Narrator: “It won’t.” LMAO
I’d rather “not at all” than selectively. Selectivity is too often abused.
Walking through should not be a crime, I think they need to be clearer, say banning “use” rather than "passing through.:
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By 11 pm all the dog walking and scooter riding is long over.
One of the big community input messages during pre-design was how important the diagonal cut-through function of the square was to the community particularly to get to Hargett Street. It’s a strong element of the design.
Seriously doubt anyone would be hassled for cutting through after hours. No one there to hassle them for one thing. Most late night pedestrian traffic is along the East Martin linear plaza anyway.
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I walk through most mornings fairly early and the past two mornings have had a few less sleepers, but there were still a couple. I sometimes stop to talk to Wilbur, the gentleman that sits on one of the benches on the NE corner, and while he may possibly be mistaken for being homeless because he takes up the bench with what appears to be belongings (he was for years but now lives at Glenwood Towers), he’s there pretty much every morning to go over scripture with anyone that wants to and those are his books and writings. He was saying the police will come through a few times a night/morning and will tap sleepers awake 3-4 times before telling them definitively to move on and/or ‘banning’ them.
There’s also some interesting dynamics between some of the homeless that are out there with some self-policing going on between regulars that want to keep using the park and people that are abusing park rules. As others have mentioned, there’s more going on than meets the eye and the assumptions that everyone out there is just milling around.
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Technically, Moore Square was always only open from dawn to dusk, for decades, so this doesn’t sound like anything new here.
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It’s confusing to hear parents with young children are hesitant to play in certain public parks when stuff like this happens, because the odds this 10 month old encountered fentanyl from the un-housed population are almost impossible and more than likely got it from another kid in daycare.
The last 3 times we attended the Jazz in the park, friends with young children joined us and every single one of them voiced different levels of concern about their small child playing in the grass and the possibility of encountering needles or drug pharnalia. I quickly corrected them and said that only thinking that came from a position of privilege and how dare they assume those behaviors from those less fortunate than them, all over the well being of their small child.
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One very unfortunate case from the other side of the country. Any examples anywhere near here? Living in fear from a minute possibility must be paralyzing. I walk through here all the time and have never seen a needle. Nor have any of my friends with small children voiced the same concern, fwiw. I’ve stepped in more dog feces at Moore Square than I have seen drug paraphernalia, and I don’t think those are from the unhoused.
I mean that has got to be at the level of shark attacks or lightning strikes. These things happen but people are still going out in storms and swimming in the ocean.
I do think you are right in correcting them for continuing to stereotype Moore Square. Also, that grass is meticulously cared for. The city is out there pretty often taking care of it.
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Correct. Honestly, drug users don’t just leave drugs lying around very often. They’re expensive, and users want to use them. It’s like the annual myth that someone’s putting drugs in Halloween candy - why would anyone do that?
Needles… yeah that can be a problem. And when I go back to San Francisco it’s a noticeable one. But I haven’t had an issue here in Raleigh.
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I gave out all my fentanyl for Halloween
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Exactly. I gave out all my THC gummies to my neighborhood kids. Cost me $500 but it was worth it to see the smiles on their faces…
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This is one of those things mentioned in Mr. Kahneman’s books, Thinking Fast and Slow… Humans are really bad at statistics… even statisticians are bad at statistics.
For anyone interested:
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Dang, sounds like I was trick or treating in the wrong neighborhood.
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Why did the parents let their baby eat something it found in the grass? Seems irresponsible, especially considering there’s a much higher likelihood of finding rat poison, toxic fertilizer, broken glass, rusty nails, and dog crap in the grass. The world is a dangerous place.
I agree with all the other comments here re: the contrived panic about people giving out/losing drugs. It just doesn’t make sense, like thinking every blob of white powder one encounters in public must be coke or anthrax circa the early aughts.
That said, I have seen needles around the train tracks on Cabarrus by The Depot. Seems like isolated incidents, since I’ve been walking across them almost daily for 10 years and have only seen them twice.
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Have taking my dog to emergency vet multiple times for marijuana ingestion from walks downtown. One time from Moore square . Marked that off walk list combined with the Israelites constant shouting .
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I walk my dog downtown all the time with no issues, and she’s definitely not picky about eating weird stuff. Are you sure your dog isn’t a vacuum cleaner?
@Deb Pretty sure the building that’s currently home to a mini-homeless encampment across the tracks from the Depot is part of the reconstruction of the former Clancy & Theys HQ, so it’ll probably get cleaner once Platform is finished and that section of work starts.
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Small dog close to the ground. Come to the dirty east side.
Keep in mind folx, part of urbanity is ALL the people are part of the city as your backyard…
Tradeoffs everywhere.
Feel free to hike it out to the ‘burbs where folx of different sorts shout ‘get off my lawn’ at those skate board ridin’, drug tossin, unwashed of different sorts (or on Nextdoor to no end)… 
/ s
Sarcasm font. Light Fuse. Get Away…
My walk score is 43…in the suburbs…I own a car, or two…and a bike…and dogs…and like my neighbors, mostly…and Moore Square, somewhat…but not as much as Nash Square…before the damned city chopped down all the trees… (some truth and some sarcasm yields the best stew)
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Something tells me the parents didn’t “let their baby eat something it found in the grass”. If you’ve ever had kids, you know how quickly they can find stuff and at 10 months, it usually goes straight to their mouth. I’m not gonna pick a side on this topic but insinuating the parents are “irresponsible” in this case from San Francisco is not well thought out.
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So many of you are very judgmental while sitting atop your mountains of concrete, steel, and glass just looking down your snooty noses at people who merely want to live differently than you. I know you see yourselves as having mountainously high morality but it would shine more if you didn’t look down on your neighbors in the suburbs with such apparent disdain.
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