Home > News & Events > News > Her task: Make Hillsborough Street safe, clean and friendly

 

The remake of Hillsborough Street goes beyond bike lanes and brick sidewalks.

It also includes a lady in a red hat, red shirt and red sunglasses, tasked with instilling a friendly vibe.

As the new full-time ambassador for Raleigh’s college-town drag, Elizabeth Wilson juggles the roles of custodian, security guard and neighborhood liaison – sometimes all at once.

 

Her arrival marks the latest phase of an effort to reinvent Hillsborough Street as a modern destination for dining and entertainment.

To get an understanding of Wilson’s duties, you only need to spend a few minutes walking with her on a busy afternoon. She stops to pick up trash every few steps, a gum wrapper here or an empty box of cigarettes there. When Wilson spots a concert poster taped to a light pole, she whips out a paint scraper and starts peeling.

The rebranding seeks a spiffed-up identity for Hillsborough Street, once a gritty place known for beat-up sidewalks and a collection of bars, pizza joints and record shops that catered mostly to the college crowd.

At the urging of neighbors, the city embarked on a streetscape project intended to spur reinvestment in the area around N.C. State University. A two-year, $9.9 million makeover resulted in buried utility lines, wide red brick sidewalks, and, in a companion project, a roundabout on Hillsborough to make cars slow down.

Wilson’s role is to maintain a safe, clean and friendly atmosphere for visitors, says Jeff Murison, director of the Hillsborough Street Community Service Corp., a nonprofit business improvement district created in 2009.

The agency collects assessments from property owners for managing and promoting the area. Wilson works on a contract basis through a professional services firm.

“People have different expectations of what they’re looking for today,” said Murison. “They want a Disney experience. That’s what we’re striving to accomplish.”

Molly McLarty said she used to arrive at work on Monday mornings and find the sidewalk littered with beer cans left over from weekend partying. That’s changing as cleanup efforts take hold, said McLarty, manager of Sugar Magnolia, a fair-trade clothing store with items for $15 or less.

“We want to be an extension of the campus, not ‘Oh, there’s that side street where you can get some food,’” she said.

In downtown, a team of red-jacketed ambassadors performs similar functions. Hired through the Downtown Raleigh Alliance, the roving staffers direct visitors, discourage aggressive panhandlers and report problems to authorities.

On her third day of work, Wilson had a man arrested for panhandling after she found him drunk and belligerent on Maiden Lane near the university bell tower.

Normally, Wilson says she prefers a “soft approach” to deal with vagrants who come to the street, often to ask college kids for money. She tells them about the city’s panhandling rules and asks if she can offer any help.

Wilson figures she walks nine to 12 miles per day. She’s already scraped up two dead squirrels, one in the roadway and the other next to the street.

Asked what she finds appealing about a job that involves collecting trash and removing animal remains, Wilson said she enjoys the chance to interact with students and visitors. Before moving to Raleigh, she handled the same duties in an area of downtown Jacksonville enjoying a resurgence.

“When they (visitors and business owners) see somebody out there taking care of things, that’s kind of a contagious thing,” she said. “I’ve already had people come out and say, ‘You’re doing a great job.’ ”

More change coming

A number of initiatives are unfolding on Hillsborough Street:

On-street parking and bike lanes are expected to be added between Woodburn Avenue and Park Avenue, near the YMCA, through a road diet to encourage walking and cycling.

Crews have begun clearing land for a 249-unit apartment building and 32 town houses on Ashe Avenue and 10,000 square feet of restaurant, retail and office space along Morgan Street and Wakefield Street.

Valentine Commons, earlier known as the Stanhope Student Center, is expected to open in August as a 10-story apartment building for 900 students.

In the meantime, Wilson is settling into her new job making daily rounds on Hillsborough Street, swiping up litter and giving friendly waves to those she passes.