Midtown Exchange getting a Life Time residential tower and gym. 
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I know the state Farmer’s Market is right there, but, as a way to highlight different neighborhoods, I would love if downtown had smaller pop-up farmers markets in the Spring and Summer, and not just on Fayetteville St, but move around. Has anything like that happened before? Some examples:
I went to the Ballard Farmers Market in Seattle, and it pulled people from all over the city, who then went to all of the surrounding shops and restaurants.
Similarly, Atlanta has small market pop-ups at different MARTA stations in the Spring. Those are done more to give access to local neighborhoods, but we can take inspiration from them.
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They could just not put in elevators and make everyone run up and down the stairs, instead of putting in the gym.
Would love this too. Fayetteville St obviously a great location for it. But would be cool for a farmers market to pop up time to time in Glenwood South & other parts of downtown. As a resident of Glenwood South I’d absolutely shop a farmers market in my neighborhood.
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There’s a Moore Square market and an irregular ‘Night’ Market in the streets around City Market…
That Ballard Market is pretty sweet…
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I think that the best opportunity for a pop-up farmers’ market is along one of the E/W cross streets at Glenwood. They tend to be flatter than Glenwood itself.
Tucker between Boylan and Glenwood (including those surface lots on the corner of Tucker and Boylan) is a particularly intriguing option to me. That seems to be the least disruptive location to close a street for a day or a weekend. The east dead end of Lane is also interesting if access to the 222 garage can be solved. I’m not sure if that garage needs both of its entrances to fully function for residents and businesses.
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In this morning’s N&O, this opinion piece about the downtown plan.
https://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/article292448939.html?tbref=hp
The waterway between DTR and Dix comment speaks to a person whose never been to Raleigh.
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His major points:
- a “meandering waterway” with boats in the style of San Antonio’s River Walk
- many people will drive and parking should be free or low cost. “I think it’s a mistake to jack up parking. Use parking as an incentive. Maybe make the first two hours free.”
- move PNC downtown maybe???
- The cure to worries about downtown crime is adding more people, not more police. “If you have too many cops it sends the wrong message. You start wondering: Why are there all these cops here?” he said. Instead, have more downtown festivals and events.
His bona fides
Blatman, who has a master’s degree in planning and formerly served as director of business development in the San Francisco mayor’s office
Trying to be generous, I assume his perspective is coming from his prior position trying to make a city better for businesses. That’s one (big) thing that you want to keep in mind, but not the only thing. I’m sure all the business owners he talked to in that job very keen on the idea of the city spending money on things that they believed would help help their businesses (free parking, big budget public projects like arenas), but I mostly disagree with his take. So the buses are now collecting fares again, but parking should be free? I think the only part I agreed with was “adding more people” downtown, but even that he only mentions in the context of “during events/festivals” and not people living downtown.
I am not surprised. His take seems to reflect the mood of local SF politics: encourage people to come downtown temporarily (for work, events), but don’t build anywhere for more people to live.
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I tend to agree that more people is the best deterrent to crime. Crime is more likely to happen in the “quiet shadows” than in the “busy sunlight”. That said, I’d add more housing as a first strategy, and more events as a supplemental strategy. Put folks on the sidewalks for more hours of the day.
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I second, or third, the idea of more folks on the streets are better than more cops. I’ve been places with a large police presence and wondered “what is going wrong here?” Festivals are great to bring new folks downtown, but nothing is great as new, full time residents.
I think his comment, and the plan’s attention to, connecting downtown to Dix is an important piece to highlight, as so many here have done on other threads. A waterway is really out of the question. I love the idea of the strollway. But if we are going big ticket, the Gondola is way to go, imho. (And yes, I want the cars shaped like acorns.)
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The fact this guy suggested a waterway makes me question if he’s ever been to Raleigh.
A gondola on other other hand could work well with the topography.
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Well instead of “California Dreamin’” we could say it is “Raleigh Dreamin’”
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