Downtown Raleigh: Citizen, Indy Week

Dix Park decision tomorrow: "A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to save this jewel."

Bob Geary — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 15:35:04 -0500

Seven years of advocacy, and tomorrow the prize will be won if the Council of State votes to approve a lease giving the city of Raleigh constructive control of the 306-acre Dorothea Dix Hospital tract. The advocates, members of the allied groups called Friends of Dorothea Dix Park, Dix306 and the Dix Visionaries, are cautiously or incautiously optimistic about the vote.…

Raleigh's Union Station: Future rail to "lop off" Citrix?

Bob Geary — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 07:09:06 -0400

On Friday, we reported the good news about Raleigh's Union Station, Phase 1: It's fully funded at $60 million. In the buildup to that announcement, I heard one other, discordant note.…

The good news in Raleigh: Union Station, Phase 1, is fully funded at $60 million

Bob Geary — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 16:05:47 -0400

I see that it was just 15 months ago — last June — when the state DOT made its first public pitch for turning the old Dillon Supply fabrication building, also known as the Viaduct Building, into a new Amtrak station for downtown Raleigh. Today, federal, state and city officials gathered there to annnounce that $60 million has been cobbled together from a variety of funding sources, enough to do the work on the station and associated track improvements.…

(Updated) Does the good Citrix news mean that Raleigh's grand Union Station plan is dead?

Bob Geary — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 20:09:00 -0400

[Update, 6/8, 2:30 pm. I've spoken to several city officials now, including Mayor Nancy McFarlane and Councilor Thomas Crowder.…

D6 it is: Raleigh Council chooses a downtown light-rail route

Bob Geary — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 14:24:00 -0400

If the Raleigh City Council is the last word on the subject — and at this point, it looks like it will be — a trunk light-rail line for the Triangle, if built, would come through downtown Raleigh on the route known as D6. (See the map below.)…

ComeUnityNow, Saturday in City Plaza: "The hottest festival in town"

Bob Geary — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 10:43:00 -0400

No irony intended, I'm certain, when the ComeUnityNow folks billed their event in City Plaza tomorrow as "the hottest festival in town." it will be that, with temperatures forecast to go above 100 degrees. But it's Raleigh in July, so cool is not an option.…

Charging to a world of electric vehicles: "It's a gold rush"

Bob Geary — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 17:40:39 -0400

Tuesday night is "Public Night" at the Plug-In 2011 Conference & Exposition, the event at the Raleigh Convention Center for the EV — Electric Vehicles — industry. For $10, you can say you were there when your grandchildren ask, "Whatever happened to the gasoline-powered automobile?"

"Well, kids," you'll be able to say, "it was back in '11 when General Electric came out with an EV charging station in a box, and it sold at Lowe's for about $1,000.…

SPARKcon: 5 years old this week and very precocious

Bob Geary — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 09:52:00 -0400

I remember little SPARKcon when it was just a gleam in the eyes of Aly & Beth Khalifa and the rest of the Designbox gang. Goodness, gracious, now it's 5 years old and it's grown so much!…

High-Speed Rail thru Raleigh: What route? At what price?

Bob Geary — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 22:51:00 -0400

Our topic tonight: The public hearing Monday in Raleigh on the proposed Southeast High-Speed Rail (SEHSR) project. The hearing is at the Raleigh Convention Center, 7 p.m., preceded by an open house from 5-7 p.m.…

Diversity's supporters have the high ground going into Tuesday's rally at the Capitol

Bob Geary — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 14:52:07 -0400

Looking ahead to Tuesday and the mass march/rally at the State Capitol in favor of diversity in the Wake school system:

It's mid-July. The new school board majority has been in office for almost eight months, and a referendum on their actions to date is coming in November with elections for the Wake County Board of Commissioners.…

One of the hunger strikers is hospitalized; fellowship service is still on for 8 tonight

Bob Geary — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 11:47:20 -0400

One of the three young women on a hunger strike for immigration reform was hospitalized last night, apparently due to heat stroke. (Update: Just before noon, WRAL reported that Loida was treated and released from the hospital and is resting at home.)…

No BLA(h) for Raleigh: State ABC nixes booze name on amphitheater

Bob Geary — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 11:15:00 -0400

The downtown amphitheater in Raleigh won't be the BLA after all. The state ABC says it can't be named for Bud Light or any other booze item.…

Bolton: "The most important property in Raleigh." (Or, What about Whitley Street?)

Bob Geary — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 09:29:39 -0400

This is Whitley Street in Raleigh. I know, it's not much — yet.…

Bicycle to Work Week kicks off Friday afternooon at Marbles Museum

Bob Geary — Thu, 13 May 2010 14:20:00 -0400

Friday, May 14, 3-6 pm at Marbles Kids Museum on Moore Square.

Cap it off with a 3.7 mile tour (above) that goes right through my neighborhood.…

Bud Light Amphitheater: That's the BLAH, for short

Bob Geary — Thu, 13 May 2010 08:44:39 -0400

The big news of the day, without question: The city is negotiating with Anheuser-Busch for the naming rights at the new amphitheater next to the Convention Center. It would be called the Bud Light Amphitheater.…

CAM groundbreaking set: Another breakthrough for Raleigh

Bob Geary — Thu, 06 May 2010 16:17:54 -0400

Groundbreaking for the new Contemporary Art Museum (CAM) is set for Tuesday, May 11 at 5 p.m. All I can say is — how do you spell S-wheat?

One of the first stories I did as a freelancer for the Indy was about Raleigh Mayor Tom Fetzer and his band of "Annie" fans on the City Council, who'd killed funding for the old CAM (back then, it was a gallery on Moore Square).…

Morgan Street is now 2-way: That is, twice as good as 1-way

Bob Geary — Sat, 01 May 2010 11:34:27 -0400

Saturday morning dawns, and Morgan Street is now 2-way all the way from downtown to the new roundabout at Hillsborough Street. No more "Do Not Enter" sign going west when you come to St. Mary's.…

Wednesday, April 28: Farmers Market opens in City Plaza

Bob Geary — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 20:16:00 -0400

There are at least four good reasons to be downtown between 10 am and 2 pm Wednesday. One, the return of Wednesday Farmers Markets.…

The WWW comes to Raleigh. (No, the other one.)

Bob Geary — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 15:51:55 -0400

Looking for "web-critical thought leadership"? Or "business-changing" ideas for your, uh, business?…

Live, from New York, it's -- well, see for yourself ...

Bob Geary — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:18:03 -0500

You can rely on the wisdom of Elizabeth Warren, I suppose, when it comes to the subject of banking reforms. Or you listen to Slick Willie, W. and ol' 41 himself: "We gotta regulate that thing or we're gonna get more bubbles, then pop -- money goes to the weasels."

It's reform presented by all your favorite current and ex- presidents from Saturday Night Live, with a cameo by the late, great Gipper himself.…

Lightner: It's a loser. Plan B?

Bob Geary — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:16:36 -0500

That was one unhappy Mayor Charles Meeker today when he called for a vote on the proposed Clarence E. Lightner Public Safety Center ... knowing it would lose. And lose it did, 4-4, as Councilor John Odom joined the trio (Thomas Crowder, Bonner Gaylord, Russ Stephenson) who've questioned it for weeks.…

Council trio: Two pegs (one is round) a bad fit for tall, square Lightner building

Bob Geary — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:59:56 -0500

Updating the debate over the proposed Clarence E. Lighner Public Safety Center since our Indy story 12 days ago. That the proposal's rollout was bungled is now a given; but the question remains, who bungled it?…

Hillsborough Street bike lanes are looking good. (!)

Bob Geary — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 11:44:27 -0500

The City Council's public works committee held its long-awaited meeting on the issue last night. The verdict, by unanimous decision: There should be bike lanes on all of Hillsborough Street from downtown to the Fairgrounds.…

There it is: Wake GOP wants public vote on 17-story Raleigh police tower

Bob Geary — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 15:51:21 -0500

What took them so long? But today, the Wake Republican Party chairman, Claude Pope, called on the Raleigh City Council to hold a referendum on the proposed $205 million, 17-story public safety center.…

October 24: Raleigh Wide Open 4

Bob Geary — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:13:19 -0400

Raleigh Wide Open 4 will be the first time all of Fayetteville Street really is wide open all the way from the Capitol to Memorial Auditorium.

For previous RWOs, only the four blocks closest to the Capitol were open.…