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I haven't been for years, last time I was there it seemed that Raleigh lacked a cohesive core. Not talking about the residential/suburban part of Raleigh, but the city itself.
It seems it would have more vibrancy if it added in some sort of pedestrian mall or something similar like Pearl St. Mall in Boulder, or the 16th St. Pedestrian Mall in Denver, Church St. Marketplace in Burlington, the Downtown Pedestrian Mall in Charlottesville, Faneuil Hall in Boston, or even something like King St. in Alexandria, King St. in Charleston or even the downtown in Greenville, SC.
It would provide a "core". I think Raleigh's downtown could be a really cool place like Denver's downtown because it's got a similar vibe - laid back, low key, not all "big city" feeling like Baltimore or Philly or even Boston, although I think Boston feels pretty comfortable for a city it's size. But it would be nice if there was some entertainment and retail mixed in with the bars, restaurants, breweries, government buildings and its museums.
Perhaps there is already something like that there that I either missed or has been built since I was there.
Fayetteville St was converted to a pedestrian mall in the 1970s when that was all the rage. It didn't really help here, like most places (I think you'll find the success stories of these cinersions to be few and far between), so they ripped it up 15 years ago and put vehicular access back.
Fayetteville St was converted to a pedestrian mall in the 1970s when that was all the rage. It didn't really help here, like most places (I think you'll find the success stories of these cinersions to be few and far between), so they ripped it up 15 years ago and put vehicular access back.
We can always consider a new entertainment district be created. Kansas City successfully built one in the downtown we can too. Downtown South might have been that project but looks to be directionless atm.
Fayetteville St was converted to a pedestrian mall in the 1970s when that was all the rage. It didn't really help here, like most places (I think you'll find the success stories of these cinersions to be few and far between), so they ripped it up 15 years ago and put vehicular access back.
Now, they never really tried a market stall type setup there, and maybe something like that would work somewhere if it was in the right place.
Could be if they had done that then maybe the conversion would have worked better, who knows.
Part if it is the lack of any real residential presence in DT until around the mid aughts as well.
I think I remember reading that. Might have been too early.
It doesn't even need to be a Pedestrian Mall. Alexandria's King St and Charleston's King St, and probably most of the others I listed aren't restricted to Pedestrian traffic. And the areas are a big draw for people.
Where is the retail currently in Raleigh's downtown?
I feel like they've tried to make City Market a thing without much success. To be honest, I feel like North Hills is the closest thing to a pedestrian retail district.
When I moved to Raleigh in 2005 they were in the process of ripping up the pedestrian mall and reopening Fayetteville street to vehicle traffic. Everything I read about the pedestrain mall indicated it was pretty much a failure hence why they were ripping it up.
When I moved to Raleigh in 2005 they were in the process of ripping up the pedestrian mall and reopening Fayetteville street to vehicle traffic. Everything I read about the pedestrain mall indicated it was pretty much a failure hence why they were ripping it up.
The failure is the suburbanization of US cities in the 20th century. Americans don't like walking so downtowns and our obesity crisis reflect that.
We can always consider a new entertainment district be created. Kansas City successfully built one in the downtown we can too. Downtown South might have been that project but looks to be directionless atm.
Downtown south would be terrible for downtown. At least now. Want to hold onto the idea and do it in 30 years. Maybe then. Downtown is just now becoming something good. Let's fill in the surface parking that's everywhere first and then maybe it will be time to expand. But even then, having it separate from the edge of downtown by a mile, with neighborhoods in between will never be a good planning. It is too far for most to consider being walkable and will devastate the neighborhood.
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