Man, I was just biking through the greenway that goes to the art museum and the gate on Meredith's campus was locked 20 freaking minutes before sunset. I asked the security guard there about it and he said it was past sunset, even though the sun was still up. So he showed me a chart produced by the college that listed the times of sunrise and sunset each evening. I mean if you want to close it 20 minutes before sunset, fine, but at least post that on the signs.

And this was just a week after the idiots at lake Johnson closed off 1.5 miles of greenway because of flooding. The flooding by the way, only impacted the bridge across the dam. So logically, they blocked the trail right next to the bridge on one side, but they blocked it a mile and a half from the bridge on the other side. Freaking geniuses.

6/29/2006 8:32:04 PM

get a car you fucking hippie

6/29/2006 8:32:45 PM

yeah that lake johnson thing sucked when i was running

6/29/2006 8:33:16 PM

^ You can just go around all the barriers as long as you don't mind detouring around the bridge on Lake Dam Rd. But I would NEVER do that, that would be TRESPASSING.\SARCASM

6/29/2006 8:37:05 PM

forget arguing for anything with meredith, they're private, and thus don't have to post anything if they don't want to... i'm not sayin it wouldn't have been nice of them to have put up some signs... but.. yea

6/29/2006 8:55:46 PM

Quote :

"get a car you fucking hippie"

lol!

6/29/2006 9:01:22 PM

^I'm all for Meredith's security being super-paranoid. I don't blame them one bit. But this is a public trail built and maintained by Raleigh Parks & Rec. If Meredith wants to close it at weird times, I guess its their perogative, but they should be responsible with posting hours for greenway use.

6/29/2006 9:01:51 PM

I think it was stupid to run a public trail through meredith anyway.

[Edited on June 29, 2006 at 9:07 PM. Reason : And it was sure as hell stupid to build that bridge over 440(over the longest possible distance!).]

6/29/2006 9:06:24 PM

^agreed on both counts.

6/29/2006 9:21:07 PM

its a public trail built on land donated on private property. so that means they can do what they want cuz they don't want to get in trouble if their women get raped.

6/29/2006 10:30:38 PM

so no tax dollars were used to build it?

6/29/2006 10:36:28 PM

Quote :

"Residents eye forbidden gate Users of a greenway that snakes through Meredith College are seeking easier access Josh Shaffer, Staff Writer From her front door, Maria Childrey can almost see the Reedy Creek greenway, West Raleigh's play place for walkers, joggers and bikes. But using it is trickier. She has to pack up kids, cars, bikes, strollers, drive a mile, park and then do it all in reverse -- not the easiest of outdoor excursions. The trouble: Meredith College sits in between the trail and Childrey's neighborhood off Ridge Road, and it doesn't want people walking to the trail through its back gate. So more than 500 people in the Childrey's neighborhood have signed a petition hoping for easier access. They have posted messages on telephone poles and strung a banner on a backyard fence, asking people to help "Get to the Greenway!" "It would be nice to have it meander through the neighborhood," said Childrey's husband, Tom. "All hours of the day, people walk up and down Ridge Road." "A lot of people work at N.C. State and ride their bikes," Childrey added. When it opened in April, the greenway was celebrated for linking up neighborhoods and making the city friendlier to bikers and joggers. It cost about $3.8 million, much of it federal money, but also with about $600,000 from Raleigh. The idea was to join Hillsborough Street with the N.C. Museum of Art across a triple-span pedestrian bridge, which gave the city a distinctive piece of architecture along with a car-free route. But the trail passes through Meredith College with its entrance along Hillsborough Street and at the I-440 bridge. The greenway also tunnels under Wade Avenue before it hits the pedestrian bridge. But the Ridge Road neighbors would have to travel about a mile to hop on the trail at Hillsborough Street or at the art museum. A gate at Wade Avenue stands a few blocks away and would let them join the trail in the middle, just before the tunnel. But the college has posted this sign: No Trespassing, Private Property, No Access to Greenway. For Stephen Neal, that means a tougher trip over the bridge to the art garden outside the museum, a favorite spot. "We always struggle to find things for people from out of town," he said. "There's not a lot of gee-whiz stuff in Raleigh, but that's something they've always enjoyed." The Wade Avenue gate was never meant to be public, said Kristi McLennan, Meredith spokeswoman. Rather, it is for students and employees who ride the bus to work. The college, a private school, has discouraged people from meandering off the greenway trail, sometimes sending campus security to chase them in golf carts. McLennan said the Wade Avenue gate is kept off limits for the sake of campus safety. She said there have been no incidents related to the greenway, which she said is the result of the policies. No solution is coming quickly, said Vic Lebsock, Raleigh's greenway planner. "Any way you get to the trail would have to go across Meredith's property," he said, "which is private property just like your back yard." The trail's east end will eventually extend to Crabtree Valley trail along Horton Street, he said, but that is about two years off. In the long term, some residents suggest getting right-of-way along Wade Avenue so people will not even have to cross it. Another idea is building a smaller pedestrian bridge from the north side of Wade over the greenway so it could join it north of the college. Until then, those neighbors will have to travel a bit before you can get a good walk. "I've snuck through [the gate] a few times," Neal said. "But it doesn't give you a good feeling knowing that you might get nabbed.""

6/29/2006 10:43:21 PM

Quote :

"It cost about $3.8 million, much of it federal money, but also with about $600,000 from Raleigh. "

6/29/2006 10:46:58 PM

sorry i meant the part on that cuts through meredith was once their property

6/29/2006 11:05:11 PM

well all the girls at meredith are sluts anyway

so im failing to see why this cant be open

6/30/2006 12:05:46 AM

^words of truth...

6/30/2006 7:33:15 AM

they should take down the gate or refund the tax money used to build that part of the greenway

6/30/2006 7:49:49 AM