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Have any Big Ideas for Raleigh?


dand65

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I saw rjgeary, Jones133, dmcall, and BethY. A few guys from New Raleigh were there. It was a pretty interesting event. There was a brief intro on planning context: population trends, etc. dand65 gave a brief presentation on the history of the meeting of state leaders at Isaac Hunter's tavern in 1788, and how it helped create the current city... they like his tavern so much, they vowed the new state capital must be within 10 miles of that site (which I think was near the current Wake Forest & Six Forks Rd--Jones?).

Tir Na Nog made this cherry bounce drink that supposedly was consumed at the original tavern meeting. I couldn't resist trying one. :lol: Anyway, there were some good ideas: Dix, streetcars, riverwalks, greenways, lots of ideas on how to 'fix' Capital Blvd (everyone recognizes it's awful), state's largest waterfall, arts districts, reuse of Dillon warehouses, bury the Boylan Wye and extend the DT grid overtop (with green roofs) to Boylan Heights, bike lanes everywhere. Early on I blirted out Canes hockey game on Fayetteville St--kinda partial to that one. I thought of more today...

  • murals on the blank walls downtown... exhibit A: AT&T (monolith) building

  • place big spotlights at the historic centers of the Triangle cities: State Capitol, Franklin/Columbia in CH, and Main St in Durham... have them all shine at one point in the sky at the geographic center of the Triangle once a month (first Sat?) to show a regional connection of distinct places

I'd say about 2/3 of people wanted to redo Capital in some way, bury it or bridge over it. Lots of talk on mass transit, streetcars, walking and biking. Several mentions of water features like a riverwalk (Devereaux Meadows, etc.)

Others chime in here...

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I didn't get out of work in RTP till 6:45, got to Tir Na Nog at 7:15. By then it was the usual organized chaos expected at a charette. There were a lot of people, and I didn't want to barge in as a latecomer (and I'm not that creative/professional anything), so I didn't stick around.

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I planned to go but GF had other something else in mind for us. Nice that others want to do something with Capital. The one big hurdle (well two really) with Capital is that anything done to it much be approved by NCDOT, being its owned by the state AND NCDOT, from what I understand, has to submit any major changes to the road to USDOT for approval, being Capital is a segment of US1. Anything major done with Capital would likely cost almost as much building a rail system in the end. I would say the most cost effective way to deal with Capital is to build bridges over it. I got stuck having to cross Capital the other day and it was like running a marathon to make it across in time! Its great to hear that mass transit came up a lot. I really think Raleigh would do well with an aquarium, did that come up at all?

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I could not get from downtown to rtp after work in time, and regret missing as well.

Even tho the event ended, i think the thread should stay alive...

Big Ideas:

- College Basketball Museum (perhaps a Wax Museum of Triangle Greats)

- New urbanism (condos/residence topping the existing retail) on Hillsborough Street NC State Campus.

- Destination bookstore and cafe anchoring mission valley

- Technology Museum backed by RTP companies (similar to what they have in San Jose, CA)

- Move flea market and similar events downtown from fair grounds

- Robots that walk around downtown and give visitors directions / facts about city

- Coordinated music and light show of buildings on Fayetteville Street (a smaller scale of what they do in Hong Kong).

- Electronic Buses that travel every 15 minutes between satellite parking lots and downtown Raleigh on weekends (i.e. Crabtree, North Hills, Crossroads, etc).

- Hurricane / Severe Weather museum with help of NC State Meterology program.

I got tons of crazy ideas ;)

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^^^

I LOVE your museum ideas! All of them really fit the area and I feel would add something of interest to downtown. All 3 of them are actually quite feasable, given the state history with hurricanes, being the Triangle is the mecca of college b ball and technology is one of the backbones of our area.

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I wasn't able to make it out, but my roommate and a friend did. They had fun, I was stuck in an engineering lab working on a project that was supposed to be presented today. Around 11pm we get an email saying it's delayed until Thursday. Needless to say I wasn't happy. :wacko:

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Its always good to get all these folks together. I did alot of map drawing but did not stay to talk up my stuff. Pretty basic, my ideas have always been the same....free full downtown trolley coverage that runs all day and night (perk for downtown residents and big help for visitors), regrid downtown south of Peace to Lane between Harrington and the RR tracks and make Hillsborough St our monument avenue with Sir Walter, Opie/Andy and MLK being the first three statues...put them mid block starting at the little brick island at Edenton/Hillsborough.

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  • 4 months later...

^While I appreciate the work people did on that book, I have to be a bit depressed that the big ideas were things that should be the standard for every larger American city-mass transit, clean streets, decent public spaces, etc. I think our standards in this country have dropped to the least common denominator of strip malls, tract housing, and endless miles of concrete crud scape.

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I was pleased that two of the top three were for extending the grid north and south and creating a grand boulevard, which I think is the logical big step to take. However, the end of the list really has me shaking my head. Giant video gaming screen? Amusement park? Doll house village??????? Huh? If things like that make the final cut of twenty "big ideas", there was a serious shortage of ideas, and this town has a lot farther to go as a cosmopolitan center than we care to admit.

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^

I'm with you on the dollhouse village and video gaming screen. I fail to see where those would make the city more liveable and IMO, they are just plain silly.

As for Capital, it would be nice to see some sort of redesign, but realistically its kind of a pipe dream with the state owning it and further more, having to meet what the Fed wants because of it being a US highway. Some of the ideas are way out there too, with no technology to support them at this time, like satellite controlled car pods looking for people needing a ride. One of the largest problems with DTR is the large amount of land owned by the state. I saw a suggestion that talked of combining the state visitors center with the art museum and adding a crafts area to the museum. While a great idea, the city doesn't have any say on that and its something the suggester would have to take up with their state rep. Same with the state fairgrounds area...90% state owned.

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I was pleased that two of the top three were for extending the grid north and south and creating a grand boulevard, which I think is the logical big step to take. However, the end of the list really has me shaking my head. Giant video gaming screen? Amusement park? Doll house village??????? Huh? If things like that make the final cut of twenty "big ideas", there was a serious shortage of ideas, and this town has a lot farther to go as a cosmopolitan center than we care to admit.
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