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I agree that it’s near downtown but not IN downtown. That said, it’s also not 3 miles from downtown.
Western is a huge barrier to Dix feeling like it’s truly a downtown park. IMO, Smoky Hollow will be Raleigh’s truly downtown/urban park because it’s going to be walkable to so many people with residents to the east (Cotton Mill/Seaboard), west (Glenwood/Brooklyn), and south (Glenwood South).
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The more I go to the Dix Park, the more I find myself arriving via Bilyeu but leaving via Lake Wheeler Road/S Saunders… I feel like that corner/gate of the park is about as adjacent to Downtown without “being” Downtown as you could possibly get.
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No disagreement from me. It’s adjacent, but not in downtown. I might have a different opinion if Western didn’t behave like an "(almost) limited access road.
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Visited Dix today and it was buzzing with activity. I’ve never seen that many folks in the park for a non-event weekend day. I didn’t see all five trolls. I’ll save the other two for another day!
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I think that I’ve said this before, but Hunt Dr. and S. Boylan (within the park) need sidewalks.
It’s inexcusable that the two signaled crossings over Western from Boylan Heights don’t lead you to a sidewalk entrance experience to the park.
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Have you emailed the city about it?
There was a lot of backlash on the trolls - which I don’t understand. Done wonders for park awareness — even my lifetime local parents who had no interest in going were blown away once there
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There were a lot of people out to see the trolls on Sunday. One thing that irritated me though is that parents were letting their kids climb on top of them. Some people just have no respect.
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i’m pretty sure on the whole, climbing and interacting with the trolls is encouraged. but there is certainly a line. i hope there is a maintenance plan in place, obviously these are part of a massive collection so i imagine someone’s looking after them.
was there? besides that op-ed that could have been an april fool’s bit i have seen nothing but love
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I mean…they’re better than the “art” of giant rusted culverts someone “curated,” so at least there’s that. It’s a very random thing, the trolls, I’m ambivalent. Glad some people get excited by them. Perhaps they need some signs on them to say don’t climb on them. Same for the “art” of the rusty pipes/culverts which are simply 
to me.
Never ceases to amaze me complaining about taste in art. As if it wasn’t possible to turn your eyes to 99.99% of the rest of the world and just ignore it.
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“Feel free to touch, hug and/or take pictures with the trolls!
Please no climbing on the trolls – except for Mother’s tail.”
^From the DIX website about the Trolls. Children were literally walking on top of “Mother Strong Tail”…not just the tail, but the Troll herself.
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The Gipson Play plaza has “park ambassadors” to monitor this sort of thing. Wonder if they could do a similar thing for the trolls, at least on the weekends or something.
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The challenge is going to be that these Trolls are dispersed, and “Mother” is pretty deep in the woods where it’s difficult to monitor. Maybe some signs should be erected about how to interact with them?
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I guess it’s an unpopular opinion here but I honestly love the rusty pipes artwork! (Not sure the actual name of it..)
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There were kids all over that as well, but I have less concern about damage to that installation! I also don’t hate the rusty pipes.
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I mean I certainly don’t hate it but it is random AF lol
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I’ll say it’s way more impressive when you stumble upon it in person. The pictures don’t really do it justice, imo.
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