Members of the Hillsborough Street Partnership will meet Wednesday to discuss plans for the street and future events, according to Alan Lovette, owner of Melvin’s Hamburgers and one of the founders of the Haunted Hillsborough Hike.
Lovette has a petition encouraging the City of Raleigh to allow more events on Hillsborough Street similar to the hike.
“I’m hoping that they agree to go along with it, because when the city was presenting the plan for the business improvement district, one city official said this would be a gathering place for N.C. State,” he said.
The hike on Halloween went smoothly, Lovette said, and city officials were more at ease with the event than they were in the planning stages.
The University added new restrictions around the Haunted Hillsborough Hike this year, allowing only those with valid University IDs a chance to park in most campus parking lots.
Mitch Hazouri, owner of Mitch’s Tavern, had said the restrictions were unnecessary, and that most of the patrons of the street did not park on campus anyway.
Even with close to 8,000 people on the street, Lovette said the event proved others could also be a success.
“Obviously it would mean more traffic on the street and more money for the businesses, which will be needed whenever the street improvement is underway,” he said.
Other events for Hillsborough Street would include other hikes, as well as the new Hillsborough Street Renaissance, which focuses on new energy and Engineering programs.
The Renaissance will feature live music and green arts, and its organizers said it could bring culture and life back to a street that has struggled in recent years.
The Raleigh City Council approved for Hillsborough Street to be closed for the Renaissance, which will likely take place in March 2009, last month.
To aid neighborhoods surrounding Hillsborough Street, about 80 students took part in a clean-up effort this weekend to pick up trash.
Student Body President Jay Dawkins said people in those neighborhoods were pleasantly surprised, and students should support added events on Hillsborough Street.
“We’ll do anything we can to support involvement with Hillsborough Street and improve that area for students,” Dawkins, a junior in engineering, said.
Lovette also said he would push for additional changes on Hillsborough Street.
It would promote more business and traffic on the street for there to be a system where students could use their BoardBucks in Hillsborough Street restaurants, he said.
According to Lovette, adding buffers to the street to keep “beggars” away would promote business as well, as he said they have become a problem for patrons.
