Open Wide.

My local Raleigh readers know that this weekend was the opening of Fayetteville Street to traffic or as it was portrayed by the local boosters in the media - the most important thing ever in the entire world. Totally.



Friday and Saturday were the big event nights. There were fireworks ( that just to note, they went on longer than the city's Forth of July display or I was hearing some sort of massive shoot out on Tarboro street) and street performers and a parade. The paper said there were 20,000 people in attendance. That says more for the lack of anything else to do in Raleigh then it does for the actual crowd pleasing nature of the event. I would have gone but it was hot and Dogger isn’t into crowds, and besides, if I am going to be an anonymous member of a big crowd I want it to be for a good cause, like ending the war or over throwing the administration. Also? It was too hot.

I didn’t know Friday was the big night anyway. I went to dinner with broskey and took my normal route home and couldn’t get there. They opened one street and closed all the others. That’s a great way to welcome the suburbanites back to downtown, make it impossible to get around once they get there. It’s very welcoming. Not. I was pissed off and confused and I live down there all ready. If I was coming in from the hinterlands it would have been a real turn off..

It would also be nice if there was any “there” there once you go there, one of the first things you see when you look down Fayetteville St. is a parking garage. They should have busted ass and handed out incentives to get stores in there, boutiques, gift stores, galleries anything, hey how about a library? I would ask for a movie theatre but I know that is too much to expect from The City of Raleigh. The only things I found along Fayetteville Street were Law Offices and a dead Hallmark store and a umber of closed resturants - very welcoming chamber of commerce! I for one would be happy if the damned Chic Fa Lay would change its hours so that it might be open more than six hours a day and closed all weekend, how about some Saturday hours? Or a few hours in the evenings? Everything downtown is closed all weekend. As Dogger and I were wandering around I saw a few places I might want to go back to some Saturday sans dog or after work, but they all closed at five on Friday and open at 9am Monday, this does not work for me or anyone else. If you want me to eat, shop, spend money downtown you must give me somewhere to spend it.. I can only do so much admiring of the architectural details

...before I want to buy a drink or a new blouse and lo and behold! There is no one open to sell me either. If I want anything I have to go home or go to outside the downtown area. Good going City Fathers. It’s about creating a permanent destination not just creating buzz about the odd special event.

Once you are there, there is no there there. The city need to get their shit together and really make an effort this time to make people come downtown and stay downtown and part one of this needs to be to make sure that the few stores and restaurants that are located downtown be open and ready for business over the weekends and in the evenings, if you want to give the impression you have a vital, happening downtown the side walks must not be allowed to roll up after 5pm.