I agree. I have observed that this has been a particular problem for the Wilmoore Cafe, that must regularly chase people from sitting at their outside tables and standing in the covered entranceway.

Thanks for reporting; we are referring these issues to the Downtown Districtl to address. We will update the issue in SCF when they report back.

I couldn't agree more. The convenience store on Wilmington, at the transit exit, is horrendous, as well. There are always people loitering and drinking out in front of it, yelling and causing disturbances. It really is a scary place to walk by as a pedestrian. Same for the exits on Hargett and Blount. These honest, local business owners, such as Wilmoore, deserve some respect and thanks from the City in the form of some protection and enforcement. People do go up on Wilmoore's patio all the time who are not customers. It's not right. If you aren't in this area to wait on a bus, it's time to get moving. It's not designed to be a hangout. Maybe gates at the streets are needed where only customers who have paid are allowed through and into the central area, like with most subways.

Moore Square has more chicken bones strewn about than anything else, in fact, it possibly has the highest concentration of Chicken Bones in the county.

That is why it should be renamed Chicken Bone Park.

Signs should be posted that people should not walk their dogs through Chicken Bone Park or run the risk of a $700 bill from the emergency vet.

We definitely understand the frustrations voiced by the community members and surrounding business owners in this particular area. The Downtown District Officers continue to enforce numerous quality of life issues in the area of the Transit Mall and these same enforcement directives are constantly extended into the Moore Square Park. As our city continues to gain national accolades and recognitions, our transient population will continue to broaden.

With that being said, we do have to be particularly cautious in our policing methods in this particular area because of the public bus stop that is located within the 200 block of S. Wilmington Street. As a result of these particular legal concerns, we continue to partner with the management teams from the City of Raleigh Transportation Operations Division, along with various other city departments. We are in the process of implementing the following short term initiatives to address the certain community concerns seen in the area of the Transit Mall:

· Increasing street/wall lighting in the tunnel between the Transit Mall and the 200 block of S. Wilmington Street.
· Currently working on developing some new nontraditional techniques that will emulate and hopefully change behavior methods that are directly related to the practice of loitering.
· Continue to develop and institute community-based policing methods that will focus on service providers that care for the special needs of our transient population.
· In mid-August, we will be asking the Transit Authority to move the R-Line to the evening route. If this proposal is approved, only TTA buses should be stopping along the 200 block of S. Wilmington Street and this will limit the amount of pedestrians seen lingering in this area.
· Within the next two weeks, our intentions are to begin a off-duty police project to augment police enforcement efforts in this area and enhance police visibility.

Capt. Craghead and the Downtown Police District officers believe these planned programs are moving us in the right direction, and we will continue to work with various city, state, and federal organizations to continue to make progress here. Please do not hesitate to contact him at the Downtown Police District office 919-996-3855.

Moving the R-Line route to the evening route during the day will create a longer daytime route (wait times) for downtown passengers and take away a convenient stop for customers of Wilmoore Square and other businesses along this block of Wilmington Street.

If it's necessary to separate the CAT and R-Line stop locations, then an option that would not have such negative consequences on R-Line passengers would be to move the R15 stop (north) to the corner of Davie Street, and eliminate the R-16 stop.

I have passed your comment on to the Transit Administrator....

Please pass this on to the Transit Administrator too:

The R-Line stop was there before the Wilmoore Cafe and Convenience Store moved in, they should've known. Also, the R-Line comes by every 12 minutes, if people are waiting around any longer time (and not waiting for TTA) they could be asked to leave.

The longer R-Line route without direct access to Moore Square will make transferring between buses harder. If you must change it I suggest taking Hargett to Blount to Martin instead. This would eliminate the left turns that slow down the route, and would allow a stop to be added that's connected to Moore Square either on Hargett or Blount or Martin.

Please don't penalize the many legitimate R-Line riders for a few annoying loiterers.

Thank you!

The Raleigh Transit Authority approved the move of R-Line Stop 16 from its current location to South of Martin Street and amended the R-Line route to serve the PM schedule all day. These changes are conditional and will occur if the Raleigh City Council adopts the parking schedule changes proposed on Hargett Street near the mid-block crosswalk. The transit office realizes that this change is not optimal; however, due to the pedestrian and traffic congestion at the mid-block crosswalk on Hargett Street changes are needed to promote safety and efficiency.

The change is on Wilmington Street not Hargett. My apologies for the confusion.

Please explain how amending the R-Line route to the serve the PM schedule all day helps this particular pedestrian traffic / safety concern on Wilmington Street. Why not just move the stop and be done with it? Adding 3 more stops to the daytime route will unnecessarily create longer wait times for daytime passengers. Is there some other reason why the Raleigh Transit Authority wants to change the route?

The Wilmington stop is popular because of its interface with both TTA routes and the Moore Square transit hub. Because of the narrow sidewalk and congestion on Wilmington Street, particularly with TTA's routes, which stop there, and because of the frequency of service of the R-Line, simply moving the stop just moves the problem on that street, and because access to Moore Square Station is still important for riders, it was felt by the Authority that the best way to provide convenient access via R-line and still keep the stop close to Moore Square without it being on Wilmington in this block was to allow the R-line to simply bypass this area, continue to provide convenient stops close to Moore Square and provide better service around Moore Square at the same time. Please contact David Eatman, Transit Administrator for more detail on the status of this change (david.eatman@raleighnc.gov)

Ms. Canter: I'm Brian Shrader, with WRAL-TV. I'd like to do a story about this issue. Will you please e-mail me at bshrader-at-wral.com? Thanks!