Community News in Raleigh

The group in attendance at the December 11th roundabout hearing advanced the need for a more comprehensive, community-focused plan for the Hillsborough and Morgan street intersection. None of the proposed plans have successfully addressed the community’s initial concerns—slower speeds, better pedestrian access, and less traffic. This project began as a community enhancement project rather than a transit project. The project thus far has catered to the opposite—traffic management with community and pedestrian impact as second priority.

Read more and see the rejected plans >>

Raleigh city council is holding a public hearing on Tuesday, December 11 at the Pullen Park Arts Center to review the proposed roundabout design for the intersection of Hillsborough and Morgan streets. This will be the fourth hearing on the contested roundabout design.

At the first hearing the engineering firm PBS&J met with a critical review from the individuals in attendance. Among other concerns, the major issue was that the design would ineffectually increase traffic flow rather than calm it—which was the original intent.

Read more and view the animation>>

Triangle based company Burt’s Bees might have been my favorite billion-dollar corporation… almost. Granted, the only product I’ve used is the underarm spray. It was one of those products that I actually felt good about purchasing because I knew my money was supporting what was, at one time, a locally established company. Having sold a stake in 2003 for $177 million to AEA Investors, Burt’s Bees maintained their air of locality. It is produced 20 minutes away and they seemed to understand my needs. It’s an underarm deodorant and not an anti-persperant. I knew as a human I was meant to sweat and they knew that too. It also helped me smell like lavender instead of ‘Dioxyuberclogo-Roygbiv-69’.

The buy-out company that bought Burt’s in 2003 just sold it to Clorox for (what!?) $925 million. Clorox has got faith.

Five Points might be the hippest, most authentic mixed use neighborhood in Raleigh.  Authentic, because it has had a chance to mature and evolve over many years without some major development intervention or overhaul.  Hip because of places such as Lilly’s Pizza and Third Place, and because of the close proximity of daily activities to houses and apartments.  One could spend hours discussing why this area lends itself to urbanity.  The highlighted area in the image above consists of three parcels, with a house on each, owned by Bobby Lewis.  It has been rumored for some time that Mr. Lewis, principal of Raleigh Development Company, plans to tear down these houses and build something else.

Read on… 

It seems that North Raleigh News is not “new” but is available only in the North Raleigh edition and somehow snaked its way into a downtown edition of the paper today, inspiring the following commentary.

There’s a relatively new section in the print version of The News and Observer.  One might think it would be about downtown considering the amount of growth there.  It could highlight all the new shops, restaurants, and condos being built, collected into a full section, once a week.  Unfortunately, this is not the case.  The new section of the News and Observer is entitled North Raleigh News and comes out once a week, Friday. Along with Auto Friday and the What’s Up entertainment section, North Raleigh News attempts to become another specialized section of the Friday paper. Let’s take a peak into today’s issue and see what’s going on up in North Raleigh.
More on the New Section Below the Fold.