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I think the whole country will soon have an affordability issue if people are forced to bounce around from place to place to find an affordable place to live (which will end up driving up prices in every city if there isn't adequate amounts of housing supply)... So the question is - what needs to change?
I think you answered your own question: ensure that there's adequate housing supply, but the entire country is failing to do that. We're in the ninth year of economic expansion -- yet the past decade has seen fewer new homes started than in any 10-year period since 1959. The current pace of national housing starts is equal to 1992's. More houses were started in the short upturn between 1971-1974 than in 2010-2018... even though the current cycle is now more than twice as long, and the US population is more than 50% larger.
Like why is it so hard to change the voting day from Tuesday to Saturday? Tuesday was set when the country was mostly agrarian. People needed days to travel to the polls and back. Now, you make people who work hourly jobs take time off to vote. The time that they need to make much-needed income.
Voting doesn't just occur on the the first Tuesday in November. Early voting encompasses about 3 weeks, including Saturdays. Plus, one can vote by mail. There's no need to change "the voting day" because its irrelevant, given the plethora voting opportunities.
Voting doesn't just occur on the the first Tuesday in November. Early voting encompasses about 3 weeks, including Saturdays. Plus, one can vote by mail. There's no need to change "the voting day" because its irrelevant, given the plethora voting opportunities.
If it is irrelevant, then there should be no reason why it can't be changed to Saturday. What on God's earth is the reason it still needs to be on a Tuesday? And not everyone has the opportunity to vote early or else voting issues wouldn't exist.
Move election day to Tuesday. Or make it a national holiday where EVERYTHING is closed like on Christmas or Easter.
Develop technology that makes it easier for everyone to vote.
Simple on its face. Difficult for those who want to stay in power.
If it is irrelevant, then there should be no reason why it can't be changed to Saturday. What on God's earth is the reason it still needs to be on a Tuesday? And not everyone has the opportunity to vote early or else voting issues wouldn't exist.
Thats not logical. Are you aware of what early voting is and how it works? There's no reason to move election day, because there isn't an election day. There is an election period, and it lasts for weeks. One can vote any day during that time. Everyone does in fact have the opportunity to vote early, and changing election day would have no impact on that. Plus, one can vote by mail if desired or needed. Its really not a difficult concept to understand.
I hope we don't get Amazon's HQ2 in the Triangle...
Other than that, I don't really care where they go.
I'd love to see them on the Centennial Spring Hill tract. It would be a huge win for NCSU, Raleigh, and the State. I think an Amazon announcement could finally push us over the hump for transit. I think it would add more momentum than already there for faster development of Dix Park. Amazon would probably help sponsor the park, since it would be at their front door. I also think it would help the push for MLS, and the downtown stadium.
I like that it would be on the south side of the city. 540 is going to be completed and there will be residential development everywhere inside of it. Any additional jobs in Raleigh would keep some from making the SW Raleigh -> RTP commute every day.
There are almost too many positives to list, and the only negatives I've seen are that housing prices will rise, and traffic will increase. Is it worth it if Amazon is close enough for employees to use Union Station and a new NCSU light rail station to get to work? What if they put a light rail station at the fairgrounds and then the industrial area across from Dorton becomes a high intensity transit oriented development? How about with a stop at Jones Franklin/Hillsborough/Western and seeing the Asphalt plant and concrete pipe yard as a TOD? Or the Cargill Plant on South Wilmington redeveloping as a TOD? All of this could work together with a 50,000 employee anouncement from Amazon.
I'd love to see them on the Centennial Spring Hill tract. It would be a huge win for NCSU, Raleigh, and the State. I think an Amazon announcement could finally push us over the hump for transit. I think it would add more momentum than already there for faster development of Dix Park. Amazon would probably help sponsor the park, since it would be at their front door. I also think it would help the push for MLS, and the downtown stadium.
I like that it would be on the south side of the city. 540 is going to be completed and there will be residential development everywhere inside of it. Any additional jobs in Raleigh would keep some from making the SW Raleigh -> RTP commute every day.
There are almost too many positives to list, and the only negatives I've seen are that housing prices will rise, and traffic will increase. Is it worth it if Amazon is close enough for employees to use Union Station and a new NCSU light rail station to get to work? What if they put a light rail station at the fairgrounds and then the industrial area across from Dorton becomes a high intensity transit oriented development? How about with a stop at Jones Franklin/Hillsborough/Western and seeing the Asphalt plant and concrete pipe yard as a TOD? Or the Cargill Plant on South Wilmington redeveloping as a TOD? All of this could work together with a 50,000 employee anouncement from Amazon.
Negative:
One major employer that dwarfs all others in the region. Long term, more employees than currently work in the entire RTP. Too many eggs in one basket.
Too many eggs in the one basket of an ethically woeful mega-corporation.
If we are going to be a "company town," this is not a business I would aspire to attract.
Housing prices?
The prospect of the typical $350,000 house going to $399,000 is not near the concern as is the continued gentrification of historically low cost neighborhoods.
Pushing people out of Raleigh would accelerate incredibly with any DT Raleigh/Centennial location announcement.
I'd love to see them on the Centennial Spring Hill tract. It would be a huge win for NCSU, Raleigh, and the State. I think an Amazon announcement could finally push us over the hump for transit. I think it would add more momentum than already there for faster development of Dix Park. Amazon would probably help sponsor the park, since it would be at their front door. I also think it would help the push for MLS, and the downtown stadium.
I like that it would be on the south side of the city. 540 is going to be completed and there will be residential development everywhere inside of it. Any additional jobs in Raleigh would keep some from making the SW Raleigh -> RTP commute every day.
There are almost too many positives to list, and the only negatives I've seen are that housing prices will rise, and traffic will increase. Is it worth it if Amazon is close enough for employees to use Union Station and a new NCSU light rail station to get to work? What if they put a light rail station at the fairgrounds and then the industrial area across from Dorton becomes a high intensity transit oriented development? How about with a stop at Jones Franklin/Hillsborough/Western and seeing the Asphalt plant and concrete pipe yard as a TOD? Or the Cargill Plant on South Wilmington redeveloping as a TOD? All of this could work together with a 50,000 employee anouncement from Amazon.
When you say push over the hump for transit, do you mean scrap the plan they’ve been working on the last few years in Wake and start over? I don’t like that plan a whole lot either, but more delays at government speed won’t hlep either.
Negative:
One major employer that dwarfs all others in the region. Long term, more employees than currently work in the entire RTP. Too many eggs in one basket.
Too many eggs in the one basket of an ethically woeful mega-corporation.
If we are going to be a "company town," this is not a business I would aspire to attract.
Housing prices?
The prospect of the typical $350,000 house going to $399,000 is not near the concern as is the continued gentrification of historically low cost neighborhoods.
Pushing people out of Raleigh would accelerate incredibly with any DT Raleigh/Centennial location announcement.
It would dwarf until it doesn’t. California is a horrible place to do business except it happens to be where all the tech money and engineering talent goes. The market needs viable alternatives and Austin really is the only other concentration of any magnitude. This area wouldn’t be just “one basket” for long. And given the polarization of America between the relatively few “have” cities versus the “have nots,” it’s good to be seen as a place where the modern economy thrives.
That's literally what Amazon has stated multiple times that it wants. Urban HQ. Amazon wants it's workers to commute via public transportation and for its workers to walk to chic downtown lunch spots. Youthful and urban. Not be stuck in RTP where 50,000 workers have to drive to work and eat at terrible fast food places because it's too far to walk anywhere. Truth be told, they will likely choose Boston or somewhere similar. Extremely tightly packed downtowns. Much, much more so than that of Raleigh or Durham and they will spend millions to buy out property to build a new HQ. Amazon doesn't need to find space, it will make it. They want to be another tower in a sky full of them. If Raleigh skyline was someone's hair, it's a comb-over as best. There's so much space.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CapitalBlvd
Maybe this might get us our train.
Amazon is not as stupid our legislature and wants good transit not a bunch of poorly planned roads gerrymandered by stupid expansion to carry a load they cannot handle.
To CapitalBlvd's point, did you (Raleighsocial) ever consider that bringing 50k workers to RTP (nearly doubling it) would be very transformative. Not only "getting us our train", but also changing the look and feel. Just daydreaming, but POTENTIALLY, an Amazon client in RTP could create a downtown of it's own. Imagine a couple skyscrapers, a multi-use residential area, and lot's of retail and food all springing up around it. A good example is Burg Khalifa in Dubai. When it was built, there was nothing in that part of town. Since it's completion, many consider it to define the downtown of Dubai.
I don't think that's the exact solution, but my point is to not be limited by our own imagination. RTP, with the amount of available space, is somewhat of a clean slate. It's location (central) has benefits. Surely there are many positives that none of us have ever considered.
I don't think Amazon is really going to drop 50K people in Raleigh overnight. They're projecting continued growth and an intention. I would also think it's 50K jobs worth of "economic development". From the King County Economic Development Website: Economic Basics | Economic Development Council of Seattle & King County
Amazon is the 4th largest employer in King County, WA with 24,700 full time employees.
I don't see any way this new campus will truly double the number of Amazon employees that currently work in Seattle. If Amazon directly hires 25K of the new employees, with 25K new jobs in supporting industries, they wouldn't instantly dwarf other businesses.
Low income housing is a tougher, much broader issue. In general, I think that development provides more opportunities for low income earners to bring home more income. Are we increasing the number of low income workers, or raising the floor when a new large employer comes to the area? Too often low income housing equates with substandard housing. Are we trying to preserve our aging 2 story apartment complexes? Would a new corporate partner give RHA and DHIC a boost? Rejecting a major employer isn't the way to solve the gentrification issue. I don't agree with the City's current approach to low income housing, but that's best left for another discussion.
When I say "push over the hump for transit" I mean the large, gaudy numbers that Amazon is throwing around could convince the powers that be that Raleigh, and the Triangle region in general, is seeing enough new development to warrant the construction of a real mass transit network.
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