Category / Events

by Leo Suarez

City of Raleigh Museum Celebrates 20 Years With Time Warp 2013

Time Warp 2013

Last year, the city museum on Fayetteville Street went through a few changes. The Raleigh City Museum is now the City of Raleigh Museum, with a whole new ‘COR’ branding scheme. They are in the process of upgrading and this weekend, the folks behind the COR Museum are having a fundraiser, not just to help pay for future additions but to also celebrate the 20 year anniversary.

If you can make it, it sounds like a great event.

Time Warp 2013

Date/Time: Sat., June 1 2013 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.
220 Fayetteville Street
Raleigh, NC 27601
919.996.3775
Buy tickets

From the press release:

The Museum will unveil plans for its new space and programs at Time Warp. Museum staff look forward to inviting the community into an updated space for guided tours, student engagement and private and public events. Last year, over 22,000 people visited the museum or participated in its programs. To continue the effort of engaging the community with Raleigh’s past, present and future, the Museum plans to

  • Install new interactive physical and digital exhibits over the next two years.
  • Enhance programming and events for public and community participation including an updated Raleigh Timeline, First Friday features, smart phone scavenger hunts and guided walking tours of the city.
  • And expand engagement into schools through new elementary and high school educational programs.

by Leo Suarez

Raleigh Union Station Public Workshop, March 6

The first of a few public information sessions about Raleigh’s train station upgrade, Union station, is coming up. On March 6, come down to the session to see renderings and plans for the new station in the warehouse district. Citizens will be given the opportunity to comment and give feedback towards the future design steps.

The workshop will also go over the West Street extension, a project that proposes to extend West Street to the south to West Cabarrus Street. This extension is a major compliment to Union Station and the greenway system.

Union Station will be Raleigh’s new train station at West and Martin Street. The project will be a complete renovation of the Dillon Supply Company Warehouse. See previous posts on the topic for background information.

Raleigh Union Station Public Workshop

Date/Time: Wed., March 6 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Meymandi Concert Hall Lobby
2 East South Street
Raleigh, NC 27601
919-996-8700

Raleigh Union Station Public Workshop

by Leo Suarez

Urban Design Lecture Series hosted by the City of Raleigh


Get Microsoft Silverlight

There are some very interesting forums coming up on the topic of urban design in Raleigh. As the downtown Raleigh master plan gets a reboot from the one we are now experiencing, drawn up over ten years ago, these talks are great to get a little educated on the issues the city faces and how they plan to address them. The forums are also free and open to the public. Watch the video above for a previously recorded forum on the topic of “Housing in the 21st Century” hosted by the Urban Design Center.

Urban Design Education Forums

Time: 12 Noon – 1:30 pm
220 Fayetteville Street
Raleigh, NC 27601
(919)996-4641

Schedule of sessions

November 14, 2012 – “Downtown Planning-Then and Now.”

  • Moderator will be Grant Meacci, planning and design manager at the Urban Design Center.
  • Presenters will be Raleigh Assistant City Manager Dan Howe and David Diaz, president and CEO of the Downtown Raleigh Alliance

December 12, 2012 – “Return on Investment-Economics of Downtown Development.”

  • The presenter will be Mitchell Silver, chief planning and development officer for the City of Raleigh and director of the City’s Department of City Planning

January 16, 2013 – “The Fine Art of Enjoying Downtown Living.”

  • The host will be Brian Reece of Downtown Living Associates.
  • Presenters will be Anne S. Franklin, urban advocate and community organizer, and Chris Roberts, associate principal and architect with LS3P Associates

February 13, 2013 – “Bike Share in Raleigh.”

  • Presenters will be Jennifer Baldwin, bicycle and pedestrian coordinator for the City of Raleigh Office of Transportation Planning, and Mauricio Hernandez, transportation planner with Toole Design Group

March 20, 2013 – “Residual Raleigh-Tapping the Potential of Unused Space in Downtown.”

  • Presenters will be Brett Hautop, an architect with Gensler, and Matthew Griffith and Erin Sterling Lewis, principals with in situ studio, a Raleigh architecture firm

April 17, 2013 – “Downtown Durham’s Open Space Plan.”

  • Presenters will be Tom Dawson, urban designer, and Sara Young, Urban Design Center supervisor for the Durham City-County Planning Department

May 15, 2013 – “Raleigh, A Festival City.”

  • The host will be David Diaz, President and CEO, Downtown Raleigh Alliance.
  • Presenters will be Sarah Powers, executive director of Visual Art Exchange, an organizer of the SPARKcon festival, and Samantha Hatem, who handles media and outreach for Empire Eats

June 19 – “Raleigh’s Pedestrian Plan.”

  • The host will be Eric Lamb, manager of the City of Raleigh Office of Transportation Planning.
  • Presenters will be Lauren Blackburn and Helen Chaney of the North Carolina Department of Transportation and Fleming El-Amin, transportation planner for the City of Raleigh.

by Leo Suarez

Answers, Maps Aplenty at the Union Station Information Workshop on August 6.

A TIGER grant of $21 million bucks was awarded to our city for ongoing work towards Union Station. On August 6, the city, NCDOT, and Triangle Transit are having an information session with more information and everyone is invited to the Convention Center to get all their questions answered. The information session is from 5pm-7pm and no formal presentation is planned so show up when you can.

Construction of the new train station is tentatively scheduled to begin in the fall of 2013. The size and location of the current train station cannot accommodate the current passenger demand much less the anticipated growth in passengers that increased train service will bring.

Currently there are four daily round-trip passenger trains that serve the Raleigh Amtrak Station. To meet service demands, two additional daily Raleigh-to-Charlotte round-trip trains are planned for the near future.

Raleigh Union Station Citizens Information Workshop
Ballroom B at the Raleigh Convention Center
August 6 from 5pm-7pm

by Leo Suarez

BEST Plans To Launch Biggest Project Yet For Warehouse District

BEST Dillon mural

The BEST team has been busy this year and excitement is brewing for one of their largest upcoming projects yet. I’ve highlighted them before and the all-volunteer group is planning a new mural for one of the Dillon supply buildings in the warehouse district.

The new mural will take up an entire block on the Triangle Transit owned building on West Street. Donna Belt, the founder of BEST, writes:

We will begin by inviting children to add their handprints and body tracings to a design that will morph into a crowd boarding a train in front of a Raleigh skyscape. Phase II of the mural expands into a sunburst as the Wright brothers’ plane and other flying machines soar over the North Carolina countryside. The theme, whether specifically reflecting Triangle Transit’s role in regional transportation or applying to the limitless potential that we all share, is a spectacular celebration of the ways in which we move forward together.

– YOUR FACE HERE… in the largest community art installation in downtown Raleigh

There are two ways to get involved.

  1. The BEST Dillon launch party is on July 27. The free event will be held at Spy Raleigh. Attend for drinks and networking or take part for the raffle prizes and art auction.
  2. Become a sponsor or donate to BEST anytime.

The last BEST fundraiser was held at The Hive and the group packed the house so I expect a similar gathering at Spy Raleigh.

This is a great project for downtown and building that community strengthens it in a lot of ways.

See you there.

by Leo Suarez

CityCamp Raleigh Sets Up For Year 2 This Weekend, $5000 Prize

Last year, CityCamp Raleigh raised the bar on the city’s adoption of open-sourced solutions and helped bring citizens to the problem solving table. This weekend, the gang behind the event are hosting it again with the same $5000 prize for the best idea and solution.

Within a year, CityCamp has been at the root of a few accomplishments in the city as the website states:

Here are some of the ways the first CityCamp Raleigh was an inspiration or catalyst in helping to advance open government and create next-generation solutions locally:

  • The Raleigh City Council unanimously approved a resolution stating its intent to foster “open” government by encouraging the use of open-source systems and open access to data.
  • City Councilors agreed to provide $50,000 annually to fund an open data catalog. Raleigh city data will be digitally published and made ready for use by city residents, software developers or news outlets.
  • City of Raleigh website visitors can now sign up for a free service called MyRaleigh Subscriptions that delivers email and text alerts about topics such as street closings, public meetings, city projects, and events.
  • Help spur the TriangleWiki project – a free, openly-editable, community-owned website that gathers first-hand information on local history, events, greenways, parks and everything interesting related to the Triangle region.

CityCamp now sets up Raleigh for even more throughout the next year and everyone is invited to the free event this weekend.

Register for all or just parts of the CityCamp weekend.

Friday, June 1
Where: Vintage 21 (117 S. West Street)
Time: Doors at 12pm, Panel discussion and lightning talk at 1pm.

Saturday/Sunday June 2 and 3
Where: AIA NC (14 E. Peace Street)
Time: Saturday 9-5, Sunday 10-3 with group presentations to follow.

See and hear more about CityCamp.

by Leo Suarez

The Raleigh Forum Hosts Cocktail Shindig, Shows Off Coworking Goods

The Raleigh Forum in Downtown Raleigh
Photo credit: Tyler Helikson

Coworking is a concept that I’ve mentioned before on the blog and downtown Raleigh’s coworking space, The Raleigh Forum, brings it right onto Wilmington Street. With Red Hat moving its world headquarters to Davie Street, coworking is important for the small startup community and open source environment that the grand fedora feeds off of.

From my inbox to your screen, here’s an upcoming event that will allow you to see the coworking setup and mingle with the community.

A Night in Raleighwood

The Raleigh Forum and iContact to host an Academy Award-themed party

WHAT: The Raleigh Forum- a downtown coworking space- and iContact- will host an Oscars-themed cocktail attire party on January 26. Attendees are invited to walk the red carpet, pose in front of the step-and-repeat, vote for the winner of awards categories, and bump elbows with locals during this music-infused awards party.

Beer and wine will be provided at the open bar by The Wine Feed. Appetizers are provided by Gravy, courtesy of Empire Eats. Local singer-songwriter Erik Smallwood will be playing acoustic music throughout the event. 50% of entrance fee proceeds will be donated to Change the Triangle, the Triangle’s young professional volunteer organization.

WHO: The event is open to the public but you must have a ticket to enter. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased theraleighforum.eventbrite.com.

WHERE: 133 1/2 S Wilmington St, Raleigh, NC 27601

WHEN: Thursday, January 26 from 7:30-10:30pm

WHY: This party will showcase The Raleigh Forum’s temporary office space, as well as honor loyal supporters of The Raleigh Forum and advocates for the Raleigh community.

CONTACT: Cristina Roman
PHONE NUMBER: 919-452-6381
EMAIL: cristina@theraleighforum.com
WEBSITE: theraleighforum.com