Formerly located at Moore Square, the Raleigh Downtown Farmers Market is a vibrant new addition to City Plaza and is downtown Raleigh’s premier venue for locally grown produce and artisan food.
Raleigh Downtown Farmers Market.
Buried Tracks In The Warehouse District
High-speed rail and train travel out of downtown sounds like a thing of the future to some people. To others, its a thing of the past now that cars are king and planning of our cities happen around it. It’s no surprise that cities across the country have demolished or abandoned their train stations.
In case you missed it, we’ve mentioned before that Raleigh actually still has its Union Depot, now re-purposed as an office building. It will probably never see trains again but the warehouse district around it continues to have trains roll by. Its possible to uncover some of the older tracks that once ran through here. Let’s jump straight to the maps.
Above is a map of the area around Nash Square in 1914. Union Depot is marked on here as ‘Depot’ and you can see the old tracks leading up to the back of the building coming from the west.
This is a current map overlaid on top of the previous and it is obvious to see that the tracks are not there anymore. You can use a more interactive old/new map overlay at the North Carolina Maps site where I got them from. They set up a very slick Google Map to show this.
The truth is that the tracks were never torn up and are blatantly noticeable if you walk around the warehouse district. The tracks that used to lead up to Union Depot can be seen on West Street, they continue through one of the Dillon warehouses, and there are suspicious cracks along the asphalt leading up to the office buildings behind the old depot.
Click on the pictures for a larger view.
Tracks crossing West Street.
Tracks running through the Dillon Warehouse.
Harrington Street. Look for the cracks in the asphalt in neatly spaced, parallel lines.
The tracks lead up to the offices and disappear underneath.
Next time you are walking in the area, look for the tracks and imagine that at one time passenger trains were unloading people right into Nash Square and a few blocks from Fayetteville Street.
Pic of the Week
Concrete and scaffolding is starting to rise out of the ground at the Green Square project. Work has also begun on the section between McDowell and Dawson Streets.
Bada Bing Pizza Now Open
Saw this on a walk through Glenwood South on Friday night and took the shot with my camera phone. It looks like Bada Bing Pizza is open in the 222 Glenwood building. I didn’t see any times posted but according to a sign, the street service window will be open from 12:30am to 3:00am.
Bonner Gaylord and the “Skinny High-Rise”
If you have been taking a break from the Clarence E. Lightner Public Safety Center drama you may not have heard that at Tuesday’s city council meeting, the decision to move forward on the project was delayed again. I highly recommend watching some of the debate, posted on-demand at the city’s website here.
The plans for the “skinny high-rise” of downtown, as Councilman Bonner Gaylord calls it, has been challenged. Now talks of an alternative plan, simply called Plan B, present a scaled down version consisting of multiple buildings spread across the city.
During the meeting, Councilman Gaylord tried to set the record straight on some misconceptions on the issue. Here are some that I thought were interesting.
- Not the best location
Gaylord argues that the building is located on the edges of Nash Square, a south facing side of it too. This very sunny, attractive side is more suited for public use and ground level activity, rather than a municipal building with very little public interaction. - The building is not a symbol for the city
The councilman argues that the building, while looking great in the skyline, is not a symbol for the public because we would never interact with it. The Safety Center will have very few visits from the public and citizens will rarely use it. - The building design is a concern for employee safety
Gaylord argues that the building design, with its two story public entrance, presents the opportunity for those with bad intentions to attack the building. With employees in a high-rise, damage to an important structural piece would threaten everyone inside. - No measurable benefit
The councilman also states that no measurable benefit to our already great public safety can be measured or has been presented as a result of building the Clarence E Lightner Public Safety Center. - Job creation
Jobs created by the construction are only temporary and are gone once the building is finished. Also, there is no guarantee the jobs will be local.
Mayor Meeker had something to say about each point after it was presented and watching him in action really shows you that he is 100% behind this project. Here’s his recent plan to get the building under way.
- Postpone remote facilities, phase 2, of the expense. Lower priority then the Safety Center.
- No tax adjustment in 2010.
- $2.5 million from other sources in 2011.
- 1/2 cent property tax increase in 2011, effective January 15th 2012.
- Another 1/2 cent property tax increase in 2012, effective January 15th 2013.
Just for a comparison, the original tax increase was 3 cents over a five year period, a pretty solid decrease in my opinion.
The comments are open for opinions and debates, maybe some predictions on how this story will end.
Side note:
Quote from Bonner Gaylord:
In my experience, very few people even knew about the Clarence E Lightner Public Safety Center. I never heard anyone bring it up at all until it came before us in December.
Clearly, Councilman Gaylord doesn’t read any blogs:
- Raleigh’s New Public Safety Center to be Designed by Signature Architect, NewRaleigh.com August 10th, 2007.
- RPD Building Getting an Upgrade, DTRaleigh.com September 24th, 2007.
- Clarence E. Lightner Public Safety Center Pre-Design, NewRaleigh.com February 29th, 2008.
- Pencil In Full Funding For Safety Center, DTRaleigh.com May 23rd, 2008.
From My Inbox To Yours, Michael Franti & Spearhead to Headline Charity Concert
Posting this up for a friend.
Raleigh, N.C. (Feb. 15, 2010) — Band Together NC, a nonprofit organization that uses musical events to raise funds and awareness for select Triangle charities, has announced that acclaimed reggae, hip hop fusion artist Michael Franti & Spearhead will top the bill for this year’s charity concert May 22 outside Lincoln Theatre in downtown Raleigh. Visit www.bandtogethernc.org to purchase tickets starting at 10 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 19.
Last year’s Band Together NC concert featuring Rusted Root, the Rosebuds, Chatham County Line and HOBEX attracted more than 2,700 music lovers and raised more than $141,000 for the Lucy Daniels Center for Early Childhood. Supporting acts and activities for 2010 will be announced as the event date approaches.
Download the rest of the press release here.
Also, check out Band Together on Facebook and RSVP for the After Work Social next week.
Hacking Meters: How To Use The New Pay Stations
So the new parking pay stations are coming, a topic we have touched on a couple of times, and they are actually pretty simple to use. Sometime in April, everyone will be required to drop off some loose change for that space out in front of CVS and the experience will be much easier. The city has some of the new parking pay stations set up along the Nash Square side of Hargett Street. Over the next two months, the rest of the 173 total parking meter swarm will be installed.
I’ve created this title, Hacking Meters, to talk about the pay station use and parking in downtown this year as a way to follow this re-addition of parking meters back into downtown. You might actually learn something. I’ll start out with some key links below for those that want additional reading.
- City Demos New On-Street Parking Stations
- Using Raleigh’s New Parking Meters
And now I can contribute by listing off the important things you need to know.
It’s really just a three step process. (click for larger)
- Enforcement is from 8am to 5pm, Mon-Fri
- Pay stations accept nickels, dimes, and quarters. Plastic options include Visa and Mastercard.
- You can pre-pay for your spot starting at 6am and time won’t take effect until 8am
- No receipts
- Minimum amount you can charge is $1
- You can pay in 15 minute increments
- The green time zone signs will be replaced with blue metered signs with paying information
- Maximum parking time allowed is the same as the currently allowed time on each block
- There will be a two week grace period after the pay stations are installed and operating
- Cars with handicap placards follow the same rules as everyone else except they can park for unlimited time, and will pay just the same
RalConniversary: 3 Photos, With Wallpaper!
While not necessarily the best photos that have appeared on the blog, these three make for great desktop wallpaper. I’ve used them myself and now want to share them. I’ve included multiple versions of the most common screen resolutions used by readers of RalCon, gathered by the power of analytics, as well as the original version if anyone would like to play with it. Enjoy!
You are free to do what you want with the images at a personal level. Please respect my Creative Commons license (non-commercial, attribution) if using them on the web. Thanks. Click on the photo for a larger preview.
Satellites and Antennas
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The Raleigh Skyline
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