Person Street Potential

Published
by
Robert E Leebowitz
on November 19, 2008
in Raleigh and WTF
. 11 Comments

Geezer told me months ago that Conti’s Italian Market, on Person Street, would be closing soon and apparently they are. I really wish I could be sad about it. I gave this place a second chance, over and over again and it always disappointed. It wasn’t the store that disappointed as much as the owner. We love character here at RDUwtf but there IS a difference between being a character and being a dick. I think that concept was sometimes missed at Conti’s. Initially there was the owner and his wife (now ex-wife) and i attributed most of the problems with the place to symptoms of being a new business but eventually the problems would become too inconvenient to tolerate. Serving lunch one week and not the next can be forgiven but after it happens a few times, you make other plans. Then, the owner started waging a war with an auto repair business down the street, ostensibly because he claimed it was an eyesore but with careful reading of the stories, it seemed evident that he wanted the location as a parking lot and felt some strange entitlement. The auto repair shop was a black-owned business that had been in the neighborhood longer than Conti’s, in a neighborhood that was being gentrified and I perceived the battle as somewhat racist. Parking was never my problem with Conti’s.

Last winter, I began patronizing the store again, they seemed to have some steady employees and the hot sandwiches in the deli were rocking. I took my son in to shop one day and ordered a sandwich.  The two workers in the deli were efficient and helpful but after a 15-minute wait, I asked why my sandwich was taking so long. The owner had taken my sandwich off the panini grill and given it to two other customers to sample. Those customers felt terrible and kept apologizing, while the owner kept assuring them it wasn’t a problem. I assured the customers there was a problem: it was with the owner. I hope something great opens in that spot. Might I suggest that Giacomo’s open a deli there?

MiddlingTown

Published
by
A Loud Arcane Toad
on November 19, 2008
in Raleigh, Urban Planning and WTF
. 3 Comments

The folks at New Raleigh covered this ages ago, and I agree with their take, but lets give it the wtf spin. The first time I heard “Midtown Raleigh,” I thought it was ridiculous. My only point of reference was Midtown Manhattan, and I knew that there was nothing resembling Midtown Manhattan here in the City of Oaks. Wikipedia lists eighteen cities with areas called Midtown, but I don’t think it’s a bad assumption to think of Manhattan when someone uses the word. Leebowitz hipped me to Midtown Atlanta, which is clearly what Uber-Developer Kane was shooting for with this designation. Many folks have already forgotten that he popularized the term, not the News and Observer. So, why “Midtown” instead of the perfectly good North Raleigh and ITB Raleigh? Well, Inside-The-Beltline, even if the real estate values are crazy there, includes some of those pesky students, working class and poor people. But shift your focus north, and voila, you’ve got a mostly rich and mostly white bunch of folks to advertise at. Pretending that Midtown is a real area that exists then makes it easier to call the entire center of Raleigh “Downtown,” even though it’s obviously nonsensical to call Cameron Village “Downtown Raleigh.” Midtown Raleigh is an area made up to satisfy developers and the folks who hawk boutique clothes, day spas, and plastic surgery to the avid readers of Midtown Magazine. An area that has nothing to do with the history or evolution of Raleigh. An area that ignores real neighborhoods and zones that do have a rich history … Five Points, for instance. If you don’t want to call it North Raleigh, or more specifically North Hills in the zone around the old North Hills Mall (RIP) then call it what it is: Kanetown.

The State of Cameron Village

Published
by
Robert E Leebowitz
on November 19, 2008
in Raleigh, Uncategorized, Urban Planning and WTF
. 0 Comments

Back in June we detailed the impending demolition of much of Cameron Village’s remaining mid-century modern character, to make room for this:
Why?

Since then, much has happened, many discussions carried and arguments waged. So, where do we stand? It seems the City Council panicked as we began tumbling down this economic rabbit hole and approved two projects that conflicted with the very planning guidelines created by the City, including this uninspired crap in Cameron Village. We’re not opposed to the height, or increased density of the building but the city needs to decide whether Planning has a place in Raleigh, or if it’s just a barrier for those without enough money to hire the right real estate attorneys and architectural firms.

But the City isn’t the only party to blame here. The neighborhood opposition needs to develop plans that aren’t all-or-nothing. Have you checked www.SaveCameronVillage.com lately? No need, they’ve taken their game and gone home because they weren’t winning. The neighborhood can still pressure the City and developers to make design choices that will lessen the qualities that make buildings feel oppressive and looming - but the opposition seems to have disappeared. The “No Towers” slogan may no longer be appropriate, and we’ll argue that it never was, but “Save Historic Cameron Village” might carry some weight and might generate some concern. In our minds, this was always about preservation of character more than fighting density. Cameron Village could use some more density and less EFIS crap. There’s your slogan: SAVE OUR VILLAGE - FROM EFIS CRAP.

Snowflakes

Published
by
Administrator
on November 18, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 0 Comments
Boylan Bridge 1990?

Boylan Bridge. 1990?

Turkey Call

Published
by
The Furry Geezer
on November 18, 2008
in RDU and Raleigh
. 4 Comments

Turkey, NC

I am thankful two thirds of the good people of North Carolina give a flip.
I am thankful that the times they are a’changing.
I am thankful our windows have been rattled and our walls shaken.
I am so thankful that the market still enables us, and we still have the will, to unconsume gasoline enough to punish the greedy knaves who try to gouge us. It’ll be back up soon, but two dollars feels so good.
I am thankful the economy has put many obscene projects, from Dubai to Crabtree Valley, on hold.
But I am thankful the miracle of DVR enables me to watch UNC football and basketball at will, even when they are simultaneous!
I am thankful we will have children in the White House for the first time since Amy Carter.
I am thankful that Raleigh can point to one shimmering masterpiece of public art, at least.
I am actually pretty thankful Raleigh isn’t contributing to the vast dimming of the night sky with art.
I am thankful that global warming enables me to grow spinach under glass all winter, but I’m also thankful that we may finally join the rest of the industrial West in setting some real goals in that area.
I am very thankful that the News & Observer hits my doorstep every morning, and if it ever stops, I am going to be quite unsettled for a long time.
I am thankful it is hip to be a geezer.
I am thankful WTF is chomping at the bytes again.

The Great Cover Up returns! Kinda.

Published
by
Robert E Leebowitz
on November 18, 2008
in Good Stuff, Music, RDU and Raleigh
. 2 Comments

New Raleigh reports the premier annual event from the former King’s Barcade, will be resurrected by Tir Na Nog. Great news! But the former owners of King’s have some legitimate concerns about the adoption of their intellectual property:

As some of you may be aware, Tir Na Nog is preparing to host a weekend of shows in Jan. that will be similar in concept to the annual Great Cover Up. Those of us that were responsible for creating and perpetuating this event at kings for 7 years are not involved in this event and therefore we have requested that they do not use “Great Cover Up” or “Cover Up” as the name of their event. The proposed event is for charity and so we wish them success in their endeavor.

Fair enough; I suggest Copy Cats! We’re glad to see someone resurrecting this event but my god, it is another reminder that Raleigh still has a serious void in its cultural life since the demolition of King’s. What are the odds that empty lot will flourish into something wonderful, or into anything other than an empty lot, within the next five years? Slim.

The New Modesty

Published
by
Robert E Leebowitz
on November 17, 2008
in RDU, Raleigh and WTF
. 4 Comments

We were deemed “haters” when we criticized Raleigh’s opulent downtown restaurant, The Mint. As speculation swirls about which restaurants will survive the next year, we want to make clear that we aren’t cheering for the demise of businesses and jobs (even though it will win us a $1 bet if The Mint closes by December 31). People tell us the food at The Mint is outstanding and we believe them but that doesn’t mean we’re open-minded about the place. We were criticizing the use of ONE MILLION DOLLARS of taxpayer money to fund a particular business, a restaurant, a business model with a famously high rate of failure. We feel the problem was compounded with the interior design theme of The Mint: money, jewels and opulence, AKA “Bling”.

Yesterday’s New york times has a piece, titled: No More Fancy Pants that contains some relevant tales, including this:

THE owners of the South City Grill restaurants in New Jersey opened the first of three planned upscale steakhouses this year, and the décor was one of opulence and glamour. The owners “wanted it to sparkle like jewelry,” recalled Anurag Nema, one of the designers.

The interior featured shimmering silk curtains, ruby-tinted glass and a hulking crystal chandelier. The stainless steel accents were polished to mirror brilliance, said Mr. Nema, who designed the steakhouse, South City Prime, in Little Falls, with Orit Kaufman.

The second restaurant is scheduled to open in January in Montvale, N.J., but the sparkle is gone, the designers said. With the economy in free fall, the concept is now sturdy American grill and the name is now Wildfire by South City.

We’re pretty certain that in 7-10 years, the Bling theme of The Mint will ready for a retro rediscovery but for now, we’re thinking our original post was pretty prescient.

Well, flip through the N&O to the business section and look at that stock market graph and the blurb about heading into a recession. Will we look back in a few years and wonder: “Remember when people used to wear T-shirts about money and then they built that restaurant about money?” Ah, these are the days!

We’re kinda back, again.

Published
by
Robert E Leebowitz
on November 11, 2008
in RDU and WTF
. 1 Comment

Barack!
Well, we had some technical difficulties with this blog thing and decided to take a productive break from blogging. First we had a spam attack that broke our blog and then something went wrong and locked us out of our own site. We decided it might be a more productive use of our free time to concentrate our efforts toward getting Barack Obama elected President. Well, with the help of some other folks, we did just that. More than ever, we are still Proud to be NC!

Big NC Love

Published
by
Robert E Leebowitz
on August 12, 2008
in Lookit, RDU and WTF
. 0 Comments


The N&O carried this story about a woman who had her dead dog cloned in Korea but they seemed to miss the interesting follow up story involving a NC Beauty Queen who converted to Mormon rapist and fugitive from the law. Are they the same person? Did the dog cloning blow her cover? Maybe I missed the follow-up in the N&O but this story is worth reading here.

A juicy excerpt:

The story of Joyce McKinney is the stuff of pulp fiction: a North Carolina-born beauty queen who moved west, won the title Miss Wyoming USA, converted to Mormonism and went on to college at Brigham Young University, where she became obsessed with a Mormon fellow student.

When that young Mormon took a missionary trip to England, authorities say McKinney hired a private detective so she could locate and follow him.

She and a male accomplice were accused of abducting the 21-year-old missionary as he went door to door, taking him to a rented 17th-century “honeymoon cottage” in Devon and chaining him spread-eagled to a bed with several pairs of mink-lined handcuffs.

Art is Hard!

Published
by
The Furry Geezer
on August 12, 2008
in Architecture, Art, Chapel Hill, Durham, RDU, Raleigh, Urban Planning and WTF
. 2 Comments

HARD ART STUDIO DOOR

You cannot paint the Mona Lisa by assigning one dab each to a thousand painters. William F. Buckley, Jr.

I am an old fan-as-opponent of William Buckley and I miss his raised eyebrow. He’s often right on target, of course, and I thought this quote fit my mood, pondering all the ugly crap we see going up all around Raleigh, sometimes right beside much more noble projects. Raleigh architecture has it’s bell curve, I suppose, but the view out your car window sure can be depressing these days. I have tried to live with beauty and make beauty all my life - I’ve watched many friends do the same - and IT IS HARD.

Try harder! Raleigh is supposed to be so hot, why can’t we see consistent efforts to achieve a new urbanism that has a fairly high baseline of aesthetic sensibility. When it comes to moderately priced and/or high volume real estate ventures, I say: Make ‘em eat cake!! We can demand quality in planning and materials, without imposing a specific aesthetic sensibility on anyone.

Try harder!! Everything we do is art. Even if it feeds, clothes or shelters us, everything we do is done with artifice, with art, in a creative way involving value choices - so we might as well make it good. The search for quality leads to intellectual aristocracy, some say - well, so be it. The will to excel, to lead the examined life leads to arrogance. But I can will democratic exchange instead of arrogance. Yet I must ask: why does it have to be so dad-lemmed ugly? What democratic process allows such crap? And when there are wonderful architects, thoughtful projects galore, why does any of it have to be so dad-lemmed ugly?

I close with a quote from another end of some spectrum, I’m sure you’ll agree.

We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same. Carlos Castenada