After several public town hall gatherings and committee meetings, students from the Raleigh community discussed their ideas on Dorothea Dix Park its massive redesign, which is slated to begin in 2019.
The community-led process to develop the park, which is in NC State’s backyard, began in June 2017 and has consisted of meetings with the Master Plan Executive Committee, Master Plan Advisory Committee, workgroups and public town hall meetings. The University Remix event, planned by the Caldwell Fellows, worked to get feedback from college students in the Raleigh area.
Connor Smith, a second-year studying business administration and Caldwell Fellow, helped plan the event.
“You may or may not know that Dorothea Dix is undergoing a pretty massive transformation that’s supposed to take upwards of 10 years for them to fully complete it,” Smith said. “They have no input from the college-aged demographic; it’s pretty much older, white homeowners that have given feedback on the proposed Master Plan for the park.”
Smith discussed how the park planning groups reached out to the Fellows and asked them to attempt to mobilize the demographic, because although the park has had many town hall meetings, they were not heavily attended by younger people.
“They are not going to be the ones using it by the time it’s all said and done,” Smith said. “Our generation, with our kids and us adults, go into this space to interact and engage with each other.”
Mike Scrudato, a second-year studying environmental engineering and Caldwell Fellow, said that the idea of University Remix was to bring campus communities together, similar to the goal of the park.
“We wanted to create an environment that would really draw people,” Scrudato said. “It would be something that people would drive to and spend their Friday night doing.”
Dylan Vassily, a third-year studying civil engineering, attended the University Remix event and said that plans currently in place for the park were interesting.
“It amazes me all the different things that they’re trying to do,” Vassily said. “It’s mesmerizing to see all the different areas for each age group and for all the different people that they’re trying to include in this park.”
Scrudato talked about how the plans for the park were exciting to him because of the potential of the spaces to bring the community together.
“If you think about how a park can serve the needs of a community, and especially the surrounding communities,” Scrudato said. “Like how can this infrastructure project be used to empower the community members and empower the stakeholders who are paying for the project with tax money.”
According to Scrudato, the park planning members are currently working to make the park more accessible to the public by paying attention to transportation issues and making it reachable by bike paths and bus routes.
David Flowers, a second-year majoring in design studies and business administration who also attended the event, said that he predicts the revamp of the park will be a selling point for those interested in the university.
“I think it’s a huge sell for NC State,” Flowers said. “Having a park like this outside of your campus is incredible.”
Megan Armstrong, a second-year studying psychology and nutrition science, attended the University Remix event on Friday and said that she thinks the redesign of the park will invite people to think critically about the environment.
“I’m really big on the environment,” Armstrong said. “So, I really hope that it helps students get engaged with the environment and they’re able to see the beauty that the world has to offer even in a city like Raleigh.”
Students interested in learning more about the master plan can visit the Dorothea Dix Park website.
Attendees of Dorothea Dix Park: University Remix view future plans of the park at the Transfer Co. Food Hall on Friday, Nov. 16, 2018. Attendees gave their input to the Dorothea Dix Park planning committee, who hosted the event filled with music, food and live performances.
