I’ve had the unique opportunity to work in the Moore Square, to see it operate as part of the Farmer’s Market. Which, incidentally, (at the direction of the same Downtown Alliance that spearheaded this plan) will move to City Plaza next year. After participating in some of the discussions on this forum, I’ve paid more attention to the Square’s activity. This is what I’ve learned:
Kids play in Moore Square. They tumble, and explore its trees and softly tufted grass. It is used by people walking, sitting, reading, watching, relaxing, and more. All of the things you’d expect the city’s premier public space to do. Most of our major, outdoor, events are held in the square, including New Years, Artsplosure, the World Beer Fest, and more. People enjoy the Square, they come down for lunch, walk around and enjoy the trees. A lot more people than you might believe.
So, when the Mayor asked “Are you convinced you have what it takes to turn this park into a unique public space?” It was very hard to understand. What if we already think it is pretty nifty. We understand it could use some work, sure, but nothing this fancy, nothing that will distract us from the larger goal of working diligently to create a downtown culture. A culture that would support this unique public space as the cornerstone of a sustainable neighborhood. Admittedly, that’s more difficult.
Wouldn’t it be prudent to hire a well-established (hopefully local) design firm to do the job in a few months so we could construct it in Winter 2009-10 instead of having a design in March or April when the Square really comes to life? Where do the options for construction, especially fiscally reasonable ones, come from? It’s one of the few places downtown that has mature Oak trees. It is a very open space, you can see both sides from all directions, and that can’t go. Sure, it could be updated, but do you really want to completely remove all traces of the historic park grid? And Nash Square, itself recently cleaned up, is one of the least used public spaces in the city, despite seemingly having more benefits nearby than Moore Square. How does Moore avoid a similar fate?
There are also logistical loopholes that seem eerily glossed over in the hype. The Square is not owned by the city. As the press releases all seem to condition “The State of North Carolina, which owns Moore Square, will have to agree to the final design before construction could begin.” There isn’t much certainty in the City’s language that seems to imply they already have a tacit understanding with the state on this issue. Ask Plensa what somebody else ultimately controlling the decision can do.
Why isn’t the city talking directly about the Parks and Rec department taking over the Square? Their parks all seem much better taken care of than Moore Square, and that alone may fix the problems at hand, at a much more reasonable cost.
It should be noted, the best recent opportunity to really revitalize the square has passed: the sale of the former City Market (Greenshields, et al) building last year. The City could have bought it in the hope of revitalizing its original purpose, a Market, home to a myriad of different vendors and passionate people-while also functioning as an ad hoc grocery. Now the space will be filled with a banquet hall, whose infrequent and focused use won’t contribute much constant life to the square. Don’t believe a market can revitalize a downtown? Ask Columbus, Ohio, or Boston, or San Francisco for that matter, who turned to a market to revitalize a formerly empty spaces. Yes, people didn’t used to go to the Wharf in Boston either. Our Downtown market will soon be moving to City Plaza.
A redesign of the park doesn’t eliminate what seems to be the subtext of all of these discussions. There are homeless in the square, but they don’t bother anybody. Go to Rittenhouse square in Philadelphia or Washington Square in New York and you’ll see homeless. Beyond that, ours are actually quite nice. Short of putting up a fence and requiring everybody own a home in Raleigh to enter the park, there is no way to eliminate what almost every ‘supportive’ opinion seems to think justifies the city’s expenses: the shuffling of the homeless. Maybe if there were more people who were proximate to the park and using the park daily, they wouldn’t stick out so much. It’s a poor excuse, and its one we have to grow up from as we continue to mature as a City.
So it is important to remember that no matter how pretty Moore Square ultimately is, it doesn’t remove all of the buildings in the block immediately East of the park. That seems to be where most of the city’s prejudices lie. Why doesn’t the city support a design competition that redevelops that block to compliment Moore Square? At present, in the eight blocks that are either adjacent or cattycorner to the square, only City Market and the Transit center sides have multiple, vigorous uses. Three of the eight are institutions. Two have parking lots facing the square. None have much residential and there are few services nearby to support a living room park. There is one place near the park to get a lunch you can eat in the park, no places near the park to buy a newspaper, and night-life spots always seem to have difficulty if they aren’t on Blount St.
The decision to spend so much time, money, mental capacity, and pomp over the redevelopment of a healthy urban environment is irresponsible. No matter the implications of a better designed square, no matter the glossing over real issues a competition for the square somehow hides, the City’s recent troubles have all been about money. Raleigh’s main website on the day of the announcement featured four Moore Square press releases, but they were below the top, larger, press release: “City Manager’s Proposed Budget Cuts Spending.” Does the city sincerely believe, sometime in 2010 it’s going to have the capital funds to pay for a competition-derived design? And if those funds, and control of the square, can’t be assured now, the competition serves to distract attention from other, more pressing needs Downtown, like a structural simplification of our urban development procedures.
If you don’t believe me, come down and actually experience the square at the Moore Square Farmers’ Market, Wednesdays from 10:30am - 2pm.
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