Quote :

"June 30, 2006 ABC11 Eyewitness News And Good Morining America To Celebrate Raleigh Wide Open ABC11 Eyewitness News anchors Larry Stogner, Tisha Powell, Steve Daniels and Angela Hampton will emcee "Raleigh Wide Open" - the July 29 party to celebrate the opening of historic Fayetteville Street. ABC11 has announced that "Good Morning America" will be in Raleigh that morning to celebrate the grand opening as well. The public is invited to join "Good Morning America" weather anchor Marysol Castro as she broadcasts live from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. outside the new ABC11 Raleigh Eyewitness News Center on Fayetteville Street. Parking downtown will be free for the memorable celebration. The main stage will host the evening's featured entertainment - all free - including headliner Royal Crown Review, widely revered as the kings of Swing, and support act, Tres Chicas. The main stage will be located in the celebration plaza between the One and Two Hanover buildings south of Davie Street. The festivities will start with a parade that will christen the street and kick off the four-block party that will feature food, a beer garden, wine tasting and street performers. A military flyover and a bodacious fireworks display will officially conclude the party and begin the new life for North Carolina's main street. For those hankering for more, the City will be offering "Saturday Movies in Moore Square" immediately following the celebration. The time is estimated around 10 p.m. and the film will be "The Pink Panther" with Beyonce. Admission is free. Attendees should bring lawn chairs or blankets for seating. "Saturday Movies in Moore Square" is held every other Saturday throughout the summer. The City of Raleigh, the Downtown Raleigh Alliance and the staff of Artsplosure are busy pulling together the party that will mark the opening of the four blocks of "North Carolina's Main Street" from the State Capitol to the Sheraton Hotel. Mid-Summer's Night Party! The Fayetteville Street party will mark the end of 16 months of construction that returns the street's 100 to 400 blocks to vehicular traffic. The conversion from a pedestrian mall began March 14, 2005 and came with a price tag of $9.33 million. T.A. Loving Company of Goldsboro is the project contractor. The four blocks are being converted to a 40-foot-wide thoroughfare with parallel parking on both sides of the street. Traffic signals at Davie, Martin, Hargett and Morgan streets are being modified. Hargett and Martin streets are being converted to two-way traffic. The new street will offer a wide streetscape for art, open space and outdoor dining. But the energy, excitement and potential of the new "old main street" are the "thing." The new Fayetteville Street will be Raleigh's parade route, its festival site, its party central - starting July 29! "

Damn, Good Morning America is going to be there.. thats huge!

Plus, what's a beer garden?

6/30/2006 11:53:10 PM

Quote :

"a bodacious fireworks display"

hahahaha how lame

7/1/2006 12:45:23 AM

here comes raleigh

7/1/2006 1:17:20 AM

wait

what time does all that shit go down

7/1/2006 1:34:42 AM

cool, good post

7/1/2006 5:26:35 AM

I assume it starts at 7am and goes on til late night.

7/1/2006 7:18:09 AM

Quote :

"Plus, what's a beer garden?"

Essentially just an outdoor seating area for a restaurant or bar where beer is served. Typically pretty cool, but I'm sure Raleigh will find a way to lame it down.

7/1/2006 9:23:36 AM

i see a NPO citation in ABC 11's future...

7/1/2006 10:37:08 AM

^

7/1/2006 2:56:05 PM

Tres Chicas is a good local act

7/1/2006 4:46:18 PM

http://www.godowntownraleigh.com/RWO/rwo.html

7/11/2006 12:23:43 PM

7/11/2006 12:54:55 PM

holy shit i think thats my block.

7/11/2006 12:56:22 PM

thats belle chere weekend

7/11/2006 6:29:54 PM

Quote :

"The public is invited to join "Good Morning America" weather anchor Marysol Castro"

people, dont get your panties all in a bunch...

7/11/2006 9:27:48 PM

its minkagirl

WOLF!!!!

7/11/2006 9:30:03 PM

I bet the anchorperson from good mornin america that has to be there is like "who the hell signed me up for this po dunk shit"

7/11/2006 9:37:20 PM

PACK!!!


LOL

7/11/2006 9:47:37 PM

^^Just to let you know, ABC 11 is owned by ABC (its not just a local affiliate). Raleigh's Urban Design and Economic Development Centers love to brag about it and rightly so. Its definitely a good sign for our city that a major media outlet wants to invest in our downtown.

7/11/2006 9:52:35 PM

I guess

They should seriously think about concentrating high rises downtown however, rather than spreading them out all over the city

And I really did not want them to open up the mall anyway

7/11/2006 10:08:46 PM

why not?

7/11/2006 10:10:40 PM

^^ I agree, but try telling that to Raleigh's Economic Development People. Their theory is that growth around North Hills, Crabtree Valley, Triangle Town Center indirectly boost downtown by improving the metro area as a whole. Better yet, try explaining this to suburban developers or DOT transportation planners.

Government-induced growth controls are a joke, especially in the southeast. Economic incentives for infill do exist in many cases, its just a matter of more developers wising up to it. Trust me, there are plenty who focus on urban infill, its just not as noticable to the general public as suburban greenfield development. But if you want a real solution, its got to be a combination of financial incentives and a reasonable interconnected network (as in one seamlessly integrated mesh) of pedestrian, transit and automobile circulation.

7/13/2006 12:19:59 AM

Hope I don't sound like too much of an idiot for asking this since I've lived in Raleigh for four years, but: Where is Fayetteville street and what is there to do there?

7/13/2006 12:37:57 PM

Its downtown - one end starts at the capitol building. They turned it into a pedestrian mall in the 70s when that was the cool thing for cities to do. There were a few restaurants down there that catered to the businesses downtown, but for the most part nobody went there anymore because it was full of homeless people.

7/13/2006 1:03:45 PM

Quote :

"Government-induced growth controls are a joke, especially in the southeast. Economic incentives for infill do exist in many cases, its just a matter of more developers wising up to it. Trust me, there are plenty who focus on urban infill, its just not as noticable to the general public as suburban greenfield development. But if you want a real solution, its got to be a combination of financial incentives and a reasonable interconnected network (as in one seamlessly integrated mesh) of pedestrian, transit and automobile circulation."

The problem is the carrot-stick method of controlling growth being used is really only utilizing the carrot. A development fee system correlating to the square feet of the property of land (not the number of units) would discourage giant McMansions. Instead we go by number of units, which encourages McMansions, and heavily discourages highrises.

Development incentives, like the $20 million for the Marriott, are absurd. After a while, all developers start asking for $20 million.

7/14/2006 2:55:11 PM

funny thing is, I bet they had a big party when they closed down Fayetteville Street and made it only for foot traffic

7/14/2006 4:46:48 PM

I was just down there. They only 2 weeks left and still have alot of work to do.

7/14/2006 10:45:11 PM

Quote :

"stantheman: But if you want a real solution, its got to be a combination of financial incentives and a reasonable interconnected network (as in one seamlessly integrated mesh) of pedestrian, transit and automobile circulation."

like the special tax overlay districts. I tell you, if there's anything making me want to build something downtown, it's knowing I'll pay higher taxes than anywhere else in the City...

7/15/2006 12:05:53 PM

^Take a look at downtown. They obviously haven't hurt the building boom.

7/15/2006 2:48:28 PM

so, who's going to be there? think its worth the drive from rocky mount?

7/22/2006 2:26:49 PM

it's a city party. it's probably going to be like the city new years party.

7/22/2006 2:37:28 PM

yes. It's an all day thing. Mr. and Mrs. Wuf will be out there in the morning (7:30-9ish I think) for the Good Morning America thing.

Mr. and Mrs. Wuf will be back with all the cheerleaders saturday evening at about 5:30pm for a parade.

7/23/2006 12:19:21 AM

Quote :

"Just to let you know, ABC 11 is owned by ABC (its not just a local affiliate). Raleigh's Urban Design and Economic Development Centers love to brag about it and rightly so. Its definitely a good sign for our city that a major media outlet wants to invest in our downtown."

Owned by a major media outlet, and yet it's still a low-budget second banana to WRAL.

7/23/2006 12:51:36 AM

I may head out there on Saturday. Anyone else going?

7/27/2006 5:59:58 PM

Quote :

"so, who's going to be there? think its worth the drive from rocky mount? "

Anything's worth driving from Rocky Mount... just to get out of there!

7/27/2006 6:14:14 PM

No barbara gibbs? I aint goin then

7/27/2006 8:46:04 PM

Quote :

"And I really did not want them to open up the mall anyway"

Same here.

Quote :

"why not?"

I see the whole project to restore the street as a huge waste of money. In that sense I have to turn the question on its heels and simply ask "Why?" The mall was a nice pedestrian area and it's not like you can't go down one of the other streets if you need to get through downtown. If it was a homeless issue, I'd rather see them spend the money on helping the homeless not be homeless. Simply removing the mall isn't going to clear up the homeless problem.

Quote :

"Where is Fayetteville street and what is there to do there?"

You got the where, now I'll tell you the why. The only reason to go to Fayetteville Street is to go to court. Oh, and pay for parking... if that's your kind of thing. I guess I should add a new item to the list: Dodge traffic.

7/28/2006 8:04:47 AM

From what I understand, the pedestrian mall didn't work out well. Not many people hung out around there. Mayor Meeker is hoping that opening the street back up will bring people and businesses to downtown.

7/28/2006 9:16:05 AM

Quote :

" I have to turn the question on its heels and simply ask "Why?""

Consumer serving businesses (retail, bars, restaurants) cannot survive on a street that is inaccessible to vehicles in a city that's Raleigh's size. It might work in a downtown that is overwhelmingly composed of pedestrian traffic, but that ain't raleigh.

7/28/2006 9:33:09 AM

I work in the Wachovia bldg... and I have to say that b/c the street looks so much nicer than the mall has in years, many of the businesses are cleaning up their store fronts, and a few more restaurants are openning up. The street isn't going to completely cut down on the homeless bumming around b/c they've lined the street with benches. However, I guess you could argue that cops can patrol the area easier now by just riding up and down instead of walking the mall itself.

7/28/2006 9:45:23 AM

Ive worked downtown for Empire Properties whose main goal is Raleigh's "Revitalization" for about a year and half before I changed firms and they really have made some significant improvements on everything as far as sidewalk restuarants, bars and buildings. they did the Raleigh Times, VIN, Jillians, Nana's, Duck and Dumplings...just to name a couple in the area. They have a long way to go... Raleigh that is as far as transportation and just being lame in general. But yeh should be a pretty good time though lots of people lots of beer.

7/28/2006 9:46:48 PM

I was down there earlier tonight. It's looking pretty nice. They got some plants line up and down the street, new lampposts, new newspaper stands, benchs, etc. Their are at least 3 restaurants opening up soon on fayetteville street... The Big Easy, Yancys Jazz in the Hudson Building, and The Mint (Sounded real expensive).

7/29/2006 12:57:18 AM

Quote :

"In that sense I have to turn the question on its heels and simply ask "Why?" The mall was a nice pedestrian area and it's not like you can't go down one of the other streets if you need to get through downtown."

this statement indicates a complete lack of understanding of raleigh's downtown dynamic. the pedestrian mall wasn't working. i'm still sad they took out all those big oak trees and the sir walter statue.

7/29/2006 11:35:05 AM

^ I didn't know we had a Sir Walter statue...what happened to it?

7/29/2006 1:49:00 PM

The statue was sent to be refinished. I don't think the city has decided where it's going but if they're spending money on restoration, I hope they put it somewhere other than the city history museum. Maybe it'll go in the middle of one of the new Hillsborough street traffic circles.

It used to be on the Capitol end of Fayetteville St Mall:



P.S. Anyone going to the thing tonight? It sounds like a heaping dose of poorly planned lameness.
It still says "More details soon to come..." on http://www.godowntownraleigh.com/rwo/comedy.html and the "beer garden" is at Raleigh Times (http://www.raleightimesbar.com/)
That doesn't give me much confidence in the event planning.

7/29/2006 3:51:43 PM