Category — Local Scene

A suffocating hot day in the city today. The sort of heat that when you go outside, you feel you can not breathe even after the minimum of exertion. Appears that we will have more of the same for the next few days to come.

Of course, having a heat wave may be preferable to what we experienced yesterday. It may have been brief but that sudden downburst in the afternoon did considerable damage. Driving around town, you could see downed trees and debris everywhere. Eleven thousand homes including ours lost power for several hours. Crews everywhere were trying to clear power lines damaged by the storm. Yet for all of that damage in the storm and fury, we received just a scant bit of rainfall, hardly enough to make a dent in the drought.

But it is August and just a month or two away from a cooling trend for the rest of the year. Could not come soon enough.

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Note

One of the many statues found in the downtown area of Winston-Salem as part of the ASPCA annual awareness and fundraising drive. Plaster statues of dogs and cats are given to local artists and high school students to paint and decorate in a theme. This statue found in front of Cat’s Corner Cafe, is painted in the style of Egyption artifacts.

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Saw the list of the 600 Starbucks location that are closing in the United States over the next several months. With 12 locations scattered throughout the city with most of them opening in the past three years, it was with some surprise that the only location Winston-Salem location closing is the one at Harpers Commons shopping center. When we lived in that area of the city, I used to frequent that location regularly.

As far as shopping centers go, this is a good one. Anchored by a Harris Teeter grocery store, there is a good mix of restaurants and shops and services there that always brings in a crowd. Like many people, a typical time there would be going to one of the restaurants (Japanese, Deli or Mexican), followed by a trip to the grocery store for the week’s groceries then pick up a snack whether it be a coffee & pastry from Starbucks or ice cream for the kids from Cold Stone Creamery to take home.

Not sure why this location is closing because it seems that traffic was always steady in the evening and weekends but there is probably a good reason for it.

Seems typical with the economy in a virtual recession that we are seeing more businesses especially in the food trade closing shop. Higher food prices and the cost of the gas are just two of the factors that are leading to this troubled times. The Cotton Mill restaurant, an upscale restaurant featuring Southern cuisine and located at the Brookstown Inn, is closing shop this week. Run by the same people behind Sweet Potatoes restaurant on Trade St, the Cotton Mill was done in by poor location and timing. People will not go out of their way for expensive meals right now. Had the owners persisted in making a go of it there, it may have cost them Sweet Potatoes as well and that just can not happen as that restaurant is a true gem of downtown dining.

Fabians is gone again, victim of higher food costs. There are others though not closing as of yet, are teetering. It will remain tough in the food trade for awhile here in Winston until the economy turns around. I just hope that for all of the hard -won success that the downtown restaurant program has brought to Winston, that it does not all disappear in just a few months.

Technically any municipality can be called a city as long as they provide all of the essential services as required to manage it like police, health & sanitation and emergency services. Population is not supposed to be a factor so you can have a city as small as 8000 people in size or as large as 10 million.

I suppose there should be more of a clarification on what defines a city as oppose to an urban environment. For most cities, the heart is the traditional downtown core surrounded by older densely packed residential areas and as you travel further out from the city core, you will be in more spreaded out suburban areas.

That is the matter of most large cities in the world today but for many people, a city is not truly a city unless it has a downtown core spiked with skyscrapers of towering height but for me, a city is more than that.

Here in Winston-Salem, there is a new development called Civic Plaza located in the downtown core. In the past few weeks, several older structures have been torned down in preparation for the first phase of the project, One Park Vista, a luxury condo development. The second part of the project is a tower located at Liberty and Fourth on the other side of the block where the abandoned Pepper Building currently sits. This tower was originally planned at fourteen stories then increased to twenty stories and now as of today has been scaled back to the original fourteen stories.

Along Fourth Street, near Town Run Lane, passers-by peer through fencing at a construction site during lunch breaks. A crater of dirt, stone and wood marks the area where a group of buildings used to stand in downtown Winston-Salem.

The former Davis Department Store building is gone. So is the Mother & Daughter Store building.

What the lunch crowd sees taking place is the construction of a $17 million building called One Park Vista, which is the first phase of a public-private project known as the Civic Plaza plan. That plan calls for a downtown plaza flanked by One Park Vista and another condo building on a 3-acre tract.

One Park Vista is on schedule, but the second phase still has holes in it. Financing, and the city’s possible use of tax-increment financing, is being discussed. In addition, the size of the second condo building, which would sit on the southwest corner of Liberty and Fourth streets, has been reduced.

Niemann Capital LLC, the lead developer on the Civic Plaza plan, had proposed a building of 21 stories, similar to the height of the Nissen Building. But the latest proposal made in September changed the height to 14 stories. Tom Niemann, the company’s president, could not be reached for comment.

Jason Thiel, the president of the Downtown Winston-Salem Partnership, said that the change in the height of the building was presented last month at the partnership’s development meeting.

Thiel said that the proposed building, which does not have a name yet, started off as a 14-story building.

“When it was presented at a larger scale, they were trying to show potential of the market. It (the change in size) really is simply a reflection of budget risk and market forces,” he said.

The building would probably go at the southwest corner of Liberty and Fourth streets, down the block from One Park Vista, which is being built by other developers, Kerry Avant and Thad Lewallen.

The two condo buildings would have a park between them, on a tract from Town Run Lane to Liberty Street. To make space for Niemann’s building, the developer has suggested that the vacant Pepper Building be demolished.

Whatever the height of Niemann’s building, Ginger Baldwin McCollum, a real-estate agent working on One Park Vista, said that demand is running high, with 19 of the building’s 34 units reserved, sold or under contract.

(Source: Second downtown condo in Civic Plaza plan shrinks - Winston Salem Journal)

The reason for the reduction in the plan is I think that the real estate reality is starting to sink in that the market for high end condos is reaching saturation point in Winston-Salem’s downtown. West End Village, 248 Main, Gallery Lofts are all new developments that will scores of new residential units downtown. It may not realistic to put an additional 6 stories of condos on a building if the developers can not sell them.

I do not think fourteen stories buildings is a small building which you can find in the suburbs. There are a few towers downtown now that exceed that height such as the Wachovia and Winston towers. It is a reasonable height and considering that its neighbouring towers like One West Fourth and RJ Reynolds towers are of comparable height, placing the fourteen story tower at Civic Plaza will not not seem to far out of place. My preference is for buildings to occupy as much of the area as possible creating a dense effect. Winston-Salem is not Charlotte or any other type of large city and having a few towers scattered here and there does not make it a large city. Then you have to consider that having such large towers is that they require setbacks from the street which result in these windblown plazas which to me are one of the reasons for the decline of cities in the dark age (50’s-80’s). These plazas created dead areas in many downtown cores and is not something I like to see in Winston.

I have lived in many large cities around the world and what defines urban living is simply density of people and architecture. Image if you will a street lined on both sides with buildings ranging from 6 to 14 stories with wide sidewalks but no plazas. Commerical enterprises at street level, apartments & offices on top. Such a compact living arrangement brings the jostle of urban living close up to you every day. You can feel that you are in a city as you walk past blocks and blocks of such building. Compressing all of that urbanity into a tower or two takes away that experience.

Winston in its heyday was considered to be one of the premier cities of the south and looking at photographs from that era and even as late as the 1950’s, you could see how dense the city was at its core with factories, offices and homes all in close proximity to each other with nary a tower around except for the RJR building. Perhaps the rise of skyscrapers in many urban cores, along with the rise of suburban shopping malls, was the factor that lead to the decline of downtowns as offices scattered throughout the downtown consolidate at this new gleaming edifice which lead to the abandonment of buildings throughout the rest of the downtowns. With the same number of downtown workers housed in fewer buildings, you will get these vacant buildings and surface parking lots that seem to rise up.

Fourteen stories is a good height for this development. There is another phase of the project that could see the removal of the old courthouse in favour of another tower of comparable height. However as there is significant amount of commerical space downtown available right now I can not see anyone building office towers on speculation. What I would like to see after this spate of condo building and conversions is more infill development downtown to help use up all of that empty space particularly on Liberty St. Spreading out the density of the downtown core help makes tratransitre efficient and may lead to the building of the oft-discussed streetcar line.

There are many things that can define a city: the ability to sustain a vibrant art scene, opportunities to learn, bountiful and diverse job prospects, the number of interesting and unique restaurants and cafes. To focus on just one visual aspect of a city, the number of tall buildings it has is to me the wrong premise to judge whether a city is worthy of the term.

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I was driving in a new part of town the other week when I came across a roundabout in the road. Considering where I was, I thought it a bit unusual given the traffic flow I saw in the area but it was no matter to me as I drove through it and continued on.

A few years ago, my reaction would have been more of a surprise but in the past few years, Winston-Salem has been adding quite a few in various locations. Even where I live just off Old Salisbury Rd, there is a roundabout near a cluster of apartments.

I, for one, really like roundabouts having seen quite a few of them in Europe when I lived there. Roundabouts make navigating tricky intersections much easier and you do not have to continually wait on a light to proceed through the intersection. However, there quite a few locals that still do not have the hang of it and like Chevy Chase’s character in European Vacation, tend to loop around the roundabouts few times before realising that they can simply pull off into their destined lane. I know the Five Points intersection in Winston could really use it. Five separate roads with heavy traffic and a somewhat confusing signaling system makes it all a bit tricky. If built right will definitely fit into the character of that neighbourhood.

Facts about Traffic Circles vs Roundabouts

Modern Roundabouts are different than traffic circles in the following ways:

• Traffic circles can involve stop signs or stop signals
• Traffic circles can be very large or very small
• Traffic circles can operate at higher speeds and often require motorists to move from one lane to another

Modern Roundabouts are not Traffic Cirles:

• Modern roundabouts follow a yield at entry rule, which requires approaching vehicles to wait for a gap in the circulating traffic before entering the roundabout
• Modern roundabouts involve low speeds for traffic entering and driving through the roundabout
• Modern roundabouts use deflection to slow entering traffic and enhance safety
• Vehicles in the modern roundabout have the right of way

The distinguishing differences between traffic circles and modern roundabouts are:

• Modern roundabouts have a smaller diameter than most traffic circles, resulting in safer conditions and lower speeds.
• Vehicles can enter modern roundabouts much easier than traffic circles due to flared approaches, entry angles, slower speeds on the circulating roadway and the fact that vehicles entering roundabouts always yield to circulating traffic
• Properly planned modern roundabouts are designed using rigorous standards based on specific turning volumes. Traffic circles are typically sized based on land availability and or road distance needed for accomplishing high speed weave movements.

Traffic circles are large in diameter, have high circulating speeds and can require some merging and weaving between lanes to exit. Traffic circles exhibit poor operations and high crash rates. Driving through traffic circles can be unnerving to the uninitiated driver.

People unfamiliar with the modern roundabout often assume they cause similar problems since they are circular too however they have different features that make them safer than traffic circles

(Source: Traffic Circle vs Modern Roundabout)

One thing I enjoyed living in the many cities I have had in my life is the ability to go to a museum to satisfy my intellectual curiosity. Whether it is the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto ON or the Frankfurt Art Gallery, or the Cummer Art Gallery in Jacksonville FL, I appreciate going to the museum or art gallery and lose myself amongst the exhibits for hours on end.

Winston is not without its own museums and galleries like the SECCA on Reynolda Rd, the Horton Museum and the Children’s Museum in Old Salem but I wonder if Winston can support a grander museum dedicated to some special theme like Natural History or Science or a speciality Art Gallery. I remember going to Reynolda House and in conversation with the curator was told that much of the American Art collection that is part of the Reynolds collection is in storage or on loan to various other galleries or museums because the Reynolda House had no room to display it all.

A museum does not have to be high brow as witness by the success of the Winston Cup museum dedicated to NASCAR racing on Martin Luther King Drive. There are far too many museums in various cities that are merely mausoleums in their downtown areas because of a poor understanding of what brings people to them.

But Winston needs to draw people downtown and one sure way of doing it is providing entertainment attractions and that is what a museum or an art gallery essentially does. Along with the traditional role of conveying culture and knowledge, it is also a way for us to entertain ourselves.

So what would work downtown and what scale? In my opinion, an art gallery located in the Arts District in a revitalised building on Liberty or Trade dedicated to early American Art with contributions from the Reynolds collection will be a good start. Another is the SciWorks currently located on University and relocated downtown as the core of an Interactive Science Museum that collaborates with the school district in providing knowledge to school age children.

It does not have to be an elaborate setting or housed in a building that seeks out international recognition. It should not massive endowments or a world -renown curator to run it. But it should be known to everyone locally and be a source of pride for the community for Winston-Salem.

This  weekend is the annual Heavy Rebel Weekender here in Winston-Salem. While the main focus is showcasing the various bands that are on stage from Friday night to Sunday night, for me it is the cars that are as much of the event as anything else. Saturday from 9am-4pm, cars from custom jobs, classic vehicles, from all eras will be on hand.

Band Schedule:

Friday

4:45 p.m. SouthPaw
5 p.m. Atomic Drops
5:30 p.m. Wink Keziah & Deluxe Motel
5:45 p.m. Blue Diablo
6 p.m. The Keepers
6:30 p.m. Pete Yorko
7 p.m. Drop Tops
7:30 p.m. Dead City Dealers
7:45 p.m. Kings of Hell
8 p.m. Gojira-X
8:30 p.m. Hick’ry Hawkins
8:45 p.m. Motorpsychos
9 p.m. Reverend D-Ray and the Shockers
9:30 p.m. Los Rudos
9:45 p.m. Blacklists Royals
10 p.m. the bo-stevens
10:30 p.m. Jimmy and the Teasers
10:45 p.m. Guitar Bomb
11 p.m. Crank County Daredevils
11:30 p.m. Lords of the Highway
Midnight Dexter Romweber and The New Romans

Saturday

9 a.m. to 4 p.m.: HRW Car and Bike Show, Mud Wrestling
5 p.m. High Rollers
5:30 p.m. Bad Mothers
5:45 p.m. Mean Mean Man/Brass Knuckle Band
6 p.m. Filthy Rotten Sex Machine
6:30 p.m. Soul Reapin’ 3
6:45 p.m. American Speedway
7 p.m. Joecephus/George Jonestown Massacre
7:30 p.m. TBA
7:45 p.m. Luxury Pusher
8 p.m. Mad Tea Party
8:30 p.m. Big Spank
8:45 p.m. The Butchers
9 p.m. Wet Wifebeater Contest
9:30 p.m. Designer Drugs
9:45 p.m. The Cheats
10 p.m. Speed Crazy
10:30 p.m. Uncle Scratch’s Gospel Revival
10:45 p.m. Sasquatch and the Sickabillies
11 p.m. Red Hot Poker Dots
Midnight Rocket 88

Sunday

2 p.m. Nanner Puddin’ Eatin’ and Beer Drinkin’ Contest 2:30 p.m. The Black Knots
2:45 p.m. 220 Short
3 p.m. Adam the First Real Man
3:30 p.m. The Defilers
3:45 p.m. The Big Bad
4 p.m. Deadneks
4:30 p.m. The Flat Tires
4:45 p.m. TBA
5 p.m. Upright Bass Slapdown
5:30 p.m. Locke and Load
5:45 p.m. The Hottdamns
6 p.m. Crossroads Guitar Contest
6:30 p.m. Sandanistas
6:45 p.m. The Buzzards
7 p.m. Psycho Devilles
7:30 p.m. Matt Walsh
7:45 p.m. Lust
8 p.m. Killer Filler
8:30 p.m. The Straight 8’s
8:45 p.m. Pee Wee Moore
9 p.m. Truckstop Preachers
9:30 p.m. BuzzKills
9:45 p.m. Billy Joe Winghead
10 p.m. 7 Shot Screamers

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When I walk down Fourth St in Winston Salem, or drive through the small towns around North Carolina, I am saddened to see so many boarded up store fronts and empty streets. Obviously, it was not always this way. Downtowns were once the heart of these cities and towns but like most elsewhere in America most of the businesses migrated to the office parks, strip malls, big box stores and the shopping mall. In larger centers like Winston, there is some life to the downtown if you know where to look but in a town like Statesville with its early 20th century architecture lining its streets, there is nothing there.

Wherever I traveled, I am invariably drawn to the cities more so than anything else. Beaches, mountains, small towns, sweeping vistas also have their attractions for me but it is the cities that fascinate me. The older the city with a distinctive history, the more I am interested in it. A student of history, I sometimes get a thrill or chill when I touch a building or artifact that has been around centuries; to tread upon the path of those came before me. There is certain grandeur about older cities especially those in Europe that appeal to me.

Growing up in the small towns of Newfoundland, I never knew what it was like to be caught up in the dynamic energy of a city. Choices of where to go to shop, eat or be entertained were quite limited. It was not until I moved to St. John’s for university that I had some inkling of what drives a city though in retrospect, St. John’s is more like a really big town in its attitudes and pace. I could do more there than before and the availability of historical sites and museums were quite a draw. It was not until I went to Toronto that I really knew what city living was all about.

Living in Toronto in the late 80’s through the mid 90’s brought me into contact with so many new things in music, art, food, fashion. Cities are a magnet for the arts and Toronto was no different. Walking through the neighbourhoods, you could not help note how diverse they were in contrast to the bland sameness of suburbia. One of the striking things about downtowns is that tucked away into little nooks or obscured by an overgrown garden you will find little shops, unique decorations and mind provoking banners/signs that you will not find in a strip mall or industrial/commercial area. In a way, downtowns are an expression of individuality not suburban conformity.

Downtowns that are truly well-developed provide much in the way in choices: movie theatres, fine arts theatres, museums and galleries, shops of all kinds not just fashion and crafts, dining with cuisines that range from local traditional to exotic experimental and after hours establishments for those like partying late into the night. Naturally, a downtown should reflect the social mores of those who live there but by their nature they tend to be more open-minded than other areas. In a way, downtowns provide a destination for those who want to escape and perhaps live a little before settling down.

When I lived in Europe several years ago, I came to realize how a city could survive just fine without needing a sprawling mall. Cities are compact and much of the buildings extended several stories high but you never felt really enclosed as the sidewalks were broad and greenery abundant even if it was a planter or two. People were drawn to the downtowns and being Europe, they much preferred to walk around the downtown than drive there. One of the keys for a vibrant downtown is that it must be well served by public transit. If people can leave their house and be downtown be a minimum of fuss then an important accomplishment has been attained. In Toronto, there are two main subway lines that intersect downtown and all of the bus routes feed into the various subway stops. In Frankfurt, a ten minute walk brought me to a subway station and when I disembark, a five minute hop to my work or I would be in downtown or would be at the airport. But I have always likes trains for more than their convenience. Trains even a subway have a romance factor to them, a sense of history. Taking the trans-continental train from the Hauptbahnhof station in Frankfurt to Gare d’Est station in Paris has been one of my most memorable experiences.

In Paris, London or even of the many small cities around Frankfurt I found many of the same attributes. Walking along Champs Elysees to the Louvre was majestic but darting around in some of the side streets was also thrilling. When I interacted with the locals, I felt a sense that they like being where they are with no desire to get away from it all. In Jacksonville or in Winston, people could not wait to leave the downtown to get back to their homes not daring to stay around when the sun goes down.

So in the past twenty years or so, I have come to develop an appreciation for downtowns that many others fail to have. So it is always with great interest that I take in news on the redevelopment of downtowns and the events that take place there even in a small city like Winston. For many years, the downtown of Winston has been on the decline but it appears that I have come at a most opportune time as Winston is making strides in returning the downtown as it once was, the centre of civic life.

The renovation of the Nissen Building, the redevelopment of Trade Street as an Arts community, the soaring height of One Park Vista tower, West End Village, the new downtown ballpark have all contribute to the restarting of the heartbeat of downtown Winston-Salem. But it is only a start. There are still far too many empty storefronts on Fourth Street and Liberty Street is a wasteland waiting to be rediscovered. Of course, this economic downturn is not helping as it will put the brakes on new any development and probably was the factor in why a few announced projects have collapsed.

But I can sense a change for the good now when I am downtown, much more so than 5 years ago when I first came to Winston-Salem. Just takes time, money and people with some vision and hope that downtown Winston-Salem is worth investing and living.

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