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I think North Carolina is much more business-friendly. North Carolina also was better economically for a good while (maybe it still is?). Raleigh, as the capital, bears the benefit of this, as well as the fact that it is geographically beautiful and has a pretty high quality of life...
I think its important to note that Raleigh is growing faster than pretty much every older, more urban city. Not sure what it means, or if it means anything at all. Raleigh is consistently one of the top 10 growing cities in the nation, which is a huge plus. That does not mean, however, that it excels across the board as a city, or beats every city its growing faster than in every category. It's just still in its boomtown phase and is very popular---I know three girls up here: one I grew up with, her sister lives in Raleigh and she goes to visit at least once a year; one is from here, but her son and child's father live in Raleigh and she wants to move there; one is from rural NC, and is moving to Raleigh next week...
That's just here in Richmond. Raleigh is unexpectedly popular in Jersey and New York (City and State), and is immensely popular in Carolina (I've known native Charlotteans who've moved to Raleigh). Its an attractive Sun Belt city. Again, not sure exactly what it means, if it means anything at all...
Raleigh has more room to grow, because it was less developed to begin with. Plus, it also has Durham and Chapel Hill to spurn growth. As of today, Richmond is still a better city.
To be honest, all of the Virginia cities are hampered by the state's strange county/city divide. In most states, you have counties, and in those counties there are incorporated cities, towns, villages, and boroughs. In Virginia, no city is located with in a county. Counties in Virginia are just suburban and rural areas. That means that in most cases cities have to provide all services on their own, and cannot pool resources with surrounding areas. This also hampers large development projects. There is no shared tax base between city and suburbs. Suburbanites mooch off city resources, like parks, jobs, cultural institutions, and give nothing back.
Around Richmond, Henrico and Chesterfield County's developed largely as white flight Havens. There has historically been distinct disdain for, and lack of cooperation with the predominantly black city.
Last edited by gladhands; 04-04-2016 at 07:20 AM..
In the 50s and 60s, at a time when Virginia was not particularly progressive and actually quite short-sighted, North Carolina had a forward thinking governor who corralled the business, educational and science communities together to formulate a vision of the future - the RTP. North Carolina, and specifically Durham and Raleigh's future wouldn't be about agriculture. Rather, the future was in technology and NC would be poised to take a bite out of the apple. The coming together of Governor Hodges, Mr. Karl Knapland (IBM exec), and money man George Watts Hill laid the groundwork for the massive growth you see today in the Triangle.
In Charlotte, you had Hugh McColl (former BofA CEO) - an outsized proponent of Charlotte's growth and the expansion of its prized skyline. He propelled and encouraged Charlotte to take advantage of opportunities that other cities overlooked.
So while NC, unabated by history, was making all of the forward-thinking changes that would be necessary for growth in business and in the era of tech, VA largely rested on its laurels. And RVA, with all its cool and rediscovery of late, was just as bad. The city turned down airport hubs; development opportunities; would not change banking laws; and the state legislature was for the longest time, and still to some extent, anti-urban and still does not allow for annexation. Another big part of Richmond's deal was a leadership deficit that came from in-fighting in the 70s. Fast-forward to 2016 and the city and state have changed tremendously, and year over year the change is more dramatic. However, observationally, Richmond has had a tendency to grow despite itself rather than in concert with good leadership. This is also a trend that is hopefully turning around.
tldr: NC had great leaders with forethought who made good decisions early on while VA was complacent until late, but NC gov't should probably not lose sight and mess with the amazing things happening there.
In the 50s and 60s, at a time when Virginia was not particularly progressive and actually quite short-sighted, North Carolina had a forward thinking governor who corralled the business, educational and science communities together to formulate a vision of the future - the RTP. North Carolina, and specifically Durham and Raleigh's future wouldn't be about agriculture. Rather, the future was in technology and NC would be poised to take a bite out of the apple. The coming together of Governor Hodges, Mr. Karl Knapland (IBM exec), and money man George Watts Hill laid the groundwork for the massive growth you see today in the Triangle.
In Charlotte, you had Hugh McColl (former BofA CEO) - an outsized proponent of Charlotte's growth and the expansion of its prized skyline. He propelled and encourage Charlotte to take advantage of opportunities that other cities overlooked.
So while NC, unabated by history, was making all of the forward-thinking changes that would be necessary for growth in business and in the era of tech, VA largely rested on its laurels. And RVA, with all its cool and rediscovery of late, was just as bad. The city turned down airport hubs; development opportunities; would not change banking laws; and the state legislature was for the longest time, and still to some extent, anti-urban and still does not allow for annexation. Another big part of Richmond's deal was a leadership deficit that came from in-fighting in the 70s. Fast-forward to 2016 and the city and state have changed tremendously, and year over year the change is more dramatic. However, observationally, Richmond has had a tendency to grow despite itself rather than in concert with good leadership. This is also a trend that is hopefully turning around.
tldr: NC had great leaders with forethought who made good decisions early on while VA was complacent until late, but NC gov't should probably not lose sight and mess with the amazing things happening there.
All of this is true. Richmond should have developed into a hipper Charlotte.
Even though Richmond is the capital of the state I feel like it's kind of become forgotten because of the DC suburbs. Like if someone was in a situation where they had to choose between the two to relocate, whether a business or person, there really would be no competition. Without NoVa, I think Richmond would be a huge metro area for the state.
Because for a long time Richmond had lousy leadership. Its projected (reasonably) to start growing like crazy now, and is in fact growing by big percentages.
Richmond was under the radar until recently. I prefer Richmond to Raleigh, but had only ever thought about Raleigh as a place to move to while up in Boston, until something popped up randomly.
So Raleigh has a big name recognition advantage. Richmond has the advantage of being a more interesting place once you actually get to know it. (assuming you like city stuff. If you are more of a suburbs place, Triangle may be a better choice).
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