Raleigh should be 2 cities - West Raleigh and East Raleigh (Charlotte: condo, buy)

[RaleighRocks]

What do you think?

[Sydney02]

West Raleigh is already another city......Cary.

[VSB]

The triangle already suffers due to a lack of a clear social and cultural focal point. Dividing it into further geographical subregions would only make this worse. I vote no on west and east Raleigh.

[MAtoNC!]

Originally Posted by RaleighRocks

What do you think?

Why? Please elaborate. By the way, what part of Raleigh Rocks?

[ljd1010]

LOL Kelley! Must be the part that's not "Blue Collar" from the sound of other posts!

[JJingle]

I haven't lived that many places. So, I may be totally off-base here. But, I think any city of size has very different areas within its borders. Most people I know in Charlotte consider the south side a different universe than the north side. In Richmond, the river divides the city into two different worlds if you ask most residents.

On the whole Raleigh east side versus west side, I would have to say that yes, the areas are very diverse. Maybe that's why so many people find Raleigh attractive because it offers a little something for everyone. To prosper and grow, doesn't an economy needs all levels of employees, from blue collar to corporate executive?

[sneezecake]

Yes, divide every city up into smaller divisions based on generalized differences. That's a surefire recipe for diversity and cultural/social growth!

Wasn't it you who suggested in another thread that you "know where the educated people are"? Why not divide into Educationville and Noedjucashunville while we're at it?

Come onnnnn

[PDXmom]

Personally, I think the only purpose of dividing up a city into directional sections is for ease of finding an address and the postal system. Many cities have NE, NW, SE, SW and then the street name. Portland was one of the easiest cities I've ever had to learn because the Williamette river divided East and West and Burnside St divided North and South. It made getting around very easy. But I honestly don't think it would work in Raleigh. Portland was laid out in a grid, the parts of Raleigh that are grid like would probably all be in one quadrant near downtown. And then there are the roads in Durham that seems like someone just threw tar down over an old tobacco cart path that weaves and bobs.

Personally, I think it would be cheaper for the triangle city govs to just buy everyone a GPS rather than rename roads or divide the cities into sections.

[findingmesomeday]

Originally Posted by PDXmom

Personally, I think the only purpose of dividing up a city into directional sections is for ease of finding an address and the postal system. Many cities have NE, NW, SE, SW and then the street name. Portland was one of the easiest cities I've ever had to learn because the Williamette river divided East and West and Burnside St divided North and South. It made getting around very easy. But I honestly don't think it would work in Raleigh. Portland was laid out in a grid, the parts of Raleigh that are grid like would probably all be in one quadrant near downtown. And then there are the roads in Durham that seems like someone just threw tar down over an old tobacco cart path that weaves and bobs.

Personally, I think it would be cheaper for the triangle city govs to just buy everyone a GPS rather than rename roads or divide the cities into sections.

Even the parts of PDX and surrounding communities not laid out in the grid are directionally named so you always know where you are. (once you understand that Portland itself is "SW"...). If you are in any of the SW suburbs, all the directionals are "SW"' same on the other side of the river in Oregon City, Sellwood, etc. (SE, NE).

Seattle is even easier because downtown Seattle is 'ground zero' and there are no directionals. But until you get that the streets run one way with the directional in front of the name (such as NE 65th St) and the Avenues run the other way with the directional in BACK of the name (such as Ravenna Ave NE), you can get pretty confused.

The first year that I lived in the Seattle area, I rented a condo at (I kid you not) the intersection of NE 134th St and 134th Ave NE. (well, I'm foggy on which exact number it was, but the two streets shared the same number!)

I never knew where I was in Raleigh. I do think directionals such as Portland uses might be helpful. But then again, renaming all the streets would probably cause more problems than it would solve.

[uncletupelo]

People have said for 30 plus years that Raleigh is two distinctly different towns. ITB and OTB. I tend to agree. One is not better than the other, just absolutely, completely different. Living in town is like living in a small town. It is still very southern in many ways. Where the newer areas of Raleigh are not southern at all. I think this makes Raleigh a neat place. It is not the same town that I grew up in, but that is not a bad thing.