{"id":41,"date":"2010-01-01T12:33:15","date_gmt":"2010-01-01T12:33:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/\/?p=41"},"modified":"2018-04-27T15:15:33","modified_gmt":"2018-04-27T19:15:33","slug":"the-dla-a-look-back-at-our-first-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/city-government\/the-dla-a-look-back-at-our-first-year","title":{"rendered":"The DLA &#8211; A Look Back At Our First Year"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span>It was this past March that a handful of Raleigh residents got together, joining their ideas and dreams to create the Downtown Living Advocates.&nbsp; Their vision sparked&nbsp; a connection with an increasing number of residents willing to embark on numerous fronts with both city officials and surrounding neighborhoods to help shape the growth and character of Downtown Raleigh.&nbsp; Just nine months later, the DLA reflects the shared interests of diverse residents, and has grown well past the initial brainstorming.&nbsp; For that, we thank you!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Using mixers to bring together the Downtown community<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span>The DLA social mixers were created early on to bring together the Downtown community for drinks after work, and to mix and mingle with friends.&nbsp; It also offered new residents the opportunity to meet others with similar interests, often living in other nearby condos.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Mixers have become a great resource for creating awareness for residents to learn more about the DLA and to create a forum for receiving feedback&nbsp; from those living Downtown. &nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span class=\"full-image-float-left ssNonEditable\"><span><img style=\"width: 250px;\" src=\"\/storage\/MixerPhoto.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1262351239782\" alt=\"\" \/><\/span><span class=\"thumbnail-caption\" style=\"width: 250px;\">Saf, Jim, Hilary and Ryan<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Mixers held this past year:<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Solas &#8211; April 22nd<br \/>101 Lounge\/Caf&eacute; &#8211; May 20th<br \/>18 Seaboard &#8211; July 29th<br \/>Tobacco Road &#8211; August 26th<br \/>Mosquito &#8211; September 16th<br \/>The Oxford &#8211; November 4th &nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The interaction and response from residents has been extremely favorable, and the DLA will continue to host mixers at new<em> <\/em>Downtown venues throughout the coming new year.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Expanding our resident conversation through the social media<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span><span>Social media tools were a great fit for the DLA, offering a way to reach even more residents by joining their conversation on <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/raleighdla\">Facebook<\/a><span> and <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/raleighdla\">Twitter<\/a><span>.&nbsp; The DLA page on Facebook was launched in early May, and has attracted over 300 fans.&nbsp; In June, the DLA began &ldquo;tweeting&rdquo; and now has over 200 followers. &nbsp;<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span><span class=\"full-image-block ssNonEditable\"><span><img style=\"width: 500px;\" src=\"\/storage\/Face_Twit_chart.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1262349975140\" alt=\"\" \/><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span>A few months later in August, the DLA launched this blog to share even more information about DLA activities and to deepen the conversation by offering a place for residents to both read and contribute information about their experiences of Downtown living.&nbsp; Use the links below to review our most popular blog posts over the past year:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/\/home\/2009\/12\/2\/my-first-friday-art-tour.html\">First Friday Tour<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/\/home\/2009\/10\/19\/high-end-dining-is-well-suited-for-raleighs-downtown-core-bu.html\">High-end Dining Struggling?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/\/home\/2009\/10\/10\/downtown-raleigh-has-40000-office-workers-so-why-arent-there.html\">Convenience Oriented Retail Businesses<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em><strong>Working With City Officials on long-term projects<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span>DLA members have developed an excellent working relationship with members of the the City Council and Planning Department, and consequently have become closely involved with the <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/\/home\/2009\/11\/27\/citys-rewriting-of-the-development-codes-a-perfect-fit-for-t.html\">New Development Code<\/a><span> and the <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/\/home\/2009\/10\/25\/full-speed-ahead-citing-broad-benefits-from-high-speed-rail.html\">High Speed Rail\/Train corridor<\/a><span>, two of the most important initiatives associated with the city&rsquo;s future Downtown growth. &nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>New initiatives for Twenty Te<\/strong><strong>n<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>The DLA started with a core group of 6 members, and now has 60 active members, allowing the DLA to continue working closely with city officials on the major projects, while pursuing a broader range of activities in the new year.&nbsp; Plans are already being formulated to build upon our relationship with CAC&rsquo;s and other surrounding neighborhood organizations, conduct an inventory (accessibility, cleanliness, safety) of Downtown pedestrian sidewalks, and to launch a committee focused on finding opportunities for the DLA to support Downtown community services. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span><span>If you live, work or play Downtown, come<\/span><span> <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/\/raleigh-dla-membership-form\/\">join us<\/a><span>. &nbsp;Get involved with your Downtown community, meet new friends, and have fun at the same time!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;\"><span><br \/><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<p><span>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It was this past March that a handful of Raleigh residents got together, joining their ideas and dreams to create the Downtown Living Advocates.&nbsp; Their vision sparked&nbsp; a connection with an increasing number of residents willing to embark on numerous fronts with both city officials and surrounding neighborhoods to help shape the growth and character of Downtown Raleigh.&nbsp; Just nine months later, the DLA reflects the shared interests of diverse residents, and has grown well past the initial brainstorming.&nbsp; For that, we thank you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2896,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41\/revisions\/2896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}