In the News

Lincoln Financial Employees Adopt Section of the Downtown Greenway

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Lincoln Financial employees adopted a section of the Downtown Greenway on Morehead Park, and came out this spring to maintain the section of the trail between Lee and Spring Garden Streets.  Volunteers picked up trash and pulled weeds in gardens and natural areas.  Thank you, Lincoln Financial, for your continued support of the Greenway and for keeping the trail clean and green! If your organization is interested in adopting a section of the 4-mile Greenway loop, please contact Dabney Sanders, Project Manager, at dsanders@actiongreensboro.org.

Bike to Work Week Challenge: Sunday, May 12 – Saturday, May 18

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To help promote Bike to Work Week and National Bike Month, the Trek Bicycle Store in Greensboro and The Sales Factory have issued a challenge to all Greensboro area businesses. Whose staff can log the most miles commuting to work by bicycle? Teams will be competing throughout the week in multiple categories.  The winning teams will be announced at the Bike Movie Night event at Geeksboro Coffeehouse Cinema on Thursday, May 22.  Details forthcoming! Bicycling in Greensboro Bike to Work Week Add this event to your Google calendar. Learn more at www.bikegso.com. Need some pointers?  Hit up at Matt Leighton, pictured in this photo by Alex Pegg Photography. (Check him out on Facebook, too.)  Matt is Team Manager at UNCG Cycling and bartender at Mellow Mushroom on Elm Street. Need to convince the boss?  Infographic round-up of the bottom-line bennies of biking to work on HuffingtonPost.com. Don't know what to wear?  Ivajean.com blogs about bike style, and sells skirts and shirts so you can traverse from the Greenway to the boardroom.  

Bri Simpson Talks About Community Support for the Greensboro Downtown Greenway

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My name is Bri Simpson, and I’m originally from Seattle, Washington, actually a little bit south of Seattle, in Tacoma.  I moved to North Carolina about 18 months ago, initially to Asheville for work with REI.  Just recently, about two months ago, I moved to Greensboro to take the manager position at the REI store here.  I did a lot of research on Greensboro when I applied for the job here.  I have seen greenways, but I’m really, really impressed with the greenways here.  I think that they have a great long-term plan, and they have groups and organizations in place to make that plan a reality—a reality in a pretty reasonable amount of time! I think when you get the community involved in a project like this, it’s not just one or two people that have to be really invested in it.  It seems that a lot of the community has been invested in the Greenway—with the art pieces and with the excitement around it.  And that’s probably one of the reasons why these greenways that they’re looking to connect and this master plan is going to become a reality.  Talk to anybody in the area, and they are familiar with the Greenway.  They know the Greenway, and they’re excited for it to be completed.  A lot of people are already using it prior to completion.  I think when you get the entire community involved in a project like this and local businesses, then it is going to be successful.  And you know it’s going to be successful because it’s not just one or two people with a big idea—it’s a lot of people who are in this idea.

The Comment Period Has Ended: However, you can still view the plans for Phase 2 & the Tradition Cornerstone!

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The comment period has ended; however you can still view the plans for the 50% design of Phase 2 and the Tradition Cornerstone. To review the 50% design plans for Phase 2, please click each document below: Phase 2 Plans-Exhibit 1 Phase 2 Plans-Exhibit 2 Rendering of Phase 2 To view the design of the Tradition Cornerstone by Harries & Héder, click here. If you have questions, please contact Dabney Sanders, Project Manager, at dsanders@actiongreensboro.org.  

Sustainable Signs: Tree Wells

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David Phlegar Stormwater Manager for the Divisions of Water Resources City of Greensboro No more gutters here!  Tree boxes, also known as tree wells, installed on the Downtown Greenway sidewalk near the Greenway at Fisher Park Apartments contain a special soil treatment to treat the dirty rainwater running off of Smith Street and surrounding streets, says David Phlegar, Stormwater Manager for the Division of Water Resources in Greensboro, NC. "It's one of the first places downtown that you'll see an example like this," Phelgar says. "It's a lot easier to come in up-front in the planning and construction stages to do this, as opposed to after the fact.  We worked with the Downtown Greenway to comply with some of the future Jordan Lake Rules for nutrient management, as well as our regular storm water regulations to improve our water quality." More tree wells and other projects, such as creating alternatives to impervious parking lots, will be appearing around town. To learn more, visit the city's Water Resource website at www.greensboro-nc.gov. Q & A: Learn how changing rules at Jordan Lake are affecting Greensboro's storm water management program.

Put a Little Downtown Greenway in Your Garden

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With April coming to a close, this weekend is a good time to sneak in some last minute plants and flowers.  Greensboro’s permaculture expert and Downtown Greenway consultant Charlie Headington offers a few ideas to feed the "thieves" and other beneficial insects needed to maintain a healthy organic garden. "Some for the thieves, some for the birds, and some for us," Charlie says.  "Beneficial insects manage the not-so-beneficial insects, or insects that we don't want.  In an organic garden, you let insects manage other insects." Butterfly Garden Butterfly Bush - attracts the yellow swallowtail butterfly Butterfly Weed - a bright orange flower, which attracts monarch butterflies Pawpaw Tree - produces edible fruit, which attracts the zebra swallowtail butterfly Ground cover plants that attract beneficial insects Ajuga Stonecrop Strawberry Pennyroyal White clover (attracts honeybees for clover honey) Hide a fence or garden wall Trumpet honeysuckle (for the hummingbirds) [caption id="attachment_1816" align="alignright" width="300"] Charlie Headington's plans for the West Smith and Prescott Streets' cornerstone orchard.[/caption] These plants and flowers will be included in the proposed orchard and garden design that Charlie created for the West Smith and Prescott Street area near the Greenway.  Read the Greensboro News & Record article on the garden’s planned design and for more information about the planned sculptures and seating area designed by Boston, MA, architects Mags Harries and Lajos Héder. Learn more about Permaculture Gardening with Charlie Headington.  Charlie is hosting a Permaculture Gardening Workshop on Saturday, April 27.  To register, email charlie.headington@gmail.com.

Get Ready for Tuesdays at the Trailhead: FREE Fitness Classes Starting May 7!

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Cardio, Zumba, African Dance, and other FREE fitness classes will be offered every Tuesday from 6:00-7:00 pm at the Spring Garden Street trailhead parking area (500 Spring Garden Street) on the Downtown Greenway.  Classes will begin on May 7 and run through September 24. To see the complete schedule of classes at the Spring Garden Trailhead and also the Monday and Wednesday fitness classes at Center City Park, click here. Parking during the classes will be located across the street from the Greenway in the parking lots between Edgeworth Street and Blandwood Avenue on the north side of Spring Garden (436 Spring Garden Street).  Look for parking signs. Bring yourself, comfortable attire, and a water bottle.  No prior experience is needed for any free fitness class!  See you there!

Bri Simpson Talks About Benefits of Living on the Downtown Greenway

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My name is Bri Simpson, and I’m originally from Seattle, Washington, actually a little bit south of Seattle, in Tacoma.  When I moved here, I was looking specifically for an apartment building of some kind.  I really wanted some of the amenities, so not just the location was important to me.  I also wanted to make it really feel like home, and be in a place that I could live in for not just a year or a couple of years, so I could really establish a home here.  This location has all sorts of things: the pool, the stadium, workout facilities.  In addition, it’s a little bit out of downtown so I still get to go downtown and have the downtown vibe.  I like the Fisher Park neighborhood.  It offers a little bit more nature than being right downtown. Throughout my 11 years with REI, I’ve pretty much tried everything that we have to offer—being out west with people who take part in mountaineering and a lot of the snow sports.  Then moving out here, I got into biking in Asheville.  Asheville is a huge bike community, so when I moved to Greensboro there were some things that I really looked at.  The trails are close by.  It has a lot to offer as far as mountain biking and hiking trails.  And the Greenway was something that I really appreciated—being able to go out my back door and jump on the Greenway for a ride or to commute to work. One of the things that drew me to this location was being literally right on the Downtown Greenway.  It’s also very, very close to the green that went to REI.  So essentially, I can ride my bike or run to Friendly Center and be right at work in a really easy amount of time.  It makes the commute a lot easier and a lot more enjoyable than my commute in Nashville.