Town Center Civic and Cultural Arts District Study
Public Meeting:  Herb Young Center

Public Input

1. If you could only implement one of the recommendations that have been made this evening, which one would it be and why?

1. Cary Elementary renovation
2. To renovate Cary Elementary and ease demand on other tour facilities
3. Community arts center—something for everyone
4. Cary Elementary—this first and then the new building
5. Develop Cary Elementary site
6. CAL at Old Elementary—2
7. Community Arts Center
8. Cary Elementary—7.  Best bang for your buck
9. Convert the Elementary School for the immediate use
10. Cary Park for old and young, outdoors (few things to be seen outdoors), low or no cost to visitors
11. New arts center; Cary Elementary end at Academy
12. Arts Park
13. Cary Elementary as a Performing Arts Space
14. The new arts center addresses many needs
15. Cary Elementary more immediately doable
16. Community Arts Center/Cary Elementary—already there—historical—less money to improve
17. I like the square idea
18. Arts Park—most cost effective
19. Renovate Cary Elementary—best use of our limited funds
20. Cary Elementary—it’s the most financially feasible and the space would be well utilized
21. Cary Elementary—we don’t want it converted to a senior center if not used for the arts center
22. Cary Elementary—its cost effective, puts arts under one roof, consider some industrial arts in the basement (i.e. metal/wood art shop)
23. Cary Elementary as Community Arts Center—best and most fast benefit for cost
24. As a member of a performing arts group, I’d like to see the new center for the arts... for the bang for your buck, shorter time frame, the community arts center is a good idea
25. Cary Elementary—would make a larger arts presence in downtown
26. Old Cary Elementary Renovation—most for the money
27. Park—cost effective and can be completed most efficiently
28.  Cary Elementary #1, Park #2, leads to new center #3
29. Cary Elementary

1. Speed of implementation
2. Economic ease
3. Economic revenue gains post implementation

2. Are there concepts, recommendations, suggestions that you had hoped to hear this evening and did not?

1. Embrace existing neighborhoods—how do they enter into the “vision”?
2. Has Cary considered a Downtown Development Organization to cultivate and promote the downtown?
3. I strongly recommend a museum for the cultural arts.  A miniature dollhouse museum would certainly be a new art in the area
4. Get rid of undesirable businesses/structures—pure gold, buildings/homes not kept up
5. Make downtown more “walking friendly”
6. More nightlife
7. Cultural Preservation—how is Cary’s diverse population to be preserved?
8. Let’s not piss off the current residents of locations to be “taken over”—we’ve already done enough damage
9. Don’t lose the recognition and function of Page-Walker as an Arts and History Center
10. Getting rid of the negatives: Auto Repairs, Pure Gold
11. Consider space similar to arts space (working studios), Raleigh, in area possibly with Fire Administration Building
12. Everything was right on target
13. I’d want bike tracks dotting the target area—ease parking demand and to encourage a town feel; sidewalks, bike paths would also further this
14. Recommendations from downtown businesses?
15. Would like lobby of Old Elementary to be open enough to show visual arts exhibitions to tie in that visual arts is upstairs and to share with the performing arts crowd

3. Two distinct locations for a new arts center were proposed.  Which location do you prefer and why?

1. Set back off Academy giving altered traffic pattern to ease congestion on Walnut & Academy during Performing Arts Center use
2. Keep it together by Cary Elementary Building—prefer energy starting on one end
3. Option 1—could be used by school, i.e. museum is a magnet in Raleigh
4. Option 1—doesn’t make sense to separate with railroad tracks
5. Option 1—in the park next to Cary Elementary School
6. Option 1—don’t dispense the energy
7. Option 1—south end
8. Near Cary Elementary—16

1. synergy, efficiency
2. better buffer and more convenient to “work space”
3. Arts District can grow from this node
4. I feel the synergy would benefit both
5. Incorporate building to site and surrounding area
6. Within walking distance
7. Existing parking
8. Hopefully the architect will do a better job than the “new” Town Campus site
9. Site parking deck to share with Cary Elementary Arts Facility
10. Now near elementary school, but if it takes 10 years to get done, the second location may be more appropriate by then.

9. Next to Cary Elementary—5
10. The Cary Elementary School option because of structural, sound, and environmental stance
11. South Academy area
12. Locate parking deck for large performing arts center on Walker at the current Westbrook Property—that area is low, allowing a natural added level and has become a low income area in need of cleaning up (x5)

1. Keep Walnut Street open for complimentary community
2. Locate Performing Arts Center set back from Academy—giving it more room and making it more accessible to Walker Street parking
3. Run pedestrian promenade through Walnut and Performing Arts up to Kildaire
4. Reducing then the open space of the park, providing a more defined, efficient, quaint area
5. Purchase corner of Walker & Walnut and relocate Waldo Rood House as your corner gateway welcoming center, as you have reduced now the open space of the park

13. As a bookend option, the rest will fill in on its own
14. Locating the new Performing Arts Center across from Cary Elementary School, especially if the Cary Elementary School is to be used for scene construction and costume development
15. Initially leaning towards the “polar points” idea, to leverage existing parking on this end and art school.  Also, don’t imagine that the walk would be an issue; people probably wouldn’t traverse from one to the other site in a given outing.
3. The concept of a Town Center Park/Structure Park was presented as a recommendation for Cary’s downtown park site.  Do you think this is a desirable type of green space to have in our Town?  If not, how would you prefer the parkland to be used?

1. Only if the sculpture has true character and beauty—not if it is all contemporary and abstract
2. Like the idea personally, but fear that it will not be a venue that continues to draw a “regular” crowd to the downtown area
3. More broad usage for everybody not only sculptures
4. Devote some of the wonderful space in this park to kid’s play space/playground. When commuter rail comes to town, young families will return to the Town Center.
5. Yes—24

1. We need a cool open space near high density downtown
2. Make it very distinctive and architecturally significant with lots of room to sit and enjoy or walk/run
3. Encourage businesses to open on to the “green”
4. Uses should be diverse
5. This is not New York, so don’t buy funky expensive stuff that no one likes
6. Similar to Raleigh’s Fletcher Park activities
7. An adjacent dos park would be a nice feature
8. Especially with the art center concept
9. Include outdoor stage and water
10. Precedent—Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MN
11. Cost effective
12. Perfect use for it

5. Are there any additional comments…?

1. Work at acquiring Walker Street apartments for parking deck and corner of Walnut & Walker for relocation of Waldo Rood House
2. Embrace the history and respect the idea of how Cary has developed
3. Waldo Rood House relocated to corner of Walker and Walnut
4. Excellent presentation!  Bringing in new art forms will certainly enhance the cultural scene
5. Make sure the structures are “gorgeous”—parking decks, sidewalks, etc.  They can be art in themselves and really add to the whole experience.
6. Please do a better job in identifying an architect for the different arts, facilities.  Make these facilities an art statement.
7. How to fund projects?  Times, financially, are not good—bond issue would not work
8. This is all good, but for this to work there has to be more business establishments in the area.
9. Consider expansion of Jordan Hall
10. Parking—must plan quickly
11. SRLOPS/ Selling Space for Artist/Restaurants or Eating establishments—all on Park Street for park visitors
12. What legacy is being created in this endeavor?
13. Park Street be place for artist shop/marketing /restaurants and special foods
14. Park deck on Walker
15. Make sure area on Walnut doesn’t get to be N.Y. City
16. Excellent job
17. Like the Arts Incubator of local group office space idea for the “fire office building”
18. Don’t disrupt affordable housing units along Walker Street
19. All intersections need walk signals
20. Although most people will drive, many of us walk into downtown or will walk through downtown once there—please consider walk-ability issues, particularly around Cary Elementary which has some hazardous crossing areas (due to fast traffic)
21. Let’s stop talking about this and start building something.  Start with renovating Cary Elementary and show the community that something is actually happening.  Hopefully some commercial development will follow as well as some high end housing downtown.  More people downtown means more business, more tax revenues, and more funding for the arts.
22. Presuming that the commuter rail is implemented:

• much of the focus of the presentation  is on arts/culture nodes to attract external users
• this focus misses the tremendous potential for pedestrian based local traffic, i.e. people who actually might live downtown
• rather than siting the Arts Center parking deck at the edge of the district and focusing inward on facilities , provide connection with existing and expecting residential areas