The Person Street Partnership Encourages and Promotes Corridor Study Effort

Post date: Dec 3, 2012 8:57:36 PM

As the PSP approaches our 2nd Annual Holiday Open House on First Friday this month, we would like to celebrate and acknowledge the many initiatives that we have established to help build momentum in the North Person Street business area - - fulfilling our mission of "Building a Better Person". This first installment focuses on the role the PSP has taken in the Person and Blount Street corridor study.

Corridor Issues

Long before the PSP formed, neighborhood leaders in Mordecai and Historic Oakwood neighborhoods have advocated for livable, complete streets which take all users into consideration - - motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists. More importantly, as residents of North Downtown, we want our streets to complement our downtown way of life rather than divide our neighborhoods, stifle our local businesses, and impede thoughtful movement through our evolving city. At the heart of the study is the one vs two-way debate where many businesses who are members of the PSP believe one way streets are bad for business!

Partnering with the City

In its partnership with the City of Raleigh, the PSP has cultivated and enjoys a crucial working relationship with City Council and staff in the Urban Design Center and the Planning and Public Works Departments. City Council members and staff regularly attend, speak, and give feedback at our quarterly meetings. Through this key relationship, the PSP has been able encourage and promote the corridor study in our area, lobby for funding, and move the process toward reality.

The Person Blount Street corridor study kicked off this October with a "standing room only" crowd as consultants from AECOM began to gather intitial feedback. Beginning next week December 10-13, the consultants and city staff will conduct a series of design workshops that allow local residents along this vital corridor to help design these streets and continue to give important feedback.  Mordecai and Historic Oakwood neighbors will want to be sure and attend Wednesday night's workshop at Trinity United Methodist Church 824 N Bloodworth St.7 -8:30 for our section of the corridor!

Implementation  

Once the study is complete, the PSP's real work will begin to advocate for the implementation of recommendations from the study. While the PSP focuses on the North Person business district, it is keenly aware of its connection to Wake Forest Road and  Mordecai to the North and to Blount and Person Street heading downtown and its connection to Historic Oakwood and the downtown business district. Our mission is to promote our section of the corridor as a "pilot" project for complete streets in the NCDOT's statewide initative and encourage the City to fund necessary capital improvement projects which will make the study recommendations a reality.

Please join us on this First Friday for our Holiday Open House at Anvil Gallery at 715B N Person Street for more info about the corridor study and its impact on Person Street.