Hello Creative District and Southwest Raleigh. We’re glad you’re enjoying the site, commenting on articles, and sending us information about what’s happening in the best part of the city. Last night, your editors got a chance to sit down face-to-face and reflect on the last few months and discuss the future of the site.
Joe Boisvert from University Park, Anthony McLeod from Renaissance Park, and I, got together at Mitch’s Tavern on Hillsborough Street to talk about southwestraleigh.com. It’s pure coincidence that we celebrated the best day on the site since we launched. Yesterday, we had over 600 page views according to WordPress stats–and today, had over 500 page views. We have some eyeballs and are providing a great service to our neighborhoods and businesses: promoting all the cool things that happen here.
There’s a reason you, your neighbors, and I, live here, work here, and play in Southwest Raleigh. There’s something for everyone. And whether it’s encouraging citizens to participate in the review of the Unified Development Ordinance or enjoying a food truck rally at Rebus Works, we love South West Raleigh.
But we can’t do it alone. We need your continued participation. Contact us, tell us what’s happening that can be shared here. We’re seeing increased interest in the site and it grows with each new post.
Give us some feedback. Tell us what posts you like and what you want more of. We discussed adding some maps to the site to help identify all the assets that are here in South West Raleigh–like parks, schools, and art galleries. We’re looking at adding a calendar of events that will help you figure out what’s happening in the area.
We’d like to keep things local and sustainable. Consider for a moment you’re daily footprint. How much of your time is spent in South West Raleigh? Why do you need to go elsewhere for things? What could you do to help support your local retailers? Do you need to get in your car and drive somewhere? If so, how far?
Even though we’ve got some ideas, we want to hear yours. What direction should we take this community? What topics are you interested in hearing more about? What nitch does this site have that other blogs aren’t covering? And how can we partner with other sites to bring you the information you want?
We think we’ve got a good thing going here and your participation and comments can help make this more relevant. What would you like to see next and who else is out there that can contribute to this community?
There are quite a few things that south & southwest Raleigh needs. For starters, more access to grocery stores (and not I’m not just talking about the lack of any in downtown, which is a shame too). If you’re in the Renaissance Park, Carolina Pines or Caraleigh areas, you either drive way up to Cameron Village or way down to Garner to find a decent store. (Or that really sketchy Food Lion at the corner of Lake Wheeler and Tryon.) I think that’s kinda unacceptable really.
And for other retail it’s probably worse. I’ve heard it’s been estimated that over half the shoppers at the Garner Target on Timber drive down from southern Raleigh. And I’d bet a huge proportion of the shoppers in Cary’s Crossroads complex drive in from Raleigh too. But you can’t blame them…we have few choices here.
I keep dreaming that one day some large plot on the Saunders corridor will one day be redeveloped into a nice upscale shopping village with a Harris Teeter (or similar grocery), pharmacy, and some mixed retail shops and locally-owned cafes, and then surrounded by some good residential development. (Maybe that big plot of grass next to Red Roof?)
With all the recent tornado damage, the need for improving the area is higher than ever.