RALEIGH -- On Tuesday, Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker is scheduled to sit down with Moses Carey, secretary of the state Department of Administration, to discuss issues related to a classic turf battle in the capital city.
They'll be talking about the future of Raleigh's Moore Square, one of five public spaces laid out in 1792 by surveyor William Christmas. As they ponder this four-acre scrap of downtown's dwindling public space, they'd do well to consider Raleigh's success in fulfilling that late 18th century visionary's goals for the city.
Christmas apparently paid great attention to William Penn's 1683 five-square plan for Philadelphia, because his scheme for Raleigh was remarkably similar. Today, however, the two are very different. With the exception of Centre Square, where Philadelphia's City Hall now stands, each of Penn's squares is open and intact for the enjoyment of all the people. In Raleigh, only two squares remain: Moore and Nash. Of the pair, Moore is more often used - by the homeless population, and for arts festivals and free concerts.
The state's record in making the five downtown squares that it owns accessible to the people can be described as uneven at best. Union Square and its 1840 Capitol building are certainly splendid spaces, and they're open regularly to the public. Burke Square, home to the Executive Mansion completed in 1891, is accessible to visitors only with two weeks' notice. And Caswell Square, where the state built the N.C. School for the Deaf and Blind in 1848, now houses a legacy of state offices.
In 2009 the city, charged by the state with managing Moore Square, initiated a bottom-up approach to its re-invention for use by all citizens. Officials talked to a number of constituencies, then opened up a national competition. The process was admirable: Usually, architectural competitions come first, with citizens consulted afterward.
A New York landscape architecture firm, Christopher Counts Studio, won out over 88 other submissions. To increase the square's use by all people, Counts proposed creating an urban destination, with activities-based outdoor spaces designed to entice citizens to seek out the park - and to stick around. Among the innovations is a tilted lawn covering 8,500 square feet. Its elevated area conceals public restrooms, with a food kiosk nearby.
Like its re-invented counterpart Bryant Park in New York - once tagged "Needle Park" for its unsavory activities - Moore Square in Raleigh now can become a new celebration of urban living. In busy six-acre Bryant Park today, as many as 4,000 people interact constantly in all kinds of activities - book signings, juggling classes, chess games, movie nights and fashion shows. Crime is basically nonexistent, kiosks serve sandwiches and soft drinks, and restrooms are designed to rival those of the Plaza and Regency hotels.
By contrast, the state of North Carolina has expressed concern that a re-invention of Moore Square will prevent it from building on the site in the future.
Citing General Statute 143-345.4, Secretary Carey frets about restrooms and food kiosks. Such structures, he wrote the mayor, are outside city authority as outlined in the statute and are not in the state's best interest. Carey suggests that other restroom options exist on city-owned property, as well as at nearby Marbles Kids Museum and Moore Square Transit Center.
The State Historic Preservation Commission has chimed in, too, arguing that an information/food service kiosk with restrooms would adversely affect the historic square. It prefers a temporary structure without footings and fixed utility services, or the location of such an amenity off the square
Because the statute does not specifically prohibit structures on the property, city Parks and Recreation officials believe the renovation should move forward. And on March 17, the all-volunteer Parks, Recreation and Greenways Advisory Board voted unanimously in its favor.
If the issue were not so serious in terms of which political body controls the future of this public square, the situation would be laughable. What political entity, after all, could reasonably deny a child and its mother access to a soft drink and a clean restroom - on land owned by the people and held in stewardship by their government? Moreover, how could a tiny food kiosk possibly prevent the state, if it so chooses, from building another monolithic Archdale Building in the future?
When the mayor and the secretary sit down, they'll examine whether the state wants to work with the city to change the statute regarding buildings on Moore Square, or whether it would prefer to leave 143-345.4 as is.
Whatever that meeting's outcome, the Raleigh City Council is likely to vote on the project shortly thereafter. And one way or another, city and state will send a signal to the people of North Carolina about who the true owners of Moore Square are.
