City Council members are considering adding three staff members to oversee all road races, events and other street closures in Raleigh.
Currently, there are several steps to the street closure process. Lacie Lindstaedt, the director of communications for Downtown Raleigh Alliance, said her organization coordinates races in downtown Raleigh.
According to Lindstaedt, road race directors first have to clear proposed routes with the Raleigh Police Department. Then, DRA collects applications for races and reviews them before sending them to City Council for final approval.
Lindstaedt said she hopes the task force will help streamline the process and fix any communication confusion.
“We only coordinate races for downtown Raleigh,” Lindstaedt said. “There’s a separate group for Hillsborough Street and a separate group for other areas. This task force will oversee all of Raleigh, so there will be no more confusion about who someone is supposed to call.”
Jeff Murison, executive director of the Hillsborough Street Community Service Corporation, coordinates road races on Hillsborough Street. Murison said the process for road-race requests evolved during the last few years.
“We are part of the process,” Murison said. “If an event didn’t check in with us, then the police typically would not move forward without our involvement.”
Murison said there has been an increase of events in Raleigh during the past decade. The Krispy Kreme Challenge is of the more notable Hillsborough Street races.
“Hillsborough Street is a frequent and popular location for both road races and other kinds of street events,” Murison said. “There has definitely been an increase, but there has also been an increase of events that are more geared toward economic development. There’s a balance.”
Murison said he thinks there is an important leadership role for the city to coordinate, review, help communicate and complete post-event evaluations for each event.
Murison said that currently, HSCSC doesn’t the have time or resources to do this entire process. He said he appreciated that the proposed task force would have authority over other city agencies that HSCSC doesn’t have.
“My understanding is the city intends on keeping the Hillsborough Street Corporation intimately involved in the process so that we can play an active role in advising them on the pros and cons of any particular event,” Murison said.
Murison said events are a complicated topic. For example, there are different kinds of events. Some road races occur from downtown to way out in the suburbs, essentially using the street as a racecourse. Murison said these are quite disruptive and have little return on investment.
“Other races are more centralized and are more beneficial,” Murison said. “Then there are things like Packapalooza, which was fantastic because it brings tens of thousands of people to the street in a way that lets them interact with the merchants. So there’s not a one-size-fits-all answer to whether these events are positive or negative.”
Lindstaedt said that DRA was not directly involved in a push for the proposed positions, but the City Council did approach her organization for advice.
“We’ve been in our role for several years,” Lindstaedt said. “As more races come to Raleigh, we’ve seen several problems arise. The City Council had a long conversation with us when they were considering this task force.”
Murison said large events, including road races, are a huge part of Raleigh’s economy. The road races help Hillsborough Street develop as a distinct destination.
“It’s a balancing act of trying to attract the right events and to manage them well while communicating them well with the entire community,” Murison said. “To that end, the city’s involvement in that process, I think, would be extremely helpful.”
