FIRST ACT: Respectable crowd for the first night of Raleigh’s Outdoor Amphitheater and Festival Site. It’s not yet called the Bud Light Amphitheater, but you sure could smell the Bud Light Friday – and see its clear impact on hundreds of horrific, and shameless, dancers. The crowd was nowhere near a sellout. The city even allowed strollers, which it previously said it would not. Our own David Menconi tells Report that the crowd increased dramatically after sundown. No report yet on the Backstreet Boys’ Sunday night performance. The Cary News’ Sadia Latifi says she’ll report as soon as she stops hyperventilating (apparently, Nick Carter touched her hand).
CURING CRABTREE: Report has learned city staff likely will make a recommendation to the council sometime this summer in regards to how to best cure traffic woes around congested Crabtree Valley. If the council approves changes, it would be a landmark act to solve a decades-old problem. Several past attempts at curing the clustered corridor have failed. Report will give updates in the coming weeks.
MASTER PLANNER: Report’s Sarah Ovaska gives us a glimpse into the mind of Raleigh's sharp planner, Mitchell Silver. From her Sunday profile: “Being a top city in the Southeast isn't enough. Silver's goal is to shape Raleigh into one of the world's attractive cities, something he thinks is possible if residents and politicians commit now to building the public transportation network of bigger cities such as Atlanta and Charlotte and to resculpting Raleigh's suburban neighborhoods.”Read the whole story.
ON THE AGENDA: No meeting this week, and two committee meetings scheduled for June 8 have been canceled (Maybe a few council members REALLY enjoyed the amphitheater this weekend).
SNEAK PEEK: Coming Wednesday in the North Raleigh and Midtown Raleigh News sections: Silly Bandz are getting silly banned in local schools. North Raleigh hosts a world-record swimming attempt. The city’s eligible for a multimillion-dollar refund on the Falls of Neuse Road realignment project. The city should have its own golf course.
UPDATE: Sadia's review is up. http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/06/07/519225/fans-sit-in-rain-for-backstreet.html
