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It does seem hard to imagine a really great area that doesn't have an elevator pitch. Once again if people want to move to the Triad they would have a reason. And it would seem to be both powerful & succinct. In NC, though I am not a resident I can see the pitch for the other 4 areas. If someone asked me why live in:
Triangle: It's the smartest place in the south with the govt. schools & businesses working together to produce a high tech region. It's not too far from the beaches or mountains and has decent weather. It still has affordability compared to other tech hubs in the US. It's also fast growing, so better get here while you can.
Wilmington: It's a beach town with a University in it. Beautiful beaches, warm water nice weather.
Asheville: It's a fun and quirky liberal utopia in NC. It's a fun place to be in a beautiful area nestled in the mountains.
Charlotte: It's the big city of NC. Has pro sports, banking industry, a skyline and growing fast. Has the amenities of big city life but still affordable.
Triad: It's got a university there UNC Greensboro. Other than that ???????
Do you see what I mean? Why pick the Triad? Is it the beauty? It seems all arguments boil down to about 3 general points.
Social: Art, music, culture, energy, creativity, family, fun
Environment: Beaches, mountains, climate/weather,
The Charlotte & Raleigh have done great on the economic front. Asheville & Wilmington do great on the environment and to some degree on the social front (Asheville). But the Triad seems to be lukewarm in every category. I could be wrong, again I don't live there, but it seems that a lot of people are implicitly agreeing by passing this place up.
One big issue with the Triad is that it is overshadowed by Charlotte and the Triangle; those 2 suck all the air out of room, so to speak. Plus, the big advantage of the Triad isn't that its stands out in a few categories, but it is extremely consistent across all categories...sort of a Goldilocks conundrum.
The Triad has great neighborhoods, availability of great schools (by NC standards), wonderful parks, up and coming downtowns, decent economies and job markets, multiple colleges and universities, no major traffic issues and an overall high quality of life. Its a great place to live and raise a family. Thats the pitch. It lacks Charlotte's high rises and pro sports and Raleigh's tech factor (but really, if it wasn't for RTP Raleigh would be G'boro and Durham would High Point), but its a nice, good place to live that ticks most of the boxes for a lot of people.
I've lived in Raleigh, Charlotte and the Triad at different points of my life. All the areas are nice in their own way, but I choose to live in the Triad because I think the quality of life is better. When I was living in Charlotte and Raleigh I spent excessive amounts of time in my car stuck in traffic because those areas have large populations with limited or no good public transit options. In the Triad I can get way more house for my money close in and there are more restaurant/bar/cultural/outdoors activities than I can ever take advantage of. I'm super close to the mountains and a pretty easy drive to the beach and if I ever want to catch a Panthers game then Charlotte is a little over an hour away. But life is so much easier on a day to day basis here.
It does seem hard to imagine a really great area that doesn't have an elevator pitch. Once again if people want to move to the Triad they would have a reason. And it would seem to be both powerful & succinct.
Who makes their decision on where to live based on that?
Quote:
Triad: It's got a university there UNC Greensboro. Other than that ???????
Wake Forest University. North Carolina A&T. UNC School of the Arts. Guilford College. High Point University. Salem College. Winston-Salem State University. Greensboro College. Bennett College. Elon University, if you include the Burlington area in your definition of the Triad. The colleges are only part of what makes the area a good place to be, but the notion that UNCG is the extent of it is way off. If anything, UNCG (which is a great school) has struggled some to assert itself compared to some of the higher-profile colleges in the area. WFU is a top-tier school. UNCSA is an outstanding professional arts conservatory. NCA&T is an excellent HBCU with solid engineering programs and a storied history. HPU has spent a zillion dollars to attract students in the last decade or so. Guilford College runs a top-notch speaker series that gets them a lot of press. Etc.
Quote:
Do you see what I mean? Why pick the Triad? Is it the beauty? It seems all arguments boil down to about 3 general points.
I think I made it clear that we picked Winston-Salem based on every one of those categories. The Triad has a lot of what the other cities you named have (with the exception of beaches, obviously) with lower cost of living, less traffic, and less hassle. My wife and I spent many years in bigger cities and cities with more hype around them. Putting cities in boxes is for people on message boards. What's New York's box? Chicago's? What are Houston and Phoenix's things? What makes Indianapolis Indianapolis? Yeah, these aren't all hot properties for people to chatter about, but they're all top 10-15 cities by population, and they're all growing.
So is Winston. So is the Triad. Greensboro and Winston both grew by between 5.5-6.5% between the 2010 census and the 2016 estimate. Why do we need 13-15% growth? Winston is worlds away from where it was a decade ago, and has pulled itself out of the wreckage of a sea-change in global manufacturing trends. I think the best thing we could have is continued sustainable growth that doesn't instantly price out the longer-term residents who used to work in tobacco and textiles and can't be expected to pivot to biotech and IT.
Sure, we have a wish list of things we'd like to see in the area, but it's not a long one. And the things we do have--arts, culture, sustainable growth, great neighborhoods, affordability, climate, landscape, great careers--mean a lot to us.
Triangle: It's the smartest place in the south with the govt. schools & businesses working together to produce a high tech region. It's not too far from the beaches or mountains and has decent weather. It still has affordability compared to other tech hubs in the US. It's also fast growing, so better get here while you can.
Wilmington: It's a beach town with a University in it. Beautiful beaches, warm water nice weather.
Asheville: It's a fun and quirky liberal utopia in NC. It's a fun place to be in a beautiful area nestled in the mountains.
Charlotte: It's the big city of NC. Has pro sports, banking industry, a skyline and growing fast. Has the amenities of big city life but still affordable.
Triad: It's got a university there UNC Greensboro. Other than that ???????
Triad: UNCG, Wake Forest, Guilford College, Winston-Salem State, NC A&T, High Point University, NC School of the Arts, Bennett College, Greensboro College, Elon Law School, Salem College, Forsyth Tech, Guilford Tech. Even more affordable than Charlotte and The Triangle. Also not far from beaches and mountains. The exact same "decent weather" listed as a plus for The Triangle.
I'd also like to add: Nice parks, decent trail system, arts, diversity, restaurants, good neighborhoods.
But I get your point, the Triad could do a better job selling itself. It could do better in other areas, as well. But what hurts us more than anything is people who have an automatic negative opinion and spew it out to everyone. You could not think of anything besides UNCG? I like living here. It has so much potential. It's hard to stand out when The Triangle and Charlotte are hogging all the attention, but that doesn't mean that The Triad is a sucky place to live.
Triad: UNCG, Wake Forest, Guilford College, Winston-Salem State, NC A&T, High Point University, NC School of the Arts, Bennett College, Greensboro College, Elon Law School, Salem College, Forsyth Tech, Guilford Tech. Even more affordable than Charlotte and The Triangle. Also not far from beaches and mountains. The exact same "decent weather" listed as a plus for The Triangle.
I'd also like to add: Nice parks, decent trail system, arts, diversity, restaurants, good neighborhoods.
But I get your point, the Triad could do a better job selling itself. It could do better in other areas, as well. But what hurts us more than anything is people who have an automatic negative opinion and spew it out to everyone. You could not think of anything besides UNCG? I like living here. It has so much potential. It's hard to stand out when The Triangle and Charlotte are hogging all the attention, but that doesn't mean that The Triad is a sucky place to live.
For years i've listened to people from the Triad blaming anything and everything for it's lack of prominence as compared to the Triangle and Charlotte, but looking at this as an outsider, it appears that those who are in local city and county leadership positions are most to blame for various reasons. Until Triad leaders figure out why this region hasn't been as successful and address those issues in constructive ways, the region will continue to lag behind.
For years i've listened to people from the Triad blaming anything and everything for it's lack of prominence as compared to the Triangle and Charlotte, but looking at this as an outsider, it appears that those who are in local city and county leadership positions are most to blame for various reasons. Until Triad leaders figure out why this region hasn't been as successful and address those issues in constructive ways, the region will continue to lag behind.
I don't throw in my lot with anyone in the Triad blaming any other cities for anything. And I don't see that very often, to be honest, beyond posters on boards like this one.
It's true that it can be harder to stand out when you have a more prominent city within easy driving distance, and the Triad is between two larger metros. The bigger cities are going to get more attention. Ask Milwaukee or Philly or Baltimore.
But that's only a problem if you buy the notion that things are bad in the Triad or there's anything to blame anyone for. Again, population growth around 6% in both cities between 2010 and 2016. That's reasonable and sustainable. Could it be more? Sure. But there's still a lot of work to do and good things underway in the region.
So yes, blaming other cities is stupid. But I don't think there's any blame to be had, and I think anyone who has spent any significant time in Winston or Greensboro over the last 10 years would agree that there's been significant growth and progress. We've hardly been here 5 years and we've enjoyed the growth, especially downtown. I look forward to some of the infrastructure improvements that are on the horizon, though the construction is going to be a pain (especially the Business 40 closure).
IMO it's not a bad thing to grow at a slower pace as long as you are growing . To me the decline of the Triads signature industry cluster is the primary reason for it's stagnant growth when compared to Charlotte & the Triangle. It doesn't help that the other two metros have assets that the Triad doesn't. Charlotte's airport is the difference maker that the Triad can't compete with
The only thing that really puts Greensboro on the map nationally is when the city host major sporting events (coliseum/PGA tournament). Because of this a lot of people have heard of Greensboro, they just don't know what the city is about. Also sometimes I wonder if the FedEx hub is truly benefitting the Triad as it should. For example Amazon has two distribution centers in the state. One in the Charlotte area and one in the Raleigh area. One would think the company would have just built one big distribution in the Triad that would really serve the Triangle, Charlotte and the Triad and would be in close proximity to the FedEx hub. It just seems that the Triad has the right infrastructure, education, workforce, lower cost of living and good quality of life yet we continue to be overlooked. Maybe its an image thing. I've heard one person not from this state that visited Greensboro say he couldn't believe how large Greensboro is. So there is a perception out there that Greensboro is much smaller than it really is. Even the national media doesn't seem to recognize Greensboro by name if an incident happens here. They will say Charlotte or Raleigh but when an incident happens here that makes national headlines, or if a major figure comes here like the president they'll say in North Carolina. Hopefully all the great things happening in the Triad's downtowns will help change our image.
I hate that people consider the outskirts of Charlotte Charlotte also! Like concord Ballantyne Indian trail matthews. Really where are all the good areas in actual Charlotte? Doesn't seem like there are many, and people mix Cary apex wakforest mooresville and all the little cities around raliegh into living in Raleigh also but it's not Raleigh! Greensboro doesn't get that luxury niether does Winston. If people live in kernersville they don't say Winston they say kville if you live in stokesdale younsay stocksdale. Maybe the big triad cities should just annex all the surrounding cities like Raleigh and Charlotte does. When's the last time you heard somebody actually say they live in concord and not say they live in Charlotte?
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