When I was at State in the late 1980s and early 1990s I had two fraternity brothers from West Jefferson, NC that became two of my closest friends in the world. (Even today these gentlemen and their families live just a couple of miles around the corner from my family).
These two guys were notorious for being consistently late to EVERYTHING. It wasn’t a fashion statement. It wasn’t intentional. It wasn’t a big deal. But, it was constant. You name the event – other than tip-off of an intramural sporting event – and these guys were rolling up late. It was so consistent that we termed acts of arriving late as being on “West Jefferson time”.
Today, I ran across and article in the N&O that reminded me why Raleigh is one of the most frustrating places in the world to live. Don’t get me wrong, Raleigh is a wonderful, wonderful place and is the focal point of the world for an old Eastern North Carolina boy like myself.
BUT, after living in numerous other cities over the last 20 years, I can think of few places whose projects and “plans” move as slowly and as painfully as things move in Raleigh. The ‘benefit’ of doing anything in Raleigh rarely seems to outweigh the political and bureaucratic nightmare that accompany the ideas. Does anyone remember the nightmare of trying to get the ESA off the ground?
This article in the N&O discusses some ‘new’ improvements near the NC State campus that are also highlighted in this more comprehensieve link.
Seven years after it was proposed as a cure for Hillsborough Street’s ills, the roundabout is coming to N.C. State’s main corridor.
The Raleigh City Council voted 6-2 Tuesday to install roundabouts — as part of a $6.3 million redevelopment — at Pullen Road’s intersection with Hillsborough and where Groveland feeds into Oberlin Road just north of Oberlin’s intersection with Hillsborough.
The design calls for installation of a pedestrian median and the creation of 100 parking spaces along one of the city’s main east-west thoroughfares.
Yep. SEVEN YEARS ago it was proposed; it was approved now. Let’s wait and see when it is completed.
The adopted plan is a modified version of a proposal that has been around since 1999, when a group of neighbors and state and local officials called for the installation of 11 roundabouts along Hillsborough
To be fair, the “seven years” estimate is actually being generous. I remember in the mid 1990s – at least TWELVE YEARS AGO – a volunteer group focused on Hillsborough Street redevelopment that proposed a grandiose plan for the area that was partly based on the concept of these traffic circles. The Hillsborough Street Partnership was launched in 1996.
So, twelve years later we finally get the traffic circles approved while NOTHING has been done regarding the overall health and appearance of Hillsborough Street in the aftermath of losing multiple dozens of business in the last decade.
So much has changed around campus that reviving Hillsborough Street may not even be worth any effort (not as though anyone has put any effort into it). About a month ago we ran this key piece that discusses a lot of these campus topics. The comments section of that entry is absolutely fantastic and includes the following
“In addition, the growth of the Centenial campus and all of the growth on the other side of Western Blvd has served to make NC State less intimate and cozy, and further marginalize Hillsborough Street.â€
^ This is actually a FANTASTIC POINT.
There is NO DOUBT that there is a shift in this dynamic. And, with this shift comes an awesome opportunity to really make the situation better for everyone (including the residents behind Hillsborough Street who don’t welcome natural extensions and consequences of buying property where they chose to buy property).
SO…what kind of work/partnership/strategic plans have the University worked on to optimize and re-develop the Mission Valley/Western Blvd/Avent Ferry Road cluster?
This looks to be a wonderful location to bring more vibrant commercial, retail and housing ideas to the table. It would/could be the defacto center of the ‘new’ University and also convenient to the (supposed) future redeveloped fraternity court. I’d love to hear what Stafford and the Univeristy have been working on the last 15 years.
