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Raleigh Wide Open


pack-man

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It was not open as of last night after dinner at Times Bar around 9. We got the last table, and things were pretty busy according to our waitress. It seemed there was a lot more drinking than eating, but it was past most folks' dinner hour by then.

Plenty of cars on the street, but the Alexander Square deck was almost empty. We got the last table, and the bar itself was about half full. It looked like they were still cleaning/sealing the intersections, and planters were still on the street itself in some parts.

Was going to drive by on my way into work today, but slept in too late. Not sure what the "million dollar restaurant" going into one exchange plaza will be named, but it used to be the first union, and kinda looks like a fort. Million dollar restaurant could be a cool name too, Million for short. Hoping Mecca, Coopers, Port City, etc. start staying open later too.

The N&O has several stories today on Fayetville Street's past, present, and future and a neat block-by-block graphic. I don't know who their fact checker is, but it has four errors -- 112 building, Sheraton, and Progress Energy buildings are mislabeled, and RBC is going on the *southeast* corner of Martin/Fayetville, not northeast (First Citizens) as reported.

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WTVD Downtown Raleigh Report from 1977

Check out this FASCINATING 30-minute profile on downtown Raleigh's new Fayetteville Street Mall, Transamerica Building (Progress I), and ultra-modern Civic Center. It's interesting to compare and contrast the themes from then and now. Similarities: bring retail back to downtown, more restaurants, more financial type businesses, convention center hotel. Differences: There was a LOT of pessimism on this video. The interviewer and several people on the street thought the mall looked great, but were skeptical about its ability to really change downtown. It was also interesting to hear the continued pleas for a new hotel downtown (eventually the Radisson/Sheraton). Parking was also a consistent theme throughout the presentation. I really don't hear much about that being a major problem now.

I really don't get a sense that that kind of pessimism is out there right now. It's almost like we got our 25+ years out of v1.0, but now we're getting an upgrade that is a huge one. V1.0 almost was an introduction to the new southern downtowns. This will be v2.0, the one that people really use.

Finally, get a load of the accents in the first half of the video. I think Bob Farmer and Sherwood Smith came across really well. Mr. Farmer's son, incidentally, is one of the two guys doing Humble Pie now.

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WTVD Downtown Raleigh Report from 1977

Check out this FASCINATING 30-minute profile on downtown Raleigh's new Fayetteville Street Mall, Transamerica Building (Progress I), and ultra-modern Civic Center. It's interesting to compare and contrast the themes from then and now. Similarities: bring retail back to downtown, more restaurants, more financial type businesses, convention center hotel. Differences: There was a LOT of pessimism on this video. The interviewer and several people on the street thought the mall looked great, but were skeptical about its ability to really change downtown. It was also interesting to hear the continued pleas for a new hotel downtown (eventually the Radisson/Sheraton). Parking was also a consistent theme throughout the presentation. I really don't hear much about that being a major problem now.

I really don't get a sense that that kind of pessimism is out there right now. It's almost like we got our 25+ years out of v1.0, but now we're getting an upgrade that is a huge one. V1.0 almost was an introduction to the new southern downtowns. This will be v2.0, the one that people really use.

Finally, get a load of the accents in the first half of the video. I think Bob Farmer and Sherwood Smith came across really well. Mr. Farmer's son, incidentally, is one of the two guys doing Humble Pie now.

It is funny you posted this as I was going to post a conversation I just had with my father. We moved to Raleigh in 1971 when I was a kid he has lived here since then. For me, I went to school elsewhere and bummed a few years but Raleigh has always been my home city.

We were watching all hoopla on the TV news tonight and I know he has not a big fan of opening up Fay St. in the years before the construction started but he will go with it since it is done. Now my Dad is a pretty smart man, successful, dabbled in real estate investment on the side and has an extreme amount of common sense.

He said "they said the same things about the street when they turned it into a mall. They said if they build a civic center, build a hotel and pave the road, that people would start to come back DT. Now 30 years later, I hear the same thing."

He knows I support it and he has listen to my point of view when I say people are moving back downtown and added what I really feel. That many of the kids that grew up in suburbia that are in HS or in college or just getting out, will back lash against suburbia and live closer into town.

Anyway, the older I get, the more I realize that with age does come wisdom, but I really hope F Street does good in time----this time around.

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The influx of condos is the primary difference between then and now. Otherwise, we are basically repeating the 1970s steps on a larger scale.

The biggest trick will be getting more rental properties downtown. We're only accomodating one kind of resident so far. It's great that we're accomodating them now, but what about the others?

By the way, the video isn't working for me.

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The influx of condos is the primary difference between then and now. Otherwise, we are basically repeating the 1970s steps on a larger scale.

The biggest trick will be getting more rental properties downtown. We're only accomodating one kind of resident so far. It's great that we're accomodating them now, but what about the others?

By the way, the video isn't working for me.

It is funny you said that as my father also said the same thing along with cheaper homes for owners. I do think that will come. I just wish there was more "raw infrastructure" downtown. Maybe an area behind Fylthe Cycle Shop will be the place.

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I won't be able to go now. I hit some rough pavement down hargett around the railroad tracks last night. It had caused a tear in my oil pan.. thus a big oil leak. My car is in the shop now. I got no way to get there. I could walk but thats like 15 miles.. :(

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The Fetzer "update" of Fayetville Street Mall included installing "arm rests" on all "benches" (painted wood along the mall. Having the "guts" to do this might have been too little too late, as the mall had been dead for years, as the rennovations attracted no new retail. Also, it did not solve the homeless problem, it only moved it to other areas. Will the new benches get a similar treatment in the near future? If there is enoguh people and noise, no one will be able to sleep on benches. To keep the inmates from running the asylum, bars and guards are in place. Downtown could have used both of those during the down times, but was too "southern" (for lack of a better word) to consider bars (restaurants, not steel) and guards (police, ambassadors with homeless shelter information, etc.) as an option. This shift in thinking should lead to The Street's success.

Benches are ok for Capitol Square and the museum areas, but not Fayetville Street. King Street in Charleston does not have a "shiftless vagrant" problem because there are few *public* places to sit!

If there are enough coffee shops and restaurants, everyone who wants to sit can just stop in for a bite and move on. Although Hillsborough Street has few benches but still plenty of people not afraid to ask for money. Sofas that are popping up in the area's malls would not withstand the outdoors, and I hope they don't eat up the abundant sidewalk space with "sofa shelters" to accomodate nicer funiture!

I was with some friends walking down the street after it was over around 11:00 or so and I pointed out the benches to them and said, "some people say this will invite vagrants."

A guy from Paris who works here in Raleigh very calmy said "If this was France, the benches would have hand rails down the midddle so people could not sleep on them."

Pretty basic and I can not argue with French urban design or any design that has that much common sense.

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I was there last night. Very impressive turnout. Looking south from in front of that Wachovia building you could see an ocean of people filling the street. I couldn't believe I was in Raleigh.

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I was there last night. Very impressive turnout. Looking south from in front of that Wachovia building you could see an ocean of people filling the street. I couldn't believe I was in Raleigh.

Same here. Felt almost like the fair, crowd size-wise. I'm glad the weather was decent - nice breeze!

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Truly incredible! The event blew away my expectations. Even the weather was great! ^RT, I heard that same "I'm proud of Raleigh" comment from several others last night, and in all the years I have lived here, I can't remember hearing that before. I heard a bunch of comments from people who presumably never came DT much, say how nice it actually was going to be. I got a palpable sense that now a lot of people outside of the usual suspects feel DT is going to work and they are excited about it. It really did feel like a rebirth.

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What a great night for Raleigh! Everything worked out perfectly. Our whole family went down for the festivities. I have to admit it was pretty cool watching those apache helicopters flying down Fayetteville Sreet. We also witnessed a great deal of civic pride. I've lived in Raleigh a looong time and I agree with previous posts that this is one of the great moments of our city.

There will be many more exciting new additions to downtown Raleigh in the coming years, but none may be more important or symbolic of the new attitude about DT than the re-opening of the "heart" of our great city.

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I came out last night with family and friends from Burlington. I would like to say thank you to my fellow UP'ers for keeping me updated. I absolutely had a great time last night. Being in Burlington we get ABC 11 of Raleigh, There news HQ was great in person. The crowd was awesome, no fighting...just alot of pride and enthusiam. The firework show went very well everytime I thought it was over, it kept going. I kept saying to myself wow am I really in Raleigh? This will be memorable for a lifetime.

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I don't want to sound pretentious when I say this and the only reason I'm saying it is to make my point. I've been to many cities all over the world and I can recognize civic pride. A lot of the times the civic pride in their city comes across as people walking with confidence and purpose, taking on a real community. When I got there last night in the beginning, I got a sense that people weren't really confident in their city because they weren't used to a downtown environment; however, after the parade, it was like a rebirth.

Later as I was walking, it hit me -- the same vibe that I had gotten before from other cities I've been to. It seemed like a true confidence. People were impressed and proud of their downtown. This truly was a great night in the history of Raleigh. I believe Raleigh can become a great southern city after last night. I say southern primarily not because it's in the south, but because there is a definite southern charm within the urban feel -- at least that is what I felt. Raleigh seemed to have that "cool" diversity -- conservatives, liberals, hippies, different ethnicities, gay / straight and it all existed in peace. :)

It was a great night.

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I was not able to attend. Living in Denver Co makes it a far drive. Watched a few videos on the web. What a turn out. Unbelievable to see that many people DT. I hoping with that many people coming DT for the celebration that people will want to come back to eat and shop and keep the vibrancy up. Great job Raleigh.

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i drove down F st. this morning and it was bumper to bumper to bumper traffic. took 20 min. there were people all over the sidewalks, young couples, older people, kids, etc... it was kind of sad that there was nothing for these people to do. business need to open down there quick, before the public decides that DT is not worth driving to. exciting to see people down there tho.

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During the end of the WRAL broad cast on Saturday evening, they stated an 35,000 people figure. But I forgot were they got that figure. They went on to say that because of the overwhelming support for this event that they may want to do this once a year? :D

They said "Event planners estimate 35,000". Hopefully it's more accurate than the "1M" at the Million Man March. 20K is nothing to scoff at, though.

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