Welcome to September! The 8PM sunsets may be leaving until Spring, but it’s getting comfortable to be outside more. Fair trade, I say.
The Urban Connector monthly newsletter looks back on the best of the previous month as well as ways to get involved in the coming month. Please make sure you sign up below to have these delivered straight to your inbox and follow on YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram.
August Content
Raleigh 4K Drone Tour
4K Drone Tour of Raleigh’s growing skyline + North Hills.
Suburban Spotlight – Woodstock
Part one of a series exploring some of the highlights (and lowlights) of notable suburbs through the region. Stay tuned as many more are queued up for the coming months.
Northern Arc BRT Station Area Planning – UNC Rex Area
Continuation of the series exploring the possibilities for TOD around the UNC Rex area for a hypothetical 5th BRT line in Raleigh.
Developments that Excited Me
Atlanta Medical Center site takes step forward
The former hospital site presents an unique opportunity to develop of cohesive connection between Downtown and the Beltline. There are some pretty impressive concepts floating around social media that depict a mixed-use village and complete streets, which would be great!
Downtown Raleigh’s State of Downtown Report
Downtown Raleigh Alliance released the annual State of Downtown Report recently and shared this awesome photo of upcoming projects.
DRA also released the full Economic Development Report which has some big ideas to bring life to Downtown! Read it in full HERE.
Atlanta Housing Authority Making Moves
The Atlanta Housing Authority is working toward 1000’s of affordable units with many being in dense, transit-rich environments including the former Summerhill Holiday Inn, and Bowen Homes.
West Midtown with it’s own skyline?!
The booming Howell Mill corridor could be getting a 42-story tower soon. For reference, that’s taller than any building in Raleigh’s skyline and nearly half as tall as the biggest towers in Atlanta.
Smoky Hollow Park Funding
In what could be a true urban feeling city park, the City of Raleigh has received $8.7 million from the feds. Now if only, City Council had approved the tower to overlook the park to give more residents direct access.
Murphy Crossing
We’re getting closer to the much-anticipated Murphy Crossing development happening. This one could potentially change the game as far as how dense infill is done in the City.
Get Involved, Atlanta!
| Date | Event | Notes |
| 9/3 | City Council | 1:00 PM |
| 9/9 | Zoning Committee | 11:00 AM |
| 9/11 | Transportation Committee | 10:00 AM |
| 9/12 | ATL Living Lab | 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM |
| 9/15 | Streets Alive (RDA ROUTE) | 1-5:00 PM |
| 9/16 | City Council | 1:00 PM |
| 9/19 | Abundant Housing Happy Hour with Post 3 At Large Candidate Devin Barrington-Ward | 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM |
| 9/23 | Zoning Committee | 11:00 AM |
| 9/25 | Transportation Committee | 10:00 AM |
| 9/27 | Critical Mass Ride | 6:30 PM – Meet at Woodruff Park |
| 10/3 | Inc Dev’s Small Scale Development Workshop | 9:00 PM – 5:00 PM – Monday Night Brewing |
| 10/7 | City Council | 1:00 PM |
| Various Dates | Stitch Walking Tours | Various Times |
| Various Dates | South Downtown Community Tour | Various Times |
Atlanta Calendar of Events
Get Involved, Raleigh
| Date | Event | Notes |
| 9/3 | City Council | 1:00 PM & 7:00 PM |
| 9/9 | South Street Community Open House | 6:00 PM |
| 9/10 | Planning Commission | 9:00 AM |
| 9/10 | City Council | 4:00 PM & 7:00 PM |
| 9/16 | BPAC | 6:00 PM |
| 9/17 | City Council | 11:30 AM & 1:00 PM |
| 9/24 | Planning Commission | 9:00 AM |
| 9/27 | Raleigh Critical Mass Ride | 7:00 PM |
| 10/1 | City Council | 1:00 PM & 7:00 PM |
Raleigh Calendar of Events
What I’m working on this month (and probably later)
- Updates to earlier drawings to the Reconnecting Communities sketches
- The Enigma of North Hills video
- Atlanta Summer 4K Drone Tour
I’m sure this newsletter will evolve as time goes on. Comments or suggestions? Let me know!
Phil Veasley is a Professional Engineer working to design safer multimodal infrastructure in cities throughout the US.
My goal is to create cities that are safe and effective for all people to move about outside of cars. To achieve that we have to focus on creating equitable, dense, and vibrant cities full of walkable neighborhoods with a various mix of housing choices, schools, restaurants, and services. We cannot have safe multimodal infrastructure without the density to support it and we cannot have equitable density without safe multimodal infrastructure. Outside of designing safe streets, my passions are sketching ideas for infill neighborhoods, floor plans, urban photography, and exploring our cities on foot or bike. Please check out the menus above for all of my ideas and also check out my YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter accounts.
Opinions and insights are my own and are not representative of any organization.
Phil Veasley 