If people are going to be wondering around with beverages then we’re going to need to have some more trash/recycling bins around to accommodate. Think we could try Moloks 2.0? Maybe the lessons learned from last time might help?
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In addition to them being racist, just look at those shadows!
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Coming in late to the party on those trash bins, what was the racial angle with them?
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They were placed adjacent to a historically Black bank.
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Ah, M&F? Too bad - I’ve worked with them at the corporate level, nice people.
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yes, M&F raised a stink about the stink
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It was to reduce the waste containers littering the street near them, and this was a novel solution for everyone in the general area. It literally made the area outside their bank better. They have a blank wall and a parking lot near where they were going, it wasn’t like at the entrance or something. But someone decided it’s obviously racist, despite race having not been even considered, and city council caved. @GucciLittlePenguin is still mad about the missed opportunity
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The bank stated they were unaware that these trash bins were going to be installed next to their building. I think a couple people complained to the city council about the smell and they were pulled after just a few months I believe?
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They were located on the side of their building with ZERO windows separated by a parking lot, row of trees and a public sidewalk, then placed on the street.
Literally zero complaints from Sitti, Gravy, Raleigh times and Morning times who actually have windows and outdoor seating that would view these trash cans. 60% of the waste is underground and were designed to eliminate nearly all of the smell.
Who cares this solutions is obviously way better visually:
I don’t think anyone can summarize this better than the Indy who took this and morphed it into more racial and social issues related to the city.
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I had edited my original post to indicate it was the side of the building and not the front before you posted.
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Yea I see that now, the post wasn’t direct at you, but a general sense of how annoyed I was when this project was pulled after a couple months and $30K+ down the toilet.
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Yeah no worries, I’m with you on this.
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The Moloks flop was a terrible own-goal by the city. Come on, Raleigh, do your homework! Symbolism and optics matter, a lot. This issue totally could have been forseen and avoided. I’d bet M&F wouldn’t have even objected if the location next to them had been in a later phase. The way I understand it, it was the dubious distinction of being the guinea pig that was too much.
“They put these by us, a black owned business, but they also put it in front of 20 white-owned businesses including some big corporations” seems fair, compared with “the only one in the entire city is in front of us”
It was behind their parking lot, and in front of a bunch of white owned businesses. I understand optics matter, but so does common sense. The city should’ve explained their placement decision, apologized for any unintentional offense, and moved on.
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Just to put this in perspective from a sanitation and visual one, I found this quote from a WRAL article in 2019 on the rollout of these moloks.
One Molok can hold more trash than 20 City of Raleigh garbage cans can.
That whole row from @Drew 's picture would be just one of these underground trash bins. I would think the city would appreciate more clean curbspace but what do I know.
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Yup, and they’re everywhere. This would have cleaned up 5 or 6 blocks of this crap. Here is just the immediate surrounding areas this would have affected:
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maybe if it was just sort of made into a ped mall again with some fixed ping pong tables and after-drink activilies similar to royal palms idea…along with dining. throw in a few movable art things like the thing on the right of this photo … there were a number of rollerbladers here at ESP that afternoon.
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Oh downtown Albany, my nostalgia for childhood trips to the museum and 4th of July fireworks is coming back hard. Such an interesting area… impressive, cold, weirdly beautiful, out of place, unnecessary… So many contradictory adjectives for this area. But always a soft spot because I thought it was cool when I was 8.
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Can’t blame them for that. 
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Looks like HUBB Kitchens (ghost kitchens in the triangle) is setting up locations in both the former La Stella space as well as the former Tulum space. I really hope this takes off as it could help Fayetteville St out quite a bit.
https://www.hubbkitchens.com/about-us?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axioslocal_raleigh&stream=top
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