23 replies to this topic

[citykidd]

I have a few comments and suggestions in conjuction with others viewpoints:

1)Downtown

There are two parts of downtown:

A: Elm Street, between Fisher Ave to the North and Lee Street to the South.
B: the remainder of downtown

First, 'A'. This area has and is still improving. Now to 'B'. This area could use alot of beautification through the use of more trees, shrubbery and other plants. It also needs more available P.T. (Public transportation) serving this area of downtown (which makes up the bulk of central Greensboro. Good P.T. in the downtown area would create more vibrancy and cohesiveness.

2)The Universities and colleges & adjacent neighborhoods

A: UNCG/Greensboro College
-proximity to housing is nearly ideal, however, commercial properties except for a few drug stores and eateries is almost non-existent
-no decent grocers (bestway is too isolated)

-Add more commercial properties near residental areas
-Add more P.T. in and around surrounding areas

B: NC A&T/Bennet College
-Although housing stock is growing, its is still subpar.
-Summit Ave/Bessemer are unattractive, suburban, too far from both campuses (not in reasonable walking distance), near crime ridden areas, to auto-friendly/not pedetrian friendly

-Add more P.T. than just HEAT to colleges/universities and within adjacent areas.

3)Major Corridors

-Wendover Ave. (East and West)
-Battleground Ave.
-Friendly Ave.
-W. High Point Rd.
-N. Elm Street
-New Garden Rd.
-Pisgah Church Rd.
-Market St. (East and West)
-Additional thoroughfares

-Again, more p.t.
-sidewalks and p.t. both connect most congested/frequently traveled areas (including restaraunts, lodging, stores, etc.)
-more bus shelters
-Greenways, trails, sidewalks and roadways should be interconnected harmonously

4)Airport/Galimore Dairy road area/Highway 68 area
-Airport needs to be served by innercity p.t. and frequently

5)Other city projects
-Encourage less strip retail centers/big box stores
-Limit strip centers/big box/malls/sprawl development by code enforement (city planning)
-maintain existing city streets (repave them when necessary)
-make P.T. acessibility a priority citywide
-make city watersheds more accessible to all peoples

Edited by citykidd, 11 October 2010 - 08:31 PM.

[cityboi]

Fortunately Action Greensboro is now focusing on streetscape improvements in other parts of downtown. That should help attract street level development. Over the past 8 years there has been quite a bit of development downtown and there are some developments that could have been designed better. The new YMCA and the Carolina Bank headquarters are two of the most poorly designed projects in the past 8 years. The YMCA is awful and it looks awful being across the street from Arbor House Condos which is a totally different style of architecture. There is just no uniformity. On top of that Arbor House looks like a pedestrian friendly building yet there is nothing pedestrian friendly about Spring St. Its like a four lane mini highway that separates Arbor House Condos from the YMCA. Carolina Bank looks like it belongs in a suburban shopping center. The new design guidelines should help prevent these kind of mistakes in the future. Unfortunately its too late for the YMCA and Carolina Bank headquarters.

Arbor House



downtown YMCA (you can see Carolina Bank in the background) These projects have completely suburbanized this part of downtown and to top it all off, there is a suburban style Hardees and ugly Firestone tire shop across the street from the YMCA on Market St. On the back side of the YMCA there is a huge parking lot. If I were an urban designer, I would have designed the YMCA entirely different. I would have built a compact parking deck attached to the YMCA and designed it so it wouldn't look like a parking deck and I would have street level retail in the deck (smoothie/coffee shop, health store, bicycle shop, ect) By building a compact parking deck attached to the YMCA, that opens up land for more development. Part of the YMCA parking lot could have been a potential site for the proposed 15-story Federal Courthouse which is on hold. That way it would be across the street from the new 8-story jail addition. On Both sides of the YMCA there are multi-lane one way streets. (Spring Street and Edgeworth St) I would make both of them two way streets and add attractive well landscaped medians and decorative street lights. I would also include wider sidewalks for cafe seating.





my solution



parking deck example

Edited by cityboi, 13 October 2010 - 10:55 AM.

[Lee street bully]

citykidd, on 11 October 2010 - 08:31 PM, said:

I have a few comments and suggestions in conjuction with others viewpoints:

1)Downtown

There are two parts of downtown:

A: Elm Street, between Fisher Ave to the North and Lee Street to the South.
B: the remainder of downtown

First, 'A'. This area has and is still improving. Now to 'B'. This area could use alot of beautification through the use of more trees, shrubbery and other plants. It also needs more available P.T. (Public transportation) serving this area of downtown (which makes up the bulk of central Greensboro. Good P.T. in the downtown area would create more vibrancy and cohesiveness.

2)The Universities and colleges & adjacent neighborhoods

A: UNCG/Greensboro College
-proximity to housing is nearly ideal, however, commercial properties except for a few drug stores and eateries is almost non-existent
-no decent grocers (bestway is too isolated)

-Add more commercial properties near residental areas
-Add more P.T. in and around surrounding areas

B: NC A&T/Bennet College
-Although housing stock is growing, its is still subpar.
-Summit Ave/Bessemer are unattractive, suburban, too far from both campuses (not in reasonable walking distance), near crime ridden areas, to auto-friendly/not pedetrian friendly

-Add more P.T. than just HEAT to colleges/universities and within adjacent areas.

3)Major Corridors

-Wendover Ave. (East and West)
-Battleground Ave.
-Friendly Ave.
-W. High Point Rd.
-N. Elm Street
-New Garden Rd.
-Pisgah Church Rd.
-Market St. (East and West)
-Additional thoroughfares

-Again, more p.t.
-sidewalks and p.t. both connect most congested/frequently traveled areas (including restaraunts, lodging, stores, etc.)
-more bus shelters
-Greenways, trails, sidewalks and roadways should be interconnected harmonously

4)Airport/Galimore Dairy road area/Highway 68 area
-Airport needs to be served by innercity p.t. and frequently

5)Other city projects
-Encourage less strip retail centers/big box stores
-Limit strip centers/big box/malls/sprawl development by code enforement (city planning)
-maintain existing city streets (repave them when necessary)
-make P.T. acessibility a priority citywide
-make city watersheds more accessible to all peoples

This is a great post. The public transportation needs to be upgraded so it can better serve our city. Does anyone know what the waiting time is between buses? I heard it was somewhere between 20-30 mins but I'm really not sure.

[citykidd]

krazeeboi, on 13 August 2010 - 10:16 PM, said:

Not necessarily. Furthermore, Greensboro can become a better city (which should be the REAL goal here) without necessarily becoming a much bigger city. Think of all of the cities that are more or less Greensboro's size that have had great success in making their downtowns a true destination like Charleston (it wasn't always as polished and classy as it is now), Greenville, Chattanooga, etc. These cities don't necessarily have large downtown office markets, and in some ways, that has probably helped their downtown revitalization efforts since smaller, traditional storefronts--which are more conducive to generating pedestrian activity--weren't demolished to make way for hulking, monolithic office towers. Don't get me wrong; it's always good to have a growing downtown office market, but that in and of itself isn't a silver bullet. I think that because you guys are sandwiched between two cities that get a lot of shine on the regional and nationals level for growth and development that you all (and perhaps others) underestimate what you all have and the progress that you've made. Elm Street can give Tryon Street here in Charlotte a run for its money in terms of nightlife (maybe Fayetteville Street too, but I'm not familiar enough with it to say). Neither Charlotte or Raleigh have downtown ballparks that bring families downtown and add to the liveliness of the urban core like Greensboro has. Neither one has a public space in the urban core like Center City Park. We here in Charlotte often lament the fact that we don't have a university downtown. I think Greensboro is doing a lot of things right and just needs to continue to focus on increasing the quality of life in the city and begin to promote and highlight to its citizens what it already has. At the end of the day, either you're comfortable in a city Greensboro's size and all that it offers, or you aren't. If it's the latter, then you're surrounded by larger options both to the north (Raleigh, DC) or the south (Charlotte, Atlanta) that will give you more of what you're looking for. But don't hold your breath hoping that it will morph into something like those cities overnight, or even within 20 years or so. And Greensboro doesn't have to do that to become a great city or reach its next level.

I know this post is pretty late, but I need to make a quick comment anyway. You're right about Raleigh or Charlotte not having downtown ballparks, but you must remember that Charlotte has two professional sports arenas that brings in tens of thousands of people at any one time surpassing what NewBridge Park could ever usher in.