I mean, at least the light towers worked about a half decade before they started to break down. This is…a whole new level ludicrousy. Like, does our city even have any electricians on payroll at all?
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They do, and they’ve been trying for years, but they’re still answering comments in the review cycle to get a permit! 
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My not to be named employer, which has an office tower downtown that everyone here would recognize, had a big exterior light display go out. The cost to fix it was eye watering to say the least.
Management sat on it for a year until they bit the bullet.
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The problem with BOTH bridge lights is that… they never worked from DAY 1. Embarrassing.
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Raleigh Magazine shared some renderings of proposed updates to Fayetteville Street.
I wanted to let @svp know there’s about to be another area of downtown she’ll need to avoid.
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Seafoam green strikes again
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Now believe it or not I can take a little seafoam when it’s done tastefully. I’ll reserve judgment until I see the finished product -
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What all is different here? From what I see: trees/planters, the fountain, whatever the brown ring structure is, a pattern is painted on the ground, and the tables w/ umbrellas. Anything I missed?
I think the addition of shade trees is part of the proposed changes. Those trees don’t exist currently.
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Yeah we paid millions of dollars to come to this conclusion 
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Forgive my cynicism (and Gen Z terminology) but this feels very Raleigh coded in that big things were promised but not really delivered upon. This doesn’t feel like its going to move the needle to get more people downtown nor would it persuade future business owners to set up shop here.
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Well the good news is, businesses are already returning to Fayetteville street before this. Read the article about the Italian market opening in city plaza; unsolicited, the owner talks about the visible rebound of Fayetteville St over the last two years. It’s already happening.
And no, it’s not a letdown either. They city told us they were looking to invest in relatively low cost upgrades for the initial phase. This seems to track. I’ve been impressed every time the city tackles small projects with small budgets and delivers something that improves the pedestrian experience (I.e. striping on S Sounders/McDowell). This is another one of those projects.
Everyone is glazing over the “overhead sculpture.” That’s going to be really cool and dramatic. If you remember the street signs/lights at the Galleria in Houston before they were removed (hurricane concerns), I’m picturing something like that but cooler. Please reserve judgement. Everyone likes the lights and that was a quick, relatively low-cost enhancement. That just happened. So again, the negativity is confusing here.
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Yeah, agreed - most of the best change is incremental and requires patience, which confoundingly like ‘common’ sense is in short supply these days…Fingers crossed that we’re stacking some good foundational bricks for Faye St…
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Consider my cynicism lessened. You make some compelling cases here and I applaud the perspective. 
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Looking good tonight.
Not sure what this is but it didn’t have a real license plate. Is it art? Cool looking tho.
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I’m pretty sure that’s an early 90’s Chevy pickup truck, maybe the W/T 1500.
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Mind if I pick y’all’s brains about something?
Next October, my professional society is hosting a major research conference on engineering for ultrasound in Raleigh. Previous versions of this annual event has brought in thousands of student and faculty researchers, as well as representation from major companies and startups in the field, so it’ll be a great opportunity to make a good first impression on thousands of technologists from around the world (including people who could choose to study, work, or launch a startup in the Triangle).
I don’t think I’m technically at liberty to actually say where in Raleigh this will be held - but like, I’m posting in this thread for a reason, lol. These events are usually held in walking distance to a ton of hotels, and the event site needs to have both massive exhibit spaces and lots of big conference rooms for oral presentations - see the venues for this year’s event in the Netherlands, as well as the previous ones in Taipei, Montreal, and Venice. Y’all are smart; I’m sure you can think of the one place in Raleigh that fits this mold.
Here’s the problem: What are attendees supposed to do outside of conference events?
If you're thinking 'it's America, they should just drive to go places!',...
…then you should know that visitors from outside of the US and Canada have to balance seemingly-contradictory policies from the state of North Carolina and rental car companies to know what paperwork they need. Driver’s licenses can be rarer and/or much harder to get in some countries, too, so it can be unreasonable to expect attendees to get them if they don’t even know if they’re going until like two months before the conference.
Plus, it’s unreasonable to expect them to Uber everywhere when one relatively cheap ride is anywhere from 5 to 30 times more expensive than similarly convenient train or bus rides in their home countries.
Venice is Venice, Montreal’s site was in walking distance to a popular boardwalk district, Taipei had metro access to its many famous night markets, and… …Raleigh? Since the conference ends too early to suggest people to go to the State Fair, what are research groups from Paris, Tokyo, and Copenhagen supposed to do so that they don’t think we’re a bunch of lame Southerners who have no personalities outside of work (especially one that’s car-addicted, which plays into a ton of negative stereotypes about the “dumb, fat American”)?
Ever since its announcement two years ago, I’ve heard a ton of people from all around the world trash-talk Raleigh with words that we wouldn’t even toss at Charlotte. I want to prove them all wrong - and I may have an opportunity to propose some ideas to the powers that be, but I’m not sure what that would entail. Suggestions?
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@GucciLittlePig he’s talking about the art installation you took a picture of:
Love that pink hue cast over everything!!!