Dulcinea

Waterside=new Main Library

I was also at the meeting on Friday night, and attended today's charette as well. Vdogg's assessment is pretty solid. When the folks in attendence broke into sub-groups, about half the people went home. Those who remained could go to different tables that focused on housing, retail, transportation, historical preservation, water management (flooding), and parks/recreation. Almost everyone who stayed were seated in the area of the housing table. There was a lot of frustration amongst the Tidewater Gardens residents about not being able to receive a yes/no answer in terms of whether there would be an equivalent number of public housing units available in the redeveloped quadrant, as there are currently (618 units). I went out for a cigarette when they left, and talked to a couple of women, who said that the meeting facilitators were saying pretty much the same thing as last year - and that they'd rather just have a straight-up idea of whether they're going to have a place to live or not, instead of being presented with nice-sounding words. Today's info: Overall, it sounded like the goal is to have a total of 2,000 mixed income units within a variety of structures; retail ground floor with 3-5 floors of apartments, townhouses/rowhouses, and mid-level apartment buildings. There was very little talk of having a Broad Creek-type housing situation, as almost all Norfolk residents (maybe 30-40) that attended on Saturday were in favor of higher density urban housing.

Agreed. Though I do appreciate what has been done with Broad Creek and around Attucks Theater, I don't want to see something like that duplicated in St. Paul's. It needs to have a dense, urban feel on a pedestrian scale, and the land cannot be wasted here, as it will need to serve the expansion of downtown for decades to come. Hoping for 3-4 story adjacent brick buildings up against a wide sidewalk dotted with large trees (someday), with retail on the first floor, apartments above, & parking in the back and on-street. Occassional office or hotel tower, and parking ramp. And of course a park or two. ...oh, and mebbe a library.

UPDATE: St. Paul's Quadrant workshop to be held! When: Friday October 5, from 6-8:30pm and Saturday October 6, from 9:30am-3pm. Where: Ruffner Academy Cafeteria; 610 May St. Also: Lunch will be provided on Saturday. Here are the details that I received in an emailed PDF...can't figure out how to set up a workable link (thanks anyway, Vdogg), but here is the content from the PDF. No cool charts or renderings to be missed, as there were none. I hope to help contribute to the future of Norfolk by going to this, or at least learn as much as I can from those I will meet at the event. I am going to be there for at least the Saturday session; maybe Friday as well, if I can swing it with my job.

I wish Taubman Co. would put a park/ampitheater on the roof of the MacArthur Center. Accessible via foodcourt staircase/existing elevator, keeping it open as late as the movie theaters. edit: apologies for the topic change.

For the library's temp location, that is a different Union Mission building (storehouse) on the corner of St. Paul's Blvd and E Bute, across Wood St. from the newer looking fire station.

Ah...that's better. Thanks, urbanvb!

I love the pittsburgh shots.

Russ - the forum won't allow me to send an IM. . .maybe I don't have enough posts? Not sure. If you message me first, it may allow me to send a reply. EDIT: Nevermind. I'll send it.

I have now taken the first step in becoming involved in the planning process after having spoken with an Information Management Supervisor at City Hall today. Am now on the email contact list, hopefully, so I'll be alerted to future meetings that are open to the public. I also learned that the temporary replacement site of the main library will probably be in the Union Mission storage building on St. Paul's Blvd, between E Bute St and Wood St, and across from the new-ish fire station. PS - Thank you for the encouragement.

Chesapeake Pirate is right about making an effort to get involved in the planning process, though it would be nice if city officials visited this site. I believe that growth north of Brambleton will naturally occur once the Granby Tower is up. To me, aside from a lack of parking, the Greyhound location is not big enough to 'do it right' in terms of building a new library - especially if you want to throw in a few seemingly normal urban perks - like a shady plaza dropped back from the street, or a fountain, or even a little green space. Something to be proud of when your friends come to town for a visit. Plus, having a main entrance/book dropoff area on a side street which connects to a main artery like St. Pauls Blvd would be safer and more attractive to pedestrians/new urban mixed use residents on that side of the street.

Since the main library will almost certainly be meeting the wrecking ball when the light rail comes through, it might be an option to place a civic building (new library) on the west end of St. Pauls Quadrant to initiate the expansion of downtown into this area.

I decided to visit the Sargeant Room at Kirn Library today after looking through this thread; the gentleman working there was very accomodating and pulled out a few folders with old photos of downtown Granby Street and aerial views of downtown. It was very insightful (both depressing and inspirational), and I don't think I'll ever look at DT Norfolk the same way again. Definitely plan on going back for more - if you park in the MacArthur ramp and bring the ticket into the library, you can park for free up to 3 hrs. (If anybody wants an image from there to replicate/frame, it costs 3 dollars per scan at high resolution and then another 3 to burn it onto a cd. Just upload to shutterfly.com...8 dollars for an 11x14)