eddard

This sounds great. IMHO, a lot of the restaurants downtown could improve their business by expanding their hours. I live in West Salem and work north of town near the Stanleyville area. I get off work at 5:30 so I never get a chance to visit these places during the week. We have tried to go to Bon Appetit more than once on the weekend to find them closed.

Ahhh....I see. I wasn't doubting you. I just thought there might be a vote results page I was overlooking. I voted for the Gateway as well. Seems like the best place for it.

How do you know this?

From the W-S Journal: Downtown could be at turnaround point Civic group points to revitalization projects By Richard Craver JOURNAL REPORTER Thursday, February 17, 2005 Downtown Winston-Salem still has many revitalization projects to accomplish, but local officials said yesterday that the community might come to see 2004 and 2005 as pivotal years for its turnaround. More than 200 people attended the Downtown Winston-Salem Partnership's annual meeting at the Adam's Mark Winston Plaza Hotel. Partnership officials said that downtown is showing more signs of vitality. Among the 2004 accomplishments they pointed to were the renovation of the Winston Towers; expansion within Piedmont Triad Research Park; seven residential developments completed, under construction or announced; and increases in attendance at music festivals and the Films on Fourth series. Steve Snelgrove, the chairman of the partnership, said that it's becoming clearer that a strong downtown is important to the entire community. "You get it that this is significant to our quality of life, but also those of future generations," Snelgrove said. Snelgrove said that the partnership has a "full plate of work to do" in 2005, including assessing its own activities. The partnership also plans to focus on such issues as downtown safety, proposed repairs to Business 40, finding a new use for the old Forsyth County courthouse and enhancing marketing efforts. "We may say that these were the years that Winston-Salem began to look forward to what we can be instead of looking back at what we were," Mayor Allen Joines said. Valecia Crisafulli, a revitalization consultant for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, was the keynote speaker at the meeting. She said that the revitalization efforts are making downtown more attractive to young people and retiring baby boomers. Many downtowns, she said, are appealing to creative young professionals with condominiums or lofts, restaurants and nightlife. But Crisafulli said that baby boomers are pursuing the same amenities and in many instances have more disposable income. They also have a greater interest in being closer to their children or grandchildren than previous generations. "This generation is retiring differently, such as retiring in stages," Crisafulli said. "Now that their children are out of the house, they are opening small businesses that they always wanted to have. Downtowns need to tap into that interest. "They want walkable downtowns, eclectic food and entertainment choices, same as the creative class." Crisafulli encouraged residential developers to provide housing for "all price points" because that is a big key to a diversified downtown. The partnership recognized five groups and individuals for their contributions to downtown revitalization. They are Downtown Thai and Sweet Potatoes restaurants, Speakeasy Jazz nightclub, Time Warner Cable and Dale Pollock, the dean of the school of filmmaking at North Carolina School of the Arts.

This was in today's Winston Salem Journal: Plans for Dix land in Raleigh remain uncertain Building new hospital, deciding use for old campus take extra time THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Wednesday, February 16, 2005 RALEIGH Building a replacement for Dorothea Dix Hospital and figuring out what to do with the old campus in downtown Raleigh when it shuts down are taking longer than expected. Two construction companies that bid on building the new state psychiatric hospital in Butner say that the work will cost more than the $110 million the state has to spend. That will push back work on the project a month or more, until at least April. The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services is negotiating with the lower bidder, R.N. Rouse & Co. of Goldsboro, to see if the company can reduce its offer of $113.6 million, said Terry Hatcher, the department's director of property and construction. Construction is expected to take a little more than two years. The Raleigh City Council was expected to decide yesterday whether to spend an additional $30,000 so a Charlotte land-planning firm can start on a redevelopment plan for the 315-acre Dix campus. The city and the state agreed last year to spend $100,000 each to look into possible uses for the Dix campus. The land is considered prime real estate by some and envisioned as a public park by others. The state, which owns the campus, chose LandDesign of Charlotte to complete the plan by April 1. City officials want the Dix plan to dovetail with the city's efforts to plan development throughout southwest Raleigh, said Planning Director George Chapman. The city spent several weeks working with LandDesign to expand the scope of the study, which accounts for the additional $30,000 cost. The company probably won't hold the first public meeting to talk about Dix until next month and will probably put off the completed plan until summer. Dix and another state psychiatric hospital, John Umstead Hospital in Butner, are scheduled to close in 2007, when the new, 430-bed hospital is complete.