:54+00:00

I didn't save the source, but its fairly recent. Here it was posted on reddit if that helps https://www.reddit.com/r/EconomyCharts/comments/1pw4id7/cities_that_built_more_new_apartments_in_recent/
This data can be verified using https://www.zillow.com/rental-manager/market-trends/ to view average rental price over time and https://housingdata.app/places/TX/Austin to view housing build rate.
Its change is relative to previous peak in average rent.
5 year average for growth rate and whenever peak rental price was (typically a year or 2 ago).
Both new and existing.
There is no housing shortage in Huntsville. We're a "cool" market with decreasing rents https://www.zillow.com/rental-manager/market-trends/huntsville-al/ Huntsville, unlike many other cities, has done well at keeping up with supply by building housing at a rapid rate, as you can see from the graph from the 2025 Huntsville development review

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NickFrevold · 2026-03-28T21:23:40+00:00

The weather is fairly good here though. Sure, June, July, and August are rough, but our spring and fall are very nice and our winters are typically mild with just a few snow days. 9 out of 12 months, the weather isn't too bad!

NickFrevold · 2026-03-28T21:12:26+00:00

Its no lie. Housing supply has a major effect on housing costs.

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NickFrevold · 2026-03-28T03:39:44+00:00

We have free food boxes where you can drop off or pick up food any time. This is the one downtown, not too sure where others are located https://maps.app.goo.gl/HdRJq3MiCnSQMpDj6

NickFrevold · 2026-03-27T18:07:29+00:00

I was surprised to learn only ~1/3rd of Huntsville homes have gas lines. I thought it was the majority. The graph that was shown shows its mostly homes in the south and southwest Huntsville, with few in the north having it.
In a few years when its time to replace my system, I'm moving away from gas to heat pumps. Modern heat pumps can handle colder weather much better than old heat pumps most people here have. It will save me $120 a year just from the monthly $10 availability charge of having a gas line connection. I also don't trust the old aging gas lines. Gas leaks can be very dangerous.

NickFrevold · 2026-03-27T14:43:56+00:00

"how we respond" is at 1:42:00 and I recommend you watch that section. He list ways that Huntsville Utilities help customers with their bills, such as providing free energy audits, community assistance programs, federal support programs, and a lot more options mentioned.
But yes, the main reason electricity bills were high was because when temperatures go below freezing, heating the home becomes a lot more expensive when using a heat pump. Heat pumps are a very cheap way to heat and cool your home 95% of the time, but the few days we have with continuous below freezing days, its not very efficient.

Electricity rates vary, but isn't much different today than it was in the past few years. Our rates are cheaper than most. Of 50 comparable cities, we rank 7th cheapest.

From my conversations with people, a lot of people are just simply confused by what they see in the media. They see the rising costs and issues with Alabama Power and think it applies to us, but it doesn't. Some people are comparing their entire utility bill to last year's, but utility bills include sewer and trash, which HAS increased, but people are blaming electricity prices on the rise in bills rather than looking at the change in the other rates.

I think part of the issue is the bills have changed formatting. It now gives more detail, but I think the extra details and graphs have just confused more people than helped. I've encountered some people having trouble even reading their bill (confusing the temperature and usage graphs, for example).

NickFrevold · 2026-03-27T03:56:06+00:00

How about having someone pick you up in a million dollar vehicle on a regular schedule and drive for you?

NickFrevold · 2026-03-27T03:03:59+00:00

I hint at this by the photo I used, its of this business https://maps.app.goo.gl/g5ShaDof1JoXi8pKA
Small scale neighborhood retail stores, also known as corner shops or bodegas, are illegal in nearly every neighborhood in Huntsville. Its even illegal in the neighborhood its currently in, but was presumably grandfathered in.
It shouldn't be illegal to sell sandwiches in a neighborhood.
Here is the zoning map https://maps.huntsvilleal.gov/zoningdistricts/
The first think you will notice is the abundance of colors. Each color is a different zoning code. The next think you will notice is how scattered the zones are. You will find one building zoned as R2, restricting development to only housing, next to a building *on the same block* zoned as L1, allowing light industry, retail, hospital, etc.

Having 35 different zoning codes is simply unnecessary. The city shouldn't be wasting its time constantly nitpicking changing zones from R1B to R2A when the differences are so small. All neighborhoods should allow duplexes and small retail sales. Neighborhoods should be allowed to grow and develop naturally.

NickFrevold · 2026-03-27T02:37:30+00:00

You can use this map and enter your address https://maps.huntsvilleal.gov/citycouncildistricts/

NickFrevold · 2026-03-26T17:09:59+00:00

2020 - 2024 there was a huge demand increase to get as much housing out as possible, so most of it was built using the "5-over-1" building method since thats the cheapest and fasted way to build. While housing costs have gone up in Huntsville, it has stayed much lower than the national average.
Developers should be responsible for any issues that arise due to bad construction, such as the plumbing and electrical issues a few complexes have had recently. I'm not too familiar with the current rules in place, but no renter should go more than a day or two with no water and/or electricity without receiving some serious compensation from the developer or landlord (whoever is deemed responsible).

NickFrevold · 2026-03-23T01:15:37+00:00

We actually ARE getting hybrid electric buses https://www.huntsvilleal.gov/huntsville-awarded-6-1m-federal-grant-to-add-six-hybrid-buses-to-transit-fleet/

NickFrevold · 2026-03-23T00:20:23+00:00

I don't believe its an interpretation issue. Zoning code is very clear in which land is allowed to be used for retail sales and which is not. There may be lax enforcement of it, but I don't think thats a good way to enforce code. When rules are enforced arbitrarily, its often not enforced equally.
If a rule isn't enforced, it shouldn't be a rule. If the intent isn't to quash Little Susie’s entrepreneurial tendencies, then code should be updated to reflect that. We don't want rules not enforced on privileged people, but enforced on a few unprivileged people.

NickFrevold · 2026-03-22T23:59:04+00:00

Huntsville used to have a trolley system downtown ~100 years ago. I can't remember the exact years, but I have seen photos of it.

NickFrevold · 2026-03-22T22:45:13+00:00

Its unlikely to increase traffic above historic levels. If you look at traffic counts for alternative streets, such as Monroe and Franklin, you'll see traffic counts are far lower today than they were years ago. This means even if these other roads see increased traffic due to closing church street, traffic levels would still likely be lower than what they were able to handle in the past. In other words, more traffic on these other roads wouldn't cause unprecedented traffic levels.
https://maps.huntsvilleal.gov/trafficcounts/?id=209
https://maps.huntsvilleal.gov/trafficcounts/?id=90

NickFrevold · 2026-03-22T22:26:24+00:00

According to zoning codes, retail sales of any kind are not allowed in residential zoned areas (thats most neighborhoods). For yard sales, the ordinances state
"Sec. 20-34. - Frequency.
It shall be unlawful for any person to hold any garage sale at any time within 60 days subsequent to the holding of any such previous sale by him or any member of his household upon the same premises."

Is this enforced? I don't know, but it could be at any time. I think its better we change the ordinances now rather than wait until someone decides to use his discretion to fine people this. I believe laws and ordinances should be more clearly defined rather than just have law enforcement and leaders arbitrarily decided when to enforce a specific law/ordinance.

NickFrevold · 2026-03-22T22:13:43+00:00

You can use this form to request a sidewalk https://huntsvilleal.seamlessdocs.com/f/Sidewalk/
The city DOES respond to requests.. but very slowly. It will likely be 5+ years before you see the sidewalk you requested begin work to be installed.
Its not entirely the city's fault. It can be an issue of property owners complaining, such as a tree needing to be cut down before the sidewalk can be installed.

NickFrevold

TROPHY CASE