Community-focused posts
There are 773 posts filed in Raleigh (this is page 66 of 78).
Kelly and I were discussing neighborhood traits last night. I’ve always thought the thing that brings neighborhoods together is the sidewalks and front porches. This creates interaction, where you see your neighbors.
Kelly pointed out something that I never before considered: that two-car garages inhibit neighborhood interaction.
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As I waited for traffic to clear at the intersection of E. Edenton Street and N. Swain Street this morning, I spied a historical marker next to the sidewalk. It said the area was called “Hungry Neck” by the African-Americans who lived there in the early 1900s. I can’t find much about Hungry Neck on the Google, but it certainly is fun to say.
“Hungry Neck.”
“Hungry Neck.”
Heh. I’ll get the marker’s full text on the way home.
Tonight’s Raleigh East CAC meeting focused mainly on gangs and introducing my neighbors and I to Raleigh Police’s gang efforts. There was a middle presentation regarding new townhomes being built in our area by Wake Habitat for Humanity but I was more interested in the police information.
There were a few things that surprised me about the presentation, one of them being the geographical spread of gang activity around the city. I’m used to reporting graffiti around town but the idea that it isn’t really concentrated in one area was new to me. Also I was intrigued by the differing mindsets of the two groups presenting. A volunteer with the county stressed prevention and rescuing the gang “wannabes” before they sign up, while the police say there is no such thing as a “wannabe” and that even the young kids pretending to be members are almost surely on their way to being members. I assume that division is natural by the concentration the volunteer has “before the problem,” i.e. a crime gets committed, whereas police usually only get involved “after the problem.”
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I had to make a trip to Cary today to pick up contact lenses. Thus I drove my car to work. After picking up the lenses, I spent about 15 minutes searching in vain for an open spot among the free parking spots near downtown. It about killed me to have to pay for parking after all that.
Biking to work really is the way to go, hands down.
I’ve always thought the gray building at the corner of Dawson Street and West Martin Street is somehow compelling. It just seems a bit out of place.
It turns out the building has a hidden history: it was once a train station, Raleigh’s Union Station, in fact. I never would’ve guessed it as the tracks are now nowhere near it. The station once served the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad, the second railroad in the state.
Check out this railroad fan’s page to see how the building looked in its train station heyday and how it looks today. I may stop by the state archives sometime and see if I can find more historic pictures of the building.
Is it just me, or is Raleigh Police Chief Harry Dolan impossibly tall? Is he bionic or something? I just saw him leave the Morning Times and I swear he towered over the trucks next to him.
If Godzilla ever does attack Raleigh we’ll be ready.
The other day I walked in the door to hear Kelly describing her hectic day spent driving to North Raleigh and back.
“I’m done with North Raleigh!” she declared with a grin.
Having made many trips myself driving up and down Capital Boulevard during the move, I knew what she meant. Our perspective on distances has really changed.
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I’ve been slack keeping y’all in the loop on the Raleigh Neighborhood College classes I’ve been taking. In a word, this program is terrific! I thought I knew my way around the city services, having been here for so long, but the resources available are truly impressive.
The class on communications and emergency services was memorable. We got a chance to tour the 911 center: a place I toured eight years prior as part of Garner’s police citizen’s academy. It didn’t seem to have changed too much, though I did notice the addition of multiple large, flat-panel TVs along the walls. Most of them were tuned to traffic cameras, though a few were tuned to the NCAA basketball tournament.
Hey, no sweat, as long as the phones aren’t ringing. And that’s one thing that wasn’t happening: there were few if any calls. I heard one dispatcher remark to another one “wouldn’t you know it. We get guests and there’s nothing going on.” Seems that people don’t hurt themselves or others when they’re glued to their televisions.
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N&O columnist Ruth “I Love Jessie Taliaferro” Sheehan gets snippy with councilman Rodger Koopman in today’s column. The man must be doing something right. Perhaps she pines for the days of unresponsive, condescending council representation deep in the pocket of Big Real Estate.
I sure don’t. While I think the goals of the disposal ban were laudable, the people have spoken. Rodger is brave enough to admit he was wrong, and he listens to his constituents. Glory!
I got the news Saturday that Falls Lake is now full again. In fact, its 1/10th of a foot above normal at 251.6 feet. The non-stop rain we got last week really pushed us over the top. Officials expect even more rain to trickle in and raise the level even further. We’ve sure come a long way from the Christmas Day reading ten feet lower than that.
Now we’re going back to the more lenient Stage 1 restrictions. It remains to be seen whether we’ve learned anything. Rampant development will continue again unabated and we’ll wind up facing the same dilemma again within three years. You watch.
