Triangle Modernist Homes Announces Late Summer Tour
Triangle Modernist Homes has just announced its newest tour. It will take place on Saturday, August 1, from 10am to 2pm. The event will feature a behind-the-scenes, guided tour of the new Durham Performing Arts Center by its architect,
Phil Szostak
FAIA. The tour will proceed onward with a tour of his modernist house in Chapel Hill.
This is a very limited tour – only 30 tickets are available;
$12.95 each
.
Frank Harmon Named to “Top 50”
Architect Magazine’
s “Architect 50” rankings
for 2009 are out. Included at #26 is Raleigh’s
Frank Harmon Architect PA
. The only other North Carolinian firm is Charlotte’s
Little Diversified Architectural Consultants
at #43.
Video Features Triangle’s Modernist Houses
Enloe High School’s Eagle Productions has put together a quick video for Triangle Modernist Houses trying to capture just why the area is one of America’s homes for modernist architecture.
Phone Book Recycling Ends Friday
Special containers set up around the city for collecting used phone books will be retrieved on Friday. The special phone book containers are labeled with bright yellow banners. Please remove the books from any bags, and do not leave any on the ground. Here are the five locations:
- Brennan Station Shopping Center, 3005 Brennan Drive , behind the shopping center at the intersection of Creedmoor and Strickland roads;
- City of Raleigh Yard Waste Center, 900 N. New Hope Road . This site is only open Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. until 4 p.m.;
- Jaycee Park, 2405 Wade Avenue ;
- North Boulevard Plaza at Mini City in the 4500 block of Capital Boulevard , adjacent to the Food Lion; and,
- City of Raleigh Solid Waste Services Administrative Office, 400 W. Peace St . Open Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. only.
May Modernist House Tour Tix On Sale
The recent April tour of six local modernist houses was an enormous success. In response Triangle Modernist Houses is sponsoring
another tour on May 30
. Though this tour only features one house, it is a cool one. The Johnson House, which sits up on the hill overlooking the Lake Boone Trail/Beltline intersection, will be featured.
Designed by Jessica Johnson Moore and Chad Everhart, the 2007 era house, at 4,062 square feet, is actually on the market (for $950K, $233/ft!, an awesome deal). The house has three bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms and features Brazilian walnut floors, large windows, whole house entertainment with a theater room, a fantastic master bathroom, great schools (Lacy, Martin, Broughton), and an open design.
The tour will be May 30 from 1:00pm to 4:30pm. Advance tickets are available ($5.95), and likely required as these tours usually sell out way in advance. Tourists will meet at Lake Boone Shopping Center ( Chubby’s is going to be packed that day!) and ride shuttle buses. Tourists are reminded to wear shoes that can be easily removed.
Time To Fertilize and Seed Fescue
For those aiming for a healthy, drought-resistant, fescue lawn, now is the second-best time of the year to seed and fertilize. To get the best results, first measure your lawn.
Seeding
For new fescue seeds, you’ll want to place 6 pounds per 1,000 square feet of lawn. Be sure to test your soil pH. In this pine tree infested area, it is likely that soil is too acidic, so limestone will need to be applied to bring the pH up.
Fertilizing
Fertilize with 1 pound of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet . Nitrogen is the first number in the N-P-K fertilizer naming scheme. The most accurate way to determine the right fertilizer is to perform a soil test. That said, most likely you’ll want a fertilizer with a 3:1:2 or 4:1:2 ratio. If you are not seeding now, go ahead and get a fertilizer with pre-emergent weed control. Be sure to cross your lawn one way with fertilizer, then do a second pass perpendicular to the first to insure even coverage.
In order to calculate how many pounds of fertilizer to buy, divide 100 by the first number on the fertilizer bag, then multiply that by the number of thousands of feet of lawn.
Example #1: A lawn is 7,000 square feet in size. A 16-4-8 fertilizer is being used. Divide 100 by 16 to get 6.25 pounds per thousand. Multiply that by 7 for 44 pounds of fertilizer.
Example #2: A lawn is 5,000 square feet and 18-24-6 fertilizer is what the guy at the gardening center is pimping (this ratio is 3:4:1, way too much phosphorus and not enough potash for the amount of nitrogen). Since we’re in a bind, we go ahead and buy it. 100/18=5.56 lbs per 1,000 sq feet. The 5,000 square foot lawn needs 27.8 pounds of this fertilizer.
The three times to fertilize a lawn each year are during the first half of September, Thanksgiving, and Valentine’s Day. You do not want to fertilize a fescue lawn after March 15 . This promotes fast vegetative growth which renders the plant susceptible to disease and intolerant of late summer drought conditions. Some plant centers are advising this as well as fertilizers with non-optimal ratios for Piedmont N.C., so be careful.
February is also time to fertilize bulbs. Top dress early bulbs as soon as they come out of the ground. Use 2 pints per 100 square feet of 8-8-8 or 10-10-10 fertilizer.
Antiques Roadshow Coming to Convention Center
WRAL is reporting that the popular PBS Series, Antiques Roadshow , is coming to the Raleigh Convention Center on June 27. Tickets are free, but limited and required for entry. Each person attending is allowed to bring two items for a free appraisal. Tickets are available on January 25. See the AR website for more ticket info.
2008 Ends Exceptional Drought
The year 2008 was one of the wettest on record in the state of North Carolina. Many areas of the state entered the year with “Exceptional” drought conditions, the most severe category defined. Rainfall was so bountiful in 2008, though, that only a few western counties are currently experiencing one of the first two of the five drought categories.
Raleigh was one of the areas entering 2008 with an “exceptional” drought. Rainfall in 2008 totaled 50.7 inches; 8.5 inches (20%) over the area’s average. At the end of the year, Falls Lake, Raleigh’s primary water reservoir, stood at 252.15 feet above sea level; 8 inches above the lake’s “Normal Operating Level”. That level would be higher were it not for the Army Corps of Engineers mandatory spill to facilitate flood control. (The lake actually reached 253′ at the beginning of May).
Still, the City of Raleigh continues water restrictions in a time of abundance. Residents are relegated to odd/even watering days, however hand-held hose use, including vehicle washing and pressure washing are now allowed on all days (See the attached chart for details).
In the twelve years since Hurricane Fran, Raleigh has averaged 2.7 inches of rain above its normal average. In only 4 of the 12 years has Raleigh come up short with rainfall. Here is a breakdown of recent, post-Fran rainfall by year.
|
Raleigh 12-Year Rainfall
|
|||
| Year | Rainfall (in.) | Surplus (in.) | Surplus (%) |
| 1997 | 40.03 | – 2.17 | – 5% |
| 1998 | 49.71 | + 7.51 | + 18% |
| 1999 | 48.86 | + 6.66 | + 16% |
| 2000 | 43.05 | + 0.85 | + 2% |
| 2001 | 35.25 | – 6.95 | – 16% |
| 2002 | 47.15 | + 4.95 | + 12% |
| 2003 | 49.57 | + 7.37 | + 17% |
| 2004 | 47.05 | + 4.85 | + 11% |
| 2005 | 37.56 | -4 .64 | – 11% |
| 2006 | 53.69 | + 11.49 | + 27% |
| 2007 | 35.81 | – 6.39 | – 15% |
| 2008 | 50.70 | + 8.50 | + 20% |
| 12-yr Average | 44.87 | + 2.67 | + 6% |
The City of Raleigh is currently renovating and expanding the watershed used before Falls Lake’s construction. In February of 2010, the Dempsey Benton Water Treatment Plant will open and enable Raleigh to handle projected growth thru 2018.
Resources
Waste Collection Calendar and Recycling News
During these crazy mid-week holidays, it is easy to miss your garbage and recycling collection day. Here is the calendar for this week. Next week the city will resume its normal schedule.
| Monday | No scheduled collection. |
| Tuesday | Tuesday’s curbside cart routes |
| Wednesday | Wednesday’s curbside cart routes |
| Thursday | Holiday. No scheduled collection. |
| Friday | Friday’s curbside cart routes |
| Saturday | Thursday’s curbside cart routes |
In additional waste news, the City of Raleigh on January 1 will go to “single-stream” recycling. Recycling will no longer by sorted at the truck level. This means that collection trucks will move more quickly through their routes, and that resident no longer need to worry about placing like things together in their bins. The city will get paid 38% less for their collected materials, but plans of saving money by using fewer and less expensive trucks to handle the routes in less time.
Easy Disposal of Christmas Trees
Beginning this week Raleigh residents should place their discarded trees at the curb with regular yard waste on their scheduled collection day. Be sure to remove all bags, stands, lights, tinsel, ornaments, and other non-vegetative items from the tree before placing it at the curb no later than 7 a.m. on the collection day. Residents should not put trees at the curbside prior to their collection day. Artificial trees being discarded should be disassembled and placed in garbage carts.
All natural Christmas trees collected by the City’s Solid Waste Services Department, including those taken to the Yard Waste Center, are recycled into wood chips and mulch. These products are sold to the general public at the City’s Yard Waste Center, located at 900 N. New Hope Road, which can be reached at 250-2728.
Garbage, Recycling, and Leaf Collection Reminders and Tips
In each water bill the City of Raleigh inserts a good memo (.pdf) regarding curbside garbage and recycling pickup. While it’s easy to toss this info aside, some around Raleigh seem to be getting tripped up on a few items. The memo states:
- Garbage cans should be a few inches from the curb, not in the street. They should be at least 5 feet from mailboxes, utility poles, parked cars, or other obstructions. Finally, carts need to be retrieved before 7pm on the night of one’s collection day .
- The following items should be collected in green recycling bins, not garbage: metal food cans, glass food and beverage containers, aluminum beverage cans, newspapers and all inserts, plastic bottles, white paper (including opened junk mail), milk cartons, cereal boxes, aluminum foil, and some cardboard
- Unless you enjoy bees, roaches, and rodents, rinse glass, aluminum, and plastic containers before putting them in the recycling bin.
The City of Raleigh has begun its first round of seasonal leaf collections . The first round will end by Christmas Day, and the second pass will begin January 5
- Leaves (only, no limbs) should be raked to within 6-8 feet of the curb.
- Crews have passed the North Hills area, and seem to be moving clockwise around the city. The weekly-updated map (.pdf) shows what areas are next.
Ferris Idea Wheeled Through Council
The News & Observer’s David Bracken has a good story outlining a Raleigh resident’s idea for a Ferris wheel at Pullen Park. Bill Garrabrant is a wheel enthusiast, and has been lobbying the Raleigh City Council for years to add a wheel to the park. By selling naming rights the city could raise enough money to handle the $84K annual operating costs.
Sounds like a neat idea! The Santa Monica Pier wheel sold for $132K this year to a guy in Oklahoma City. Not a shabby pick-up. There are other wheels out there for sale , too. While we’re at it, the Cedar Point people are trying to sell off parts of the Geauga Lake park that they bought and destroyed. Maybe one of those or one of these used coasters would be a great addition.
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