Raleigh

Community-focused posts

There are 773 posts filed in Raleigh (this is page 18 of 78).

East Raleigh rising

When the cops arrived after I called about the metal thieves raiding the subdivision under construction, they began peppering me with questions. I was amused to hear the questions had nothing to do with the crooks.

“Hey, what can you tell me about this subdivision?”

“Is this a multi-family or single-family project?”

“Any idea what these will sell for?”

Crime happens so rarely in my area that cops don’t have much opportunity to visit. The ones that do express surprise that such nice homes like Bennett Woods’s and (soon to be) Oakwood North are tucked inside East Raleigh. “It’s like Wisteria Lane or something,” one told me incredulously upon seeing Bennett Woods for the first time.
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Energy cost of snow days

You know, if I were a local reporter on the energy beat, I’d think it’d be very interesting to study how last week’s snow days affected our community’s energy usage. Did a near-week of school days cause our area to use more or less electricity and/or natural gas? Did our local businesses burn energy to heat and light mostly-empty offices during this time? What about the gasoline saved from all the school buses that weren’t running? Or the commutes that didn’t take place? How about the fleet of municipal utility trucks that constantly worked to clear our roads?

Unlike hurricanes and ice storms, last week’s snow caused relatively little damage to our electricity infrastructure. I think this makes an ideal situation to study because one can essentially rule out downed power lines as the cause of energy savings (if any). I’d love to see a breakdown of the energy costs of this recent break.

Atlanta Snow Storm – POLITICO Magazine

Two inches of snow caused massive gridlock and laid bare the governmental fault lines of the Atlanta region. It was Raleigh 2005 all over again. I know I took a dig at the Wake County Public School System for its Tuesday closure but it’s certainly better than gridlock.

As an Atlantan, I’m concerned that this storm revealed just how unprepared we are in case of real disaster. If Atlanta, the region, wants to get serious about public safety, its mayors, county officials, and state officials will need to start practicing regionalism instead of paying lip service to it. And whether threatened by a dangerous pandemic, a major catastrophe, or just two inches of snow, we need to have ways to get around—and out of—the city other than by car.

via Atlanta Snow Storm – POLITICO Magazine.

Preemptive school closings and delays

Wake County Public Schools just announced they will stay closed tomorrow. This comes a week after the school system had a two hour delay for about a half-inch of snow. Tomorrow’s threat of anywhere between 4 and 8 inches of snow is a bit more serious, at least, but you have to wonder if the school system isn’t getting a bit too snow-shy.

Everyone who’s been around here long enough remembers the utter disaster of 2005, when an inch of snow at morning rush hour closed schools and sent everyone on the roads at once to fetch their kids. The roads promptly froze over, leading to colossal gridlock the likes of which I’d never seen before nor since. Certainly, no one wants that to happen again. I sure don’t. I’ll never forget it!

Even so, that incident is now nine years in the past. Raleigh has grown up considerably since then. The city now pre-treats the roads with salt brine and gets ahead of the storm. I think the city has handled subsequent storm events very, very well. In essence, I think it’s highly unlikely Raleigh will get caught off guard again.

So if the city has improved its snow response, what about the schools? Seems to me the school staff aren’t making a call based on how a given storm will impact school transportation. Rather, the school system should be deciding based on how well the City of Raleigh and NCDOT can keep the roads clear. Yes, it may be -9 degrees or, yes, it may snow two feet overnight. It shouldn’t really matter what happens if the city and state can clean it up in time for the early buses to roll.

Shiny craft in sky

At 7:27 AM Saturday, I was running late to meet my brothers and dad for breakfast downtown. As I hurriedly turned south onto Blount Street from Peace Street, I spotted a very bright object in the eastern sky, roughly above Oakwood Cemetery. It seemed to be stationary and extremely shiny. The bottom half glowed brilliant amber. It could’ve been catching the morning sun that was rising behind it.

Was it an airplane? Normally I’d say so, but in the second it took me to look back at the road and then back to the sky it seemed to vanish. It wasn’t shaped like an airplane but was more spherical, perhaps even oblong or diamond-shaped. It was so reflective to be almost mirror-like. There were no visible navigation lights, either, nor was this airplane on any flight path to or from RDU airport.

There are general aviation planes which are silver but these are rare in my experience. Most small planes are painted. Helicopters are normally painted as well. I don’t ever recall seeing one so reflective – certainly none of the usual TV news helicopters common around here.

Am I a little spooked by the other weird lights I’ve seen recently over Raleigh? You bet. That doesn’t mean what I saw yesterday is anything but some shiny, everyday aircraft. Even so, I sure wish I would’ve had some extra time to investigate it.

RALEIGH: Raleigh Housing Authority: Where the streets have magicians’ names

A prominent local journalist commented that this “story” smacks of “piling on.” I have to agree. Naming streets? The nerve!

There might be a lot of things to take issue with regarding Steve Beam but to jump on him for naming streets is not one of them. This is weak and petty, N&O. It’s your credibility that’s in a disappearing act.

RALEIGH — When the Walnut Terrace public housing complex reopens next year, its residents will find that their new addresses bear the names of obscure magicians.

Steve Beam, Raleigh Housing Authority director and card-trick expert, has named the new development’s streets after historical figures in magic, most of whom – like Beam – were known for masterful illusions with a deck of playing cards.

via RALEIGH: Raleigh Housing Authority: Where the streets have magicians' names | Wake County | NewsObserver.com.

Dogs in parks issue moved to committee

Last week, the Raleigh City Council moved the issue of restricting dogs from certain areas of parks to the Council’s Public Works committee. I was aware that might happen but don’t know what the committee might hit on that the parks board and its committees did not. We have carefully considered the issue, collected public feedback, and made sure all along to take our time to get it right.

Again, I feel the key to success here is to provide more dog-friendly areas, whether they be dog runs in existing parks or biting the fiscal bullet and ponying up for additional much-needed dog parks in our growing city. Part of the Parks board’s recommendation was to be tasked with studying where more dog-friendly resources could be added. I hope the Council will see fit to approve that.
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Century Drive Solar Farm

Century Drive Solar Farm (click to embiggen)

Century Drive Solar Farm (click to embiggen)

Now that the leaves are off the trees I’d been eyeing this solar farm near the Crabtree Boulevard exit of the Beltline. My daughter Hallie and I took a little time this afternoon to explore this installation.

According to the Raleigh Public Record story on it last year, the Century Drive Solar Farm was approved by the City Council in May 2013. At the time the property owners, J.T. Hobby and Son, stated that it could be 10 to 15 years before the land could support solar panels due to the land being a former landfill and in a floodplane to boot. Apparently they worked out some of the engineering issues because the panels have been present since the end of October, at least.

Raleigh Public Record says there are 4,000 panels here and the filing with the state public utilities commission [XLS] says the solar farm is 1 MW is size. Pretty cool to have a large solar installation in such a high-profile location!

Cheap Thoughts: Parking meter app

Dinosaur

Dinosaur


Paying for parking? There’s an app for that. Or at least there should be.

Walking down a downtown sidewalk this week, I pondered a sawed-off pipe near the curb where an old-fashioned parking meter once stood. A few years ago, the City of Raleigh got rid of all the traditional coin-based parking meters and put up new electronic parking kiosks instead. Drivers simply note the painted number for their parking space and enter that into the kiosk along with their payment.

Simple, right? Instead of collecting coins from hundreds of meters, parking staff simply empty the money from kiosks, which take credit cards and paper bills in addition to coins. Drivers can also refresh their parking time from nearby kiosks, avoiding a trip back to the kiosk nearest the car.
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Highlights of 2013: Volunteering

The year 2013 was a busy year for volunteering. Most of my attention was devoted to Little Raleigh Radio, both as a boardmember and as a volunteer. We obtained equipment and set up a studio on St. Mary’s Street. I configured a music server and helped integrate it into the studio. We worked together in the fall to locate suitable transmitter sites and filed our FCC application.

Then the filing window closed and we saw we were one of five groups to apply for our frequency. Not only that, we were the youngest organization to file, meaning we almost certainly lose out to the others when the FCC grants its license. We’re still plotting our next steps but it’s depressing to see this opportunity slipping away with little we can do about it.
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