Oct

Trader Joe’s Opens

The Trader Joe’s at Holly Park Shopping Center is now open. Hark! People like William Needham Finley, IV need not venture Outside The Beltlin e to seek a better Trader Joe’s experience. The location of the store, near Costco, is a slam dunk for the company. Now if someone would put a really good butcher shop where Blockbuster was, we’d have an almost perfect neighborhood for food shopping

For those impressed by green companies and for those who hate unnecessary teardowns, this Trader Joe’s represents everything wrong with development in the modern era. The pedestrian unfriendly site was once host to Wake Paint and Wallpaper. In order to satisfy the signing of Trader Joe’s, the shopping center moved the paint store into one of the center’s original strips, into a space that was once a Winn-Dixie . So where is all of the whining about Trader Joe’s? They could have just taken the former grocery store space, and we wouldn’t have thrown away a perfectly good building, and wasted the energy and water it took to make the materials for this Trader Joe’s experience. Environmentalists and teardown critics need to be consistent if they are going to be taken seriously.

Just remember that when you clog the aisle to join your obnoxious geek friend in a loud conversation about how green you are when you’re shopping there (this happens a lot in the Cary store). Hopefully this location will offer a better experience. You “see the right people” at Costco, so surely Trader Joe’s will become the next ITB hotspot. My only question is whether or not the parking lot is designed adequately to handle the droves of Suburbans and Tahoes that will take over. ITB hotspots aren’t without their own challenges, but surely I’ll be more likely to utter this great Homer Simpson Halloween line in the Raleigh store than I could in Cary:

Urge to kill…fading…fading…fading — RISING! Fading…fading

map it

Oct

(up)Root Elementary Finally Moving Home

Today marks the last day for the temporary site of Aldert Root Elementary at North Hills East. The replacement school building, on Lassiter Mill Road, is complete and staff will make the move during tomorrow’s teacher workday.

The completion of the new facility frees up John Kane to begin construction on The Cardinal once the WCPSS moves their 5 MCUs away. Though nobody loves going to school in a trailer park, this has been a VERY smooth 15 months at the temporary site. The trailers were really nice and did their job perfectly. The only real drawback to the site was the lack of a gym and field for P.E..

The original plan was to move Root to a site that Wake County uses for displaced schools. IT is next to East Millbrook, behind Sweet Tomatoes out on Capital Blvd. During the summer of 2009, some people made some phone calls and “paved” the way for the site at North Hills East. Kudos to John Kane, his accountant, and the WCPSS for making it happen!

Oct

Raleigh’s Most Beautiful Foliage

The most gorgeous trees I’ve seen this fall are in the North Hills parking lot, near Wachovia. While they aren’t big trees, they are 100% non-green. The reds in the one on the left are intense. Also pretty is the Eastbound side of I-440, travelling from Wade Avenue toward Glenwood.

Have a tip on beautiful foliage in the area? Let us know!

Posted by Dana on October 26, 2009 | Tags: Home & Garden , North Hills . | ( 2 ) Comments

Oct

REI Hosts Basic Bike Maintenance Class

On Tuesday (10/27), REI at North Hills will be sponsoring another free Bike Maintenance class. The 7pm session is aimed at teaching parts, basic adjustment, and care of your bicycle.

Posted by Dana on October 25, 2009 | Tags: Home & Garden , North Hills , Sports . | ( 0 ) Comments

Oct

REI Hosting Backcountry Cooking Class

Join the world of backcountry dining with REI on Tuesday (10/13) at 7pm at the North Hills store. You’ll get tips for enjoying prepackaged foods as well as learn ideas for do-it-yourself cuisine.

Posted by Dana on October 11, 2009 | Tags: North Hills , Sports . | ( 0 ) Comments