Along with several new developments and announcements, the Hillsborough Street Partnership extended an invitation to all students to attend an Open Community Forum to discuss priorities for Hillsborough Street’s improvements.
The forum, to be held Feb. 25 at the West Raleigh Presbyterian Church, will focus on how the $3 million allotted in November 2005 will be used, and leaders want as much student input as possible.
“Students have a ‘place’ in mind; they have a vision and an interest in Hillsborough [Street],” Sharm Baker, University representative in the Partnership, said. Roundabouts, parking, streetscaping and other issues will be discussed in terms of merits, necessity and desirability, she said. “Students should bring their vision and voice forward to prioritize where that $3 million should go.”
The large-scale plan for improvement of the street has been broken up into stages, Kevin Jennings, owner of Porter’s on Hillsborough and vice chair of the Partnership, said. He said community involvement and input in the Partnership forum is particularly important because “we recommend to the city council which stage comes first.”
“We want to engage business and property owners in the community,” Baker said and added that several businesses have “agreed to discount [their] lunch menus on the day of the forum.”
Community involvement is key, she said, in getting and sharing “visual images of what the future of Hillsborough Street might look like.”
The Partnership also announced the introduction of three new N.C. State students to the planning process.
Ryan Powell, Ana Pardo and Danielle Polumbo were all nominated to represent student voices in the Partnership.
“I see the Partnership as a vehicle for motivating a legitimate community vision to the street,” Powell, a graduate student in economics, said. “In addition to being powerful stakeholders in Hillsborough [Street’s] future, students stand to benefit from the experience of serving one’s own community.”
The Partnership has other plans in the works to both benefit the street and garner more student involvement.
Jennings is organizing the upcoming Hillsborough Street Clean-Up for April 22, which will be an event aimed at the beautification and restoration of the street.
“We’ve had a recent problem with graffiti,” he said. “So we’re going to make paint available to cover that up.” The clean-up will also focus on trash removal and small-scale landscaping; like trimming and raking.
He said he hopes for the clean-up to be a real community experience with local vendors supplying refreshments and possibly even a band for afterward.
The Partnership will also jointly sponsor a Summer Community Forum titled “The Urban University” along with the City of Raleigh and NCSU, and coordinate a Street Graphics project to coincide with the beginning of the fall semester and homecoming weekend.
They are also working on an updated Web site so students can easily access updates and new developments in the planning process.
Partnership members want to stress the importance of the upcoming open forum as a way for students to voice their ideas on priorities for the street.
“Students need to be elbow-to-elbow with the Partnership and the community, with the property and business owners [and] with the neighborhood,” Baker said. “That way [their] voice is always heard as more things and opportunities become available.”
