Locopops Open
Locopops’ Raleigh location is now open in the former Weatherman’s Jewelers space on Hillsborough St. ( map it )
Designing A Better Downtown – Part II
Part II – Walling Ourselves In
In Part One of this series we toured a section of downtown Atlanta that contains some of the nation’s most stunning towers. Unfortunately most of these buildings left pedestrians with nothing to do, and the streets for many consecutive blocks look like a ghost town. The lesson is important as Raleigh is not immune to this problem.
There are a couple of canyonesque areas in downtown Raleigh that are already evolving this aforementioned way. One is Wilmington Street. The new
Progress Two plaza
creatively incorporates a large parking garage for people seeking SE downtown. The garage is topped with an office tower, and is skirted by many personalities. The project’s north face is lined with retail, mostly food outlets, while the East face is wrapped in new low-rise condominiums.
The South side faces the
Lincoln Theatre
and features exposed parking garage that can be converted to retail space at some point. In fact,
Charlie Goodnight’s Comedy Club
almost relocated to this space when the deck was new. The facade germane to this analysis is the west facade, a blank wall. Unfortunately the wall exists on Wilmington Street, one of Raleigh’s historic retail corridors. Compounding problems, directly across the street is a blank wall formed by the bases of both Progress One and One Hannover Square (Bank of America). (
map it
) How unfortunate that the gateway to one of Raleigh’s most walkable streets is a one block canyon of emptiness. Thankfully designs for the east facade of the Site One project incorporate retail/entertainment space in more than 50% of the east side space.
A second problematic area exists near Nash Square. One way streets McDowell and Dawson form the square’s eastern and western boundaries, and are meant for moving traffic quickly from S. Saunders to Capital Blvd. As a driver these streets work, but as a pedestrian they are similar to that windy, unpleasant block of Spring St. in Atlanta.
As one travels north on McDowell from Poole’s Diner (
map it
), the left side of the street’s first block is lined by garage-oriented businesses that will eventually be replaced with new development. The right side is lined by the sterile rear wall of the Public Safety Center (pictured), a parking garage entrance, and a city parking garage.
The block of McDowell bordering the park is lined on the right by a surface parking lot, the News & Observer offices, and the professional building. The third block is lined on the left by the police headquarters (future Enforcement Center site) and a city parking deck. The right side of the street is a block-long, blank grey wall formed by AT&T’s windowless switching center (pictured).
As one can imagine from the photos, pedestrians in two of the blocks nearest Nash Square have a boring, miserable experience. There is nothing to do, traffic is roaring, and wind howels down through the concrete canyon.
The City of Raleigh released concepts for a new high-rise Enforcement Center to be located across from this long blank wall. While the planned facility is intended for functional municipal uses, the City finds itself in a position to start correcting one of downtown’s biggest missed opportunities. Design of the east facade of the center should contain space for items pedestrians can use. This block between Hargett and Morgan will be heavily traveled by Campbell Law students en route to courthouse activities, so there will soon be demand for cafes, book stores, coffee shops, office supply stores, and the like.
A second step toward correcting this block is for AT&T to move their operations to another site. Certainly today’s microtechnology doesn’t require such a massive complex, and could either be rearranged on site or relocated off-site. The classic building at McDowell and Morgan could either be renovated or replaced with something more conducive to downtown life.
Mr. Mayor, tear down these walls.
As other projects are constructed throughout downtown, designers need to be mindful of the puzzle piece they are designing. The next part of this series will identify potential problem areas for pedestrian design throughout downtown.
D.L. Hughley Tickets On Sale Monday
During the nights of March 6 thru March 9, Charlie Goodnight’s welcomes
D.L. Hughley
. Tickets go on sale
through the Goodnight’s website
on Monday at 8:55am.
Son Volt Coming To Lincoln Theatre
April 24 marks the return of
Son Volt
, playing at the
Lincoln Theatre
.
Yancy’s, Longbranch File Chapter 11
TBJ is reporting that both Yancy’s and The Longbranch filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this week. This is the same situation that Amedeo’s on Western Blvd. is in where their credit is locked down, but they can stay in business.
Word on the street is that Yancy’s is moving their live music operation out to the former Hideaway BBQ site. Located on the first level of The Hudson, Yancy’s aimed to be a great southern cooking site by day, great jazz site by night. They installed expensive computerized lighting equipment and spend a small fortune trying to soundproof their operation from condos above. This was a miserable failure as complaints from condos soon ensued. Apparently we’ve found one of mixed use’s limitations.
Designing A Better Downtown – Part I
Part I – What’s Wrong With Atlanta?
Downtown Raleigh is experiencing an enormous amount of change. New projects are being proposed by the month, and the amount of investment proposed is staggering. In order to maximize this opportunity, we must ask what type of downtown we want. While each project may be exciting, none stands alone in its neighborhood. As evidenced by our existing facilities, there are collateral, systemic effects of each project.
One way to experiment with development styles is to look inward. We have several examples of successes and failures in our own downtown, and I’ll take a look at those later in this series. Another important tool is to learn from similar cities. There probably isn’t a more similar city out there than Atlanta, GA.
Atlanta bashers are a dime-a-dozen, but if we filter out the noise and look at some decisions Atlanta has made, we can learn from their experience. Atlanta is a Southern city with a similar climate to Raleigh’s. It is the state capital, is home of the state’s engineering school, and experienced much of the same developmental patterns over the last 50 years as Raleigh. Atlanta is a great lab for us because money has been abundant and the city has been able to experiment with many ideas.
Before the 1960’s Atlanta’s downtown was concentrated; full of businesses, government, and residents. During the 1960’s, however, American culture turned toward individual rights and urban crime rose dramatically. With an influx of investment came a new approach to protecting investments and citizens; the great indoors. For a period of nearly 30 years, one of the world’s most gorgeous skylines grew. Impressive interior spaces were created, and then connected above street level by enclosed tubes so as to create an safety-enforceable, climate-independent series of habitrails .
As the building tops told stories of success to those out in the burbs, the buildings’ feet were telling a different story. The streets were treating new investments poorly, so the investments responded by turning their back on the streets. New projects showed only blank concrete walls, parking garage entrances, and service entrances to the sidewalks. Gone were storefronts. Gone was the outdoor experience. Gone was life. With only a collection of blank walls and indoor labyrinths to greet Atlantans, downtown faded as a destination.
Take a walking tour and see for yourself. Let’s follow this map , and start at Centennial Olympic Park moving East on Harris Street.
Our tour is greeted with a blank corner across the street. To the right the first block features a surface parking lot on the right and left side of the street greets us with a blank concrete wall and a garage entrance to the former Inforum building. Where are the people?
Yamaguchi To Appear On Dancing With The Stars
The sixth season of ABC’s " Dancing With the Stars " begins on March 17. One of this year’s stars is Raleigh’s Kristi Yamaguchi . The Dancing… website reads:
KRISTI YAMAGUCHI – An Olympic Gold medalist and World Champion, Kristi Yamaguchi is one of the most popular and successful figure skaters of our time. Since winning the 1992 Winter Olympics, Yamaguchi retired from competitive skating, performing in numerous television specials and traveling the globe on Stars on Ice tour. Along with her many awards and accomplishments, she is a member of the US Figure Skating Hall of Fame, World Figure Skating Hall of Fame and the US Olympic Hall of Fame. In 1996, she founded the Always Dream Foundation dedicated to fundraising and supporting children’s charities. Yamaguchi is married to Stanley Cup Champion and Carolina Hurricanes star, Bret Hedican. Together, they have two young daughters.
Law Enforcement Center Rendering Available
The proposed $226 million Clarence Lightner Public Safety Center will be the new 17-story home for the Raleigh Police Department, Raleigh Fire Department, and the Wake County Emergency Operations Center. Plans call for the current Police HQ to be razed. ( map it )
A rendering is now available at WRAL’s site, and it shows the view from Martin and McDowell Streets, looking north. The rendering does not include the nearby planned Reynolds tower, but does sit nicely. There seem to be several different facade styles, using mostly dark glass, which is a welcome change to downtown Raleigh. Further information will be needed, however, to see what experience this building brings to pedestrians. The building currently sits in a brutal alley of faceless walls and pedestrian boredom.
Raleigh’s New Catch Phrase: "I’m Thirsty"
Raleigh currently finds itself in the “worst-ever” drought, and has thus implemented
Stage 2 water restrictions
. Falls Lake is
essentially barren
and discussion has started about limiting new water connections and encouraging water conservation through means such as non-potable water systems.
The normal annual rainfall amount for Raleigh is around 42″ (there are many different published numbers out there.) Over the last 365 days, we’ve gotten 35″ of precipitation, a 17% deficit. This is a deficit level that has stayed constant for several months now.
To see how we got here, it helps to look at the rainfall totals per month of 2007.
Month | Rainfall | Normal | Variance |
Jan | 3.12 | 3.48 | -10% |
Feb | 1.74 | 3.69 | -53% |
Mar | 3.52 | 3.77 | -7% |
Apr | 3.88 | 2.59 | +50% |
May | 1.43 | 3.92 | -64% |
Jun | 4.46 | 3.68 | +21% |
Jul | 4.94 | 5.17 | -4% |
Aug | 0.91 | 4.02 | -77% |
Sep | 2.22 | 3.19 | -33% |
Oct | 4.66 | 2.86 | +63% |
Nov | 0.48 | 2.63 | -82% |
Dec | 4.45 | 3.24 | +37% |
TOTAL | 35.81 | 42.24 | -15% |
The first half of the year’s problems essentially came from May’s shortage. The other months cancel each other out. The second half of the year boiled down to August’s deficit. The 365-day 15% deficit is big, but not as big as other Southern cities . Atlanta was 37% below normal while Charlotte, Birmingham, and Tuscaloosa had deficits of 34%, 47%, and 54%, respectively.
Looking at a bigger picture, the 10-year window, we see that even with this deficit, Raleigh’s rainfall has been quite normal.
Year | Rainfall (avg=42″) | Variance |
1998 | 49.71 | +16% |
1999 | 48.86 | +14% |
2000 | 39.34 | -7% |
2001 | 35.25 | -19% |
2002 | 47.15 | +11% |
2003 | 49.57 | +15% |
2004 | 47.05 | +11% |
2005 | 37.56 | -12% |
2006 | 53.69 | +22% |
2007 | 35.81 | -17% |
Total, Avg | 443.99, 44.4 | +6% |
(2/18 Note: The 2007 variance of -17% is based on an average of 42″ while the first table’s year-long variance is calculated based on a 42.24″ average)
The table clearly shows that while we had two anomalous deficit years, we’ve had 6 years with more than 10% surplus rainfall. In fact, 2007 was preceded by a particularly wet year. Where was the hype machine during those years? If we were to look at a 30-year or 50-year window we’d see that variances like we are experiencing are quite normal, and that they are canceled out without much delay. In other words, it will rain. Conserve now but be patient. A comment at the weather.com article cited about stated:
This is La Nina electrics. The cold anomalies in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean mean that displacement currents from global and regional lightning do not run along the tropics as efficiently and couple there with Walker circulations or WPAC storms . . . These currents, particularly from the American thunderstorms, are then more likely to flow to the either coupled events which are low impedance, such as a cold core storms this time of year or a tropical storms in the Atlantic during the hurricane season. These cold core storms do not produce as much rain in the north Gulf and tropical storm season conditions were more conductive just north of Venezuela this season, and that relatively speaking took away from displacement currents powering any cloud organizing electrics in the Gulf of Mexico this year. But it did bring us to cat 5s within weeks of each other. Don’t worry, the electrics conditions will be changing soon.
Reviewing the rainfall totals, though, shows that we’ve had deficits in the teens before, but why is it different this time? Our water shortage and restrictions have more to do with reservoir levels than with raw rain totals . Raleigh has experienced much growth during this 10-year period but has not increased its water capacity. We weren’t able to take advantage of the surplus years because we have a water capacity problem, not a rainfall problem. Far bigger cities are making do with much less water. Los Angeles normally gets 14.77″ of rain per year while Phoenix gets 7.66″, and Seattle gets 37.19″ of annual rainfall. We should be able to handle a 35″ rainfall year without all of the emotion and theatrics.
Help is on the way! The city of Raleigh is constructing the Dempsey Benton Water Treatment Plant and Reservoir at Lake Benson. The plant will open in 2010 and will mark a return to using Lake Benson for drinking water. A third plant is planned for the Little River area in eastern Wake County. It will be completed by 2025.
Until then, the City of Raleigh should use reasonable means to conserve water within the context of the reservoir’s status. If we have a surplus of water and are spilling it over into the Neuse, there is no logical reason that citizens should not use city water for routine property maintenance and entertainment.
Time To Care For Grass
We’re currently experiencing the largest drought on record, so proper lawn maintenance is critical for preventing problems down the road. The best time of year to seed a cool grass lawn (such as fescue) is in the early Fall, and the best times to fertilize are in early Fall, Thanksgiving, and Valentine’s Day.
Because of irrigation restrictions associated with the drought, however, many people did not reseed this past Fall and face serious weed problems down the road. Dr. Fred Yelverton is a crop science professor and North Carolina Cooperative Extension specialist in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at N.C. State. He says that, "while lawns across North Carolina were damaged by the drought during the summer and fall of 2007, most lawns appear to be salvageable." He recommends to salvage and renovate lawns by "slit seeding" , a process that employs a machine that opens the soil so that seeds will be in contact with the soil.
Irrigation is normally recommended following seeding, but Yelverton said homeowners don’t need to irrigate to benefit from seeding. As long as the seeds are in contact with soil, they’ll germinate when it rains, even if there’s a gap between the time seed is sown and it rains. Yelverton recommends normal fertilization schedules, but be careful applying a herbicide if seeding as well. Seed can be killed off by the pre-emergent herbicide. John H. Harris, the Tar Heel Gardener, recommends fertilizing with 8-8-8 or 10-10-10 with about 10 to 20 pints per 1,000 square feet. Fescue should not be fertilized after late March until fall, though, because it will only encourage growth in the upper portion of the plant. Fertilization at this time of year encourages root maturity and drought resistance. More information can be found in NCSU’s TurfFiles .
Needless to say, you will not be able to irrigate this year, so hunker down and keep things living by using proper maintenance (unless you want a no-warning irrigation $1,000 fine). Additionally, it is time to seed annuals, fertilize bulbs, kill Bermuda grass, and prune roses.
Mary J. Blige & Jay-Z Coming to Greensboro
Saturday, April 5 is when Mary J. Blige and Jay-Z are coming to the Greensboro Coliseum. The tickets go on sale to the public on Saturday at 10am, however the presale is currently going on and ends Friday at 10pm. Click here and enter the password "music".
Kanye West, Rihanna Coming to Walnut Creek
On Friday, May 9th Kanye West will hit the
Walnut Creek
stage. Opening will be Rihanna, N*E*R*D, and Lupe Fiasco.
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- 25 Predictions for 2015 January 5, 2015
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- 2014: The Rain Year January 2, 2015
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- 2013 Predictions. A Look Back November 18, 2014
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