In the News

We Want Your Input on the 50% Design of Phase 2 & the Tradition Cornerstone!

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If you were unable to attend the Public Meetings on April 10 and 11, you still have a chance to share your thoughts about the 50% Design Plans for Phase 2 (Murrow Boulevard and Lee Street to Fisher/Greene) and on the proposed design of the Tradition Cornerstone by Harries & Héder.  Click here to take the survey.  Comments can be submitted online through Friday, April 26.  We appreciate your input! To review the 50% design plans for Phase 2, please click each document below: Phase 2 Plans-Exhibit 1 Phase 2 Plans-Exhibit 2 Rendering of Phase 2 To view the design of the Tradition Cornerstone by Harries & Héder, click here. If you have questions, please contact Dabney Sanders, Project Manager, at dsanders@actiongreensboro.org.

Scott Neely Talks About Storm Water on the Greensboro Downtown Greenway

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My name is Scott Neely, and I live in downtown Greensboro in the south side district.  Aside from being a youth and arts director, I’m finishing my post-graduate certificate in Sustainable Community Planning and Design from Boston Architectural College.  One of the things that caught my eye with the Downtown Greenway project was the Greenway at Fisher Park being developed along Smith Street.  I noticed the curbs and the sunken area...and I thought that looked a little different than what we normally see.  Putting two and two together with what I’ve been studying, I immediately thought that it had to be a sustainable rain garden—and I was really excited about that! In truth, we are really good at paving things.  We actually need to have a little bit of a concrete diet in our lifestyle.  The importance of this rain garden is that it catches the water without it running off into the storm drains, especially when we experience a heavy storm.  Storm drains can overflow in major rains, so when it overflows it can create flooding and water pollution.  Also when water hits an impervious surface, it can run for miles and collect a bunch of pollutants along the way.  Sustainability is not just a trend. It’s here to stay, and it’s what we all need to start thinking about as we move forward.

Ribbon Cutting Celebration & Community Input on Design of Tradition Cornerstone & Phase 2

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Join us for a Ribbon Cutting Celebration of Phase 3B on Smith Street between Eugene and Spring Streets on Wednesday, April 10 from 3:15–4:00 pm, followed by a Community Input Meeting to share your thoughts on the proposed design for the Tradition Cornerstone by Harries & Heder and on the 50% design plan for Phase 2 (Murrow Boulevard and East Fisher Avenue) from 4:00–6:00 pm on April 10. If you are not able to join us on April 10 for the Ribbon Cutting and Community Input meeting, please join us for a second chance to share your comments of the proposed designs on Thursday, April 11 from 11:00 am–1:00 pm. The Ribbon Cutting and Community Input Meetings on April 10 and 11 will be held at the clubhouse at the Greenway at Fisher Park Apartments located at 404 West Smith Street. Click here for a public meeting flyer.  Questions?  Contact Action Greensboro at 379.0821.

WalkBikeNC Draft Plan

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The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) has released a DRAFT Statewide Pedestrian and Bicycle Plan (WalkBikeNC Plan), which is available for public review and input.  Read about the plan and give your input online! WalkBikeNC Summary Draft Full Draft Plan Draft Plan Appendix Five Pillar Summaries NCDOT is accepting public comments on the plan until April 30, 2013.  Please use this online comment form to provide feedback. For more information, visit this NCDOT page.

Phase 3B Complete

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Phase 3B, the section along Smith Street between Spring and Eugene, is now complete.  This section features Eco-Gardens, innovative stormwater treatment facilities that transform impervious street surfaces into landscaped green spaces that capture polluted stormwater runoff.  The plants and soil filter the polluted runoff as it soaks back into the ground, replenishing the groundwater supply.  The storm drains also create attractive streetscapes, urban green spaces, and provide a natural habitat. With the Greenway at Fisher Park Apartments adjacent to the Greenway and Deep Roots Market opening in March, it is a great time to check out the new developments happening along the northern edge of Downtown Greensboro!

Greenway Public Art: Neighborhood Benches

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Dabney Sanders: We knew from the early planning stages for the Downtown Greenway that we wanted public art to be a major component of this 4-mile loop, and we are using North Carolina artists to create benches, much like the bench that I am sitting on now, here in Morehead Park.  The process to select artists involves submitting their qualifications and examples of prior work.  Then we select the artist and ask that they come to Greensboro, meet with the neighborhoods, learn the neighborhood vision as well as its history, and then create a proposal for a bench that reflects the area.  We have commissioned three artists to date, and two of those artist benches have been installed.  The first one is a bench called Five Points that Gary Gresko from Oriental, North Carolina, designed. It reflects the history of the Warnersville neighborhood, which is a fascinating history that many people in Greensboro are not aware of.  So, we are pleased to be able to tell that story as people enjoy and use the Greenway. Gary Gresko: These are glacial boulders dug up right out of this site to represent the bedrock of this community and the beginning of the Greenway project.  So there are five boulders placed here, one behind each bench—each a symbol representing the community. Xandra Eden: There is a nice kind of open communication in all aspects of moving toward this project because the idea is we want this Greenway to be loved, appreciated, and used by the neighborhoods that  are nearby—not just plopped down out of nowhere.  We want the benches to be a part of each community.  The best approach is to communicate with each community and make sure that the bench is something they are going to love, and that will enrich their lives. Dabney Sanders: The bench that I am sitting on now is called Inside/Out, created by Ben Kastner and Toby Keeton from Wilmington, North Carolina.  In this particular area,we did not have a neighborhood in exactly the same way that we had in Warnersville.  So we did look at history, and this area where we are sitting had originally been a part of Governor John Motley Morehead’s property—a large property that has now been whittled down to just a few acres.  His home was Blandwood, which sits about a half block away from us.  And we looked at the fact that this had been called the Morehead neighborhood. The artist looked at some furniture in Blandwood—some historical pieces that had a good story to tell. He decided to create these outdoor pieces using steel and concrete, and recreate them as an outdoor living room.  The artist talked about seeing the Greenway as an inviting place for people to enjoy, but then stop for a little respite and perhaps have a conversation with somebody they do not know.  This seating arrangement provides a welcoming opportunity to converse. The next bench that we are planning is still in the design phase, and will be located near the Fisher Park neighborhood.  The artist , Jeanette Brossart from Durham, North Carolina, has already held some community meetings with the Fisher Park neighborhood.  We are looking forward to seeing the end product at the end of 2013 or early 2014.

Greenway Public Art: The Gateway of the Open Book Cornerstone

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Dabney Sanders: We knew from the early planning stages for the Downtown Greenway that we wanted public art to be a major component of this 4-mile loop.  We wanted those pieces of public art to represent city-wide themes that have been important in making Greensboro what it is today.  So we have commissioned the first artist to create a cornerstone with the theme of "Motion," called Gateway of the Open Book.  Rhode Island artist Brower Hatcher created that piece, and he collaborated with  local artist Frank Russell as well as students from local elementary and high schools represented by the Warnersville neighborhood, the closest neighborhood to Gateway of the Open Book. Frank Russell: It is always terrific to work with kids.  Kids have absolute raw, unedited creativity streaming out of them.  It is unfiltered, and they will tell you exactly what they see or feel or think, provided you can get them talking—and you have to get them talking.  Barbara brought coffee, and we actually gave them caffeine to elicit a response—with cookies and coffee and some time.  I think when people Peter’s age began to see one another participate, it encouraged them to loosen up and participate.  Peter was very outspoken and had terrific ideas on paper.  Kids are just creative genius.  We did not have to make up anything for these iconic images.  We created almost 40 images, and we actually used 25 in the sculpture itself.  They definitely brought their 'A' game.  We also played with some found objects that provided the idea of the four quarters of the moon and the sun. Peter Smith: Me and my friends, we drew pictures of the moon, the sun, the galaxy—all types of stuff.  It was the first time that I had worked with scrap metals.  We would go through copper, boxes of copper, and pipes.  There we started talking about the sculpture—phase one of it. Frank Russell: We were challenged.  We were invited to mention several things about the strengths of Greensboro, our city.  And I think education is one of the most powerful things that Greensboro has going.  We have so many colleges, so many universities.  So, to have it shaped as a book for knowledge and research and all the fun, excellent things that are going to be found in this particular book, from fish to rocket ships to flying saucers to a lot of great things, made sense.  These kids gave us these ideas. These kids told us what should be in the cornerstone. Peter Smith: It makes me feel wonderful because it was something that I took part in with me and my friends, and we did something for the community.

Health and Wellness on the Downtown Greenway

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Sandra Boren: The Downtown Greenway provides some great opportunities for folks to get out in a safe environment for physical activity, whether that is running, walking or cycling.  We are delighted to be investing in that, and it is an opportunity for our entire community to get out and experience the great outdoors without having to go very far from home. John McLendon: The Downtown Greenway, as a loop around downtown, will be a hub of the entire trails, greenways, and system of bike lanes and bike routes going out into Greensboro and to Guilford County.  Eventually, there will be connections planned with the Atlantic & Yadkin Greenway to the Bicentennial Greenway, which will run all the way over to High Point and the Piedmont Greenway, which is planned to connect to Winston-Salem.  So this Greenway is the hub, and it will be the hub of a network that will allow people to walk and ride their bikes all over the region safely.  We do have some places where there are good sidewalks and people can walk.  And there are bike lanes where we can ride on streets, but there are a lot of gaps where you just cannot safely connect to by riding your bicycle or walking without using the Greenway that is planned around downtown and the connectors reaching into the larger part of Greensboro. Connie McLendon: We love to go on long rides on the weekends, but like John said, there are some areas that we go in that really are not very safe. To one day be able to ride on a trail from here to Winston-Salem and back in a relatively safe spectrum is very exciting to me because it is a little bit scary to be out there some days.  To be on the trail and interacting with other people and the whole safety factor is just very exciting to me. T. Dianne Bellamy-Small: Since this Greenway is connected to neighborhoods, it makes it a lot easier.  I do not have to go somewhere else to be involved with physical activity.  For some of these folks, they can just come out their back doors and walk over to the Greenway, then walk a half mile or a mile and then come back home. Natalie Abbassi: Well, a healthy lifestyle and going green is very important to me.  So when I think of the Greenway, I think of this as a means to be more healthy, a means to exercise, and a means to get my body moving.  We could be less dependent on our cars.  We could be more social.  We could walk our dogs and get on our bikes.  It is just going to be better for the environment and better for our bodies and health. Susan Schwartz: You will be able to live downtown if you want to, and walk or ride to your place of work, to all entertainment—and get exercise.  I think this is a very high quality of life for people, and as the world grows and we face different issues, we all know that you want to be in your car less, you want to eat better, you want to walk more, and you want to live near your work.  All of those features will be provided through the Greenway.

Public Art: ColorHaus and Over.Under.Pass

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Dabney Sanders: We knew from the early planning stages for the Downtown Greenway that we wanted public art to be a major component of this 4-mile loop.  Certainly, we are interested in people enjoying it for health and recreation.  We are doing it to encourage economic development, but we also wanted to create something that was iconic for Greensboro and something that would really represent what Greensboro is and Greensboro’s rich history. There were some opportunities to have artists create purely functional works for us, so we have bike racks that will be scattered along the Greenway.  We have commissioned a local artist to do two of those bike racks so far, and we plan to continue that as we build additional sections.  We also realized after the original planning process that we were presented with some unique opportunities, either to tell stories or to create an environment with public art.  So we have some other things—special markers that we have done, two really exciting ones so far.  One is called ColorHaus, designed by Primary Flight, an artist group from Miami.  You can see the painted murals as a backdrop to this trailhead parking area here at Morehead Park.  We collaborated with Elsewhere to bring the group of artists from Miami to do a three-week residency here.  They were able to involve the community in some of their work, and we think it makes a great statement to encourage people to see a little something different and want to explore this section of the Greenway. The other piece that excites us is a piece called Over.Under.Pass, created by local Greensboro artists Jim Gallucci and Scott Richardson.  We had an opportunity in this section of Morehead Park to reclaim an abandoned railroad underpass that had not been in use since the mid 1970s.  This was an underpass that used to be well-used by both vehicles and pedestrians, and has been impassible all of these years.  When we were looking at the opportunities there, we wanted to create a safe environment but we also wanted to create an artistically exciting environment as well.  Jim Gallucci designed iron gates modeled after art deco style architectural features he found on a nearby building that was built in 1928—the same year that the railroad underpass was built.  Scott Richardson designed a lighting program using colored, motion-sensored LED lights.  As the public traverses through the area, they can interact with and make the lights do interesting things. Over.Under.Pass has been a popular attraction here—something new and a little bit unusual for Greensboro. We were recognized for this project with a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and we love hearing Rocco Landesman, the chairman of the NEA, talk all over the country about how proud he is of what Greensboro is doing in terms of creative placemaking in their community.