Category: Moore Square (Page 2 of 5)

Downtown Community Health Event Tomorrow

Free Health Screenings

When:  Tuesday, November 13 from 8:00am-1:30pm
Where:  Marbles Kids Museum, 201 E. Hargett Street

You’re invited to a free community health event on Tuesday at Marbles. This event is open to the public and attendees can access free health screenings for cholesterol, blood glucose, and body mass index, as well as education materials about the importance of medication adherence, access to Kerr Drug pharmacists to review medications, and discussion sessions with diabetes educators and health coaches.

Script Your Future, a national medication adherence campaign, is teaming up with the North Carolina Alliance for Healthy Communities, Kerr Drug, NC MedAssist, and many others to provide this free community health event in downtown Raleigh. Drop in anytime between 8am and 1:30pm.

Couture for a Cause Fashion Show & Auction This Saturday

Couture for a Cause, a fashion show to benefit local nonprofit Activate Good, expects to draw a crowd for their fourth annual fundraiser.

When: this Saturday, November 10, Doors open at 7:30

Where:  Marbles Kids Museum.

Tickets: advance tickets are $25; at-the-door tickets are $30. VIP tickets will be available for $75.

Whether you’re a lover of fashion or philanthropy (or both!), this event is not to be missed! The fashion show pairs local designers with Activate Good’s nonprofit partners to create looks inspired by each cause’s mission. There will be 19 designers, creating a total of 38 pieces (one “ready-to-wear” and one “art-to-wear”) that represent 17 Triangle-area nonprofits.

In addition to admiring the work of these designers and the causes of the various nonprofits, there will be a live and silent auction, Hollywood-style red carpet entrance, VIP lounge with cuisine provided by Zinda, cash bar and hors d’oeuvre. As a new and exciting element this year, the audience will also be asked to vote for their favorite design, and their votes will be tied into designers’ scores. Jamie O’Brien of The CW22 will be emceeing and Gary Davis will be auctioneering.

As if it couldn’t get any better, this event’s proceeds go to Activate Good, a volunteer center that activates volunteers to help causes in Raleigh and the Triangle. Activate Good works with more than 100 nonprofits in the area to connect more than 2,000 volunteers (and growing) to causes they care about. Activate Good’s signature fundraiser reflects its unique mission as a nonprofit that serves other nonprofits.

For more information about Activate Good and how you can get involved, visit www.activategood.org. For more information about Couture for a Cause and to purchase tickets for the event, visit www.activategood.org/coutureforacause.

 

About Activate Good

Activate Good is a Volunteer Center based in Raleigh, NC. Activate Good activates volunteers to help causes in our local community. We connect individuals, groups, and companies to volunteer needs with nonprofits around Wake County and the Triangle.

 

Proposed extension to R-Line daytime route to increase passenger wait times

Public loitering in front of the Wilmoore Cafe and other businesses adjacent to the Moore Square transit mall have prompted the Raleigh Transit Authority to propose a change to the current R-Line route.

Click to enlarge

The proposed change will move the current R-Line stop #16 from its current location to south of Martin Street. Unfortunately, the daytime route will also be extended to include three additional stops (R17-19) – see map.

While transit riders have experienced the congestion around this R-Line transit stop for some time, it was this report through the SeeClickFix app that got the city’s attention.

 

People loitering in front of the businesses surrounding Moore square transit station has become a huge problem and is of great concern to customers and business owners. Panhandling, begging, profanity, open containers/alcohol consumption, public urination, littering, sleeping, etc. has made Wilmington Street an unpleasant place to be for everybody. Please help to solve these problems so downtown Raleigh can be enjoyable for everyone.

The city says that the proposed move is also being done to relieve traffic and pedestrian congestion at this location where both TTA and R-Line buses must stop directly in front of a mid-block crosswalk on Wilmington Street.

So why extend the R-Line route?

Moving the R-Line route to the evening schedule will add three more stops to the daytime route, resulting in additional wait times for passengers at all other 16 stops.

Upon our inquiry we received these comments from the city as to the reasons for the route extension:

  1. Promote convenient access to the R-Line (from Moore Square) without it being on Wilmington Street.
  2. Allow the R-Line to by-pass by this section of Wilmington Street.

The proposed changes have not yet been approved, as they are conditional upon the Raleigh City Council adopting parking changes being proposed on the section of Wilmington Street between Hargett and Martin Streets.

Want to weigh-in on this issue?  Go to the SeeClickFix Report link.

 

Faces of Downtown Raleigh: Zack, Brian and Josh of The Fine Print Co

Brian Besterman and Zack Hodgin

About a year ago, my husband Jim and I were making a loop from City Market to Wilmington and Hargett Streets. looking for underutilized properties that might serve as canvases for BEST (Beautifying Emerging Spaces Together).  Looking through dusty, barred windows at 333 S. Wilmington, we were surprised when a young man came to the door.  It was Zack Hodgin, then a Senior design student at NC State, who together with his friends, Brian Besterman and Josh Staab had rented this run down property to open a screen printing shop they called INKandescent.  We were immediately impressed with their vision, and equally so with their willingness to do the Herculean work of renovating the property themselves.

Flash ahead to today, when all three guys have graduated and are devoted full time to making their business a downtown success story.  Returning to their space, Jim and I immediately notice the hardwood floors salvaged from beneath chipping linoleum, and the clean lobby that once hosted assorted screen printing presses. These are some  creative, determined, hard working men, and we are curious to learn about how these special qualities shape their screen printing company.

Q: You’ve changed your name from INKandescent to The Fine Print Co.  How did that come about, and does the new name hold any hidden significance to you?

R: INKandescent was just too hard for people to spell!  So we gathered friends, used a white board to brainstorm a long list of possibilities and settled on The Fine Print Co.  Besides the obvious references to our commitment to fine (eco-friendly) printing techniques and the soft, wearable quality of our tee shirt fabrics, we like the idea of working with people in a way that saves them from having to worry about the fine print.  There are often a lot of hidden costs associated with creating custom designed tee shirts, but we make sure that everything is clear up front.  We have the lowest screen fees in Raleigh.

Q: I’ve never ordered a custom designed tee shirt.  What do I need to know about pricing?  How are your shirts unique from say, the typical sports team logo shirts sold at the mall?

R: There are many variables that affect the cost of each tee shirt.  Generally, we have a minimum order of 24 shirts for a single color design, and 36 for multiple colors.  If the tee shirt or item (tote bag, hat, etc.) is a dark color, we may need to apply more layers of ink to achieve a color that really pops.  (The cost of a single color design would run anywhere from $8 – $15 per shirt.)

In contrast to most screen printers who primarily use a Plastisol (PVC-based) ink that sits on the surface of the fabric, we use multiple processes including water based printing and discharge printing that blend right into the shirt.  We also use ring-spun cotton shirts rather than the typical comb-spun style.

(At this point, I need to see what they’re talking about to understand what they’re describing, so they bring out samples of both kinds of shirts.  A blind man could feel the difference immediately, besides the contrast in appearance.  The tees they’re producing move comfortably with the body with no stiffness at all.  They represent the difference between a hotdog-munching sports fan and a person who chooses to make a creative style statement with their clothes.)

Q. What if someone wants only one shirt?  Is that something you’d be willing to do?

R. We try to work with people to accommodate them as best we can.  Late yesterday afternoon, we were getting ready to close when a lady came in with a special request.  She wanted a shirt to wear to a funeral today, commemorating her aunt who had died of breast cancer.  For this, we created a vinyl-cut design which allowed us to quickly create a shirt for her.  We are pleased to be able to work with people, delivering what they want, when they want it, at a price that is surprisingly lower than much of what they might purchase in big box stores.  ($25 for this custom printed shirt done in a turn around of hours.)

Q. So why did you decide to establish your business downtown?

R. Truthfully, we were three students seeking a low rent property where we could save money by renovating it ourselves.  But since we’ve been here on Wilmington St., we see that it affects our business in important ways.  There’s an energized environment downtown, and neighbors support neighbors.  For instance, we’ve printed shirts for Feelgoodz, the flip flop store up the street.  Wilmington St. has become an edgy, style conscious area of downtown with Holly Aiken handbags (located next to Feelgoodz) and the new fashion incubator, REDii, across from the Downtown Raleigh Alliance office.

We also like being in a space where people walk in and we can take them back to our printing area and show them how we screen print their shirts.  We’d never be able to have this person-to-person interaction if we were based in a warehouse outside of town.

Q. What are the most unusual or favorite shirts you’ve ever designed?

R. That has to be the shirts we made for Cycle Logic on Hillsborough St.  The owner handed us the logo on a napkin and let us do anything we wanted.  We went crazy doing fades and splash patterns…  No two shirts were alike.  We were free to create, just seeing what the inks could do.

Q. This is my last question. What one thing would you want people to know about you and your business? What makes you stand out?

R. We’re the newest and youngest screen printers downtown!  Seriously though, we want people to know that we love design.  We’re formally trained, unlike many who design tee shirts.  We work with each person to let them know what is possible with the inks and choices available to them.  We take a genuine interest in what they want, and do our best to make it happen.

Doctors in the House?

We have lived downtown for six years, and continue to hear all about the new restaurants and bars opening up.  These amenities provide great entertainment for us and I love the energy and the enthusiasm, but I was more excited about hearing the news that we have new doctors downtown providing primary care. That’s right, we now have a primary care physician practice downtown—four doctors to be exact.  Having a critical service like this is an important addition for the residential base downtown. You can be sure  it didn’t take me long to walk down and sign up.  I have been a patient with Dr. Mary Forbes for six months now and it has been wonderful.  I think the best part for me is that I can walk down, stop at the bank, pick up my mail, go to my doctors appointment and grab a bite to eat, all with out driving a car…………Now that is walk-ability.

Meet the Downtown Docs on May 19th

Come meet the downtown docs on May 19th.   There will be an open house on May 19th at the City Center Medical Group located down from BuKu from 4-6PM.   The first 150 people get a FREE gift.  This will be a great event to meet all of the doctors, visit the facility and welcome them to the neighborhood.

The City Center Medical Group is located on the corner of Wilmington and Davie Streets, in the Progress Energy Building.  Learn more at www.wakemedphysicians.com/CityCenter.

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