Raleigh city council approved the members of the Dix Park Advisory Committee yesterday. My son Travis and I did not make the list. I was disappointed about this for a little while until I recognized how much time I now won’t be spending in meetings. I had cleared the decks to devote the proper time and attention to this but now I am free to pursue other initiatives. Now, how to fill it?
Raleigh
Community-focused posts
There are 773 posts filed in Raleigh (this is page 9 of 78).
Rosie the Seaboard Station ghost?
Does Rosie the Riveter have a doppelganger at Seaboard Station?
I needed a part to fix our broken dishwasher so I drove over to Seaboard Ace Friday morning before work. On my way out of the store, I spotted an African American woman slowly walking toward me from the north in the parking lot. I did not want to keep her waiting as I backed out of the space so I wasted no time in getting going. Sure I was out of her way, I headed towards the lot’s exit. In the time it took me to reach the stop sign in front of Logan’s Trading Company the woman had somehow made it into the next parking lot, where the Phydeaux store used to be.
I was stunned. I was sure I backed out of the space before this woman could’ve reached my car, and somehow she had beaten my car to the stop sign? How?
Not wanting to seem like I was stalking her, I continued left to Halifax Street, then turned right to go back down the little one-way alley between Phydeaux and 18 Seaboard. The woman was still in the Phydeaux parking lot, this time slowly walking west.
Just to make sure I hadn’t mistaken the woman for another one dressed similarly, I drove back down in front of the hardware store. No other similarly-dressed women were around. I turned around just past Peace China and headed back towards the woman.
This time when I reached the Phydeaux parking lot the woman was gone. I drove the counterclockwise loop from Logan’s back to the one-way alley but could not find her.
I still couldn’t believe what I had just seen. How did this slow-walking woman suddenly leap ahead of me? And where had she gone? What had just happened here!?
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Neighborhood joy
As sad as it is that Miss Ruth has moved away, our changing neighborhood ain’t all bad. In fact, there is lots to celebrate. Over the winter, Kelly and I finally bought a storm door for our front door, which gives us a look at what goes on outside. With the arrival of beautiful spring weather, I’ve been delighted to see all the neighbors out walking, running, pushing strollers, walking their dogs, and being neighborly. Last Friday evening alone I must have watched a dozen people passing happily by our home.
I’ve always considered as a sign of the health of a community how many people you see out interacting with each other. I’m thrilled to see so many of my friends and neighbors out getting to know their community.
Miss Ruth moves away
Miss Ruth Gartrell poses with the Turner family, February 2016.
I knew the day would ome day come and about two weeks ago it did: the day our wonderful next-door neighbor “Miss Ruth” Gartrell moved away. Her once-bustling home is now empty and it makes me sad.
We first found out about her impending move over New Year’s when a for sale sign appeared in her yard. She told me that she was unable to keep up with her large home the way she used to and also felt she should move back to California where she could be closer to more of her family. A few months then went by before her packing began in earnest and one morning about two weeks ago she and her family left for good.
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Parks board past
While fueling up at the gas station this morning, I recognized the gentlemen behind me as Ed Morris, the former chair of the Mordecai Historic Park board on which I served for four years. Ed was happy to see me and we caught up for a bit as we haven’t seen each other in far too long.
I was touched when Ed told me I was missed over at Mordecai. Serving on Mordecai’s board was not only a committee assignment for me while I was on the Parks board but it was also a personal treat. I am proud that I participated in the project to create an Interpretive Center at Mordecai and worked with the community to build consensus for the plan. It was a fun group to serve with, and then in a flash it was over.
I’ve turned my attention to other endeavors but I will always be proud of Raleigh’s parks. I hope to continue getting Dix Park designed, which would pretty-much top it all.
Does Raleigh make room for innovation?
Now that I’ve lived half of my life in Raleigh I’ve been thinking more about how Raleigh grows. There seem to be two fundamental camps, one that welcomes innovation and the trying of new things, and the other that is very cautious about new things.
I’ve always been the kind who prefers when people play by the rules. But what if the rules aren’t really necessary? What if the rules make a situation worse?
My wife and I recently spent a delightful weekend alone in the City of Savannah. Savannah has long recognized the value of tourism (being a sea town. Duh.) and allows people to carry their open containers of alcohol anywhere they please. Savannah apparently does not have restrictions on outdoor seating at restaurants. Now, I was only there for one weekend but it seemed to me that chaos had not broken out. No souls were apparently lost. In fact, people seemed to be getting along just fine. On the other hand, Savannah does have strict laws against panhandling, which seemed to be respected. Overall, though, Savannah seems pretty laissez-faire about rules and restrictions and it looks like it works for them.
I couldn’t help but think of Raleigh while we walked the streets of Savannah, and how “loosening the reins” and seeing what happens doesn’t really come naturally to Raleigh. It’s like we have to be against something before we can be for it. This does not help to spur the innovation that we need to attract and grow world-changing businesses here. We are more reactive rather than proactive.
I imagine what Raleigh could accomplish if, rather than asking “why?”, instead asking “why not?”
Raleigh’s accent
Some friends were discussing accents the other day. A buddy who was born and raised in Raleigh was told his accent sounded Midwestern. As a Raleigh resident who was raised all over the South, I have to say I don’t hear much of a Southern accent around Raleigh.
Maybe it’s because of the way Raleigh draws residents from all around the country and world. Companies like IBM set up shop here in the early 1960s, bringing new residents in from all over (and particularly the North). As these groups assimilated the accents all blended, too. Raleigh is a melting pot of people and accents. So I suppose one could say that Raleigh does have its own accent but it’s indistinct. Maybe boring. And boring might not be a bad thing.
On a related note, last night I met with a group of very friendly transplants from the North. For all the grief my daughter gives me about suddenly sounding Southern when I’m around my Southern friends, last night I caught myself actually slipping into a New England accent. 🙂
Raleigh’s Bike Share is key to Raleigh’s growth
A Bike Share bike rack in downtown Boulder, CO.
Raleigh City Council is considering sponsoring a bike share program. This was a project first begun a year or two ago, resulting in winning a federal grant. Now that grant is in danger of expiring next month if the city does not move forward.
I am reminded of the presentation former Raleigh City Planner Mitchell Silver gave a few years ago on our society’s changing demographics, an eye-opening look at today’s new workforce. Today’s new workforce does not want to drive anywhere (sorry, RTP). The new workforce wants their living, working, and playing all to be nearby. One need only see the massive investments recently made in upscale apartments clustered around downtown, N.C. State, Cameron Village, and other commercial areas. Durham’s American Tobacco Campus is the same way.
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Half my life in Raleigh
According to a geeky tool known as www.timeanddate.com, Friday was the date when I officially spent half of my life in Raleigh. I arrived on Sunday, 2 August 1992 to attend N.C. State and somehow never left. Prior to Raleigh, the longest I’d ever lived somewhere was 7 years in Columbia, SC, where I finished elementary school and started middle school.
August 2nd wasn’t my first look at Raleigh that year. I originally drove up from Columbia for the Jimmy Buffett concerts on 12-13 June 1992, staying at the Barton Place condo being rented by my high school buddy, Mike. My very first look at Raleigh was driving up for the State-Carolina game on 17 Oct 1987. I crashed at my friend Chris’s dorm room in Bragaw Hall. He gave me a tour of Raleigh’s then-desolate downtown.
Back then I never thought Raleigh would ever hold my interest. Fortunately, it has grown to suit me. I don’t know if my kids will decide to stay here, though. My daughter seems set on new horizons but one can never say never. For me, though, Raleigh’s been a wonderful place to live, work, and play and it gets a little better every day.
Calling all Time Warner customers to unite against its dreadful customer service | News & Observer
Former Raleigh City Councilor Barlow Herget wrote to the N&O about his abysmal recent experience at the Time Warner Cable office.
Mr. Herget asks if the City Council could change the law to go back to local control of cable TV franchises. Local control went out the window in 2005 when a group of “business-friendly” Democrats in the state legislature successfully passed the “state franchise for cable television” bill into law for their friends at Time Warner Cable. This stripped control of cable franchises from city and county governments and placed it in the hands of the state. It’s easier to pay off state leaderss rather than local leaders, it seems.
I predicted this would happen back in 2006 and time has proven me correct. I just wish I could’ve convinced more state legislators at the time.
I recently had the dreadful occasion to visit Time Warner’s office in Raleigh. We needed a “box” for a new television. It was a hot 95 degrees outside, and inside the Atlantic Avenue office, there were 35 to 40 people waiting, including one crying baby.
The room was the size of a typical school class. We took a number and asked how long we should expect to wait. Thirty minutes. We luckily found two chairs together and sat down.My fellow subscribers were lined along the walls, a few standing, more coming in. Mostly patient, the steam was starting to rise in some of these customers. There was an inane game show on a big screen TV that a few were watching.
One lady came in carrying a big box, saw the crowd and asked how long she had to wait. Told 30 minutes, she declared she was on her lunch break and, after waiting 10 minutes, departed, muttering, “Some people have to work for a living,”
Source: Calling all Time Warner customers to unite against its dreadful customer service | News & Observer