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You think taxes are bad now wait till they start with the municipal unions and state authorities...then some clown will want to put the rest of 540 in a tunnel....
Infrastructure should be paid by an increase in the gas tax not property tax.
It sounds like it's time for you to move since you hate it so much. Things change, that's how life goes.
No, I still love Raleigh but feel the decline of quality over 20 years and want to stop this before it becomes an unstoppable avalanche.
Thanks to the print media, folks are being fed a mantra that the Triangle is "the" place to go so all your problems will be solved. Ain't true. Nice, but not Heaven.
This is not how life goes. Areas are only ruined when citizens and government let it happen.
Raleigh was a solid primarily working class city 20 years ago. It doesn't need to morph into a piece of dog waste just so elected officials can have a power trip and developers can make big bucks.
No, I still love Raleigh but feel the decline of quality over 20 years and want to stop this before it becomes an unstoppable avalanche.
Thanks to the print media, folks are being fed a mantra that the Triangle is "the" place to go so all your problems will be solved. Ain't true. Nice, but not Heaven.
This is not how life goes. Areas are only ruined when citizens and government let it happen.
Raleigh was a solid primarily working class city 20 years ago. It doesn't need to morph into a piece of dog waste just so elected officials can have a power trip and developers can make big bucks.
My parents raised me to always respect my elders, and I mean no disrespect, but when I read posts like this I can't help but think of a commentary I once saw on SNL's Weekend Update.
No, I still love Raleigh but feel the decline of quality over 20 years and want to stop this before it becomes an unstoppable avalanche.
Thanks to the print media, folks are being fed a mantra that the Triangle is "the" place to go so all your problems will be solved. Ain't true. Nice, but not Heaven.
This is not how life goes. Areas are only ruined when citizens and government let it happen.
Raleigh was a solid primarily working class city 20 years ago. It doesn't need to morph into a piece of dog waste just so elected officials can have a power trip and developers can make big bucks.
Saturnfan, I've tried to hold my tongue (wasn't very successful at that!) or to be polite when addressing your posts that basically say to others: "nyah, nyah, I got here first and you can't come".
So let me try to continue to be polite---I understand where you are coming from but I really think you are misguided. First, with regard to your attitude about growth and change as it pertains to Raleigh.
I've BeenThereDoneThat and bought the t-shirt. I lived in Seattle for 8 years and Portland OR for 4 years. My husband is a PNW native. I know you are sick of seeing Raleigh in those never-ending "top 10" lists. Well, I was living in the PNW when Seattle and Portland were being promoted as the next nirvana and by God, people came in droves. I have to admit, there were some bad things that came out of that.
1. Traffic became horrendous, more so in Seattle where you have geographical boundaries like water and mountains and there's not much you can do to get around that. Issaquah, a tiny town in the Cascade foothills became a bedroom community of Seattle. Getting over Lake Washington is a nightmare. Portland encountered similar problems.
2. Housing prices escalated. People (mostly from California--with a shoutout to Mike J----DON'T CALIFORNICATE THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST!) moved in and drove up the housing prices.
But let me tell you what the area was like in the mid 1980's when I moved there.
1. There were no jobs.
2. Housing prices were in a free fall. You think people are upside down NOW in their mortgages? There were people with 17% interest rates on their loans losing $50K or more on their house within a years' time.
3. There were no jobs.
4. Nothing was getting built. No new housing starts (the existing ones couldn't sell). Nothing happening downtown. Roads were a mess.
5. Did I mention there were no jobs?
The entire country moved out of the 1980's recession into a boomtown economy, leaving the PNW in its dust.
But then....the area started getting discovered. And funny things happened.
1. Microsoft started to grow...and grow...and grow.
2. Nordstrom took their retail model outside the area---to great success.
3. Starbucks did the same.
4. Nike made its fame and fortune outfitting the football and track teams at UO and decided that they could reinvent the athletic footwear industry.
5. Commercial airlines started to figure out it was closer and easier to fly to the far East from PDX or SEA than from California. It was also easy to get to Europe by flying right over the North Pole.
6. Boeing rebounded.
7. Both cities were able to attract new business. And in turn people followed the jobs out there.
Are Seattle and Portland the same cities today that they were 20 years ago? Of course not. But what they've gained far outweighs what they might have lost. I'd much rather see what's going on now than read a billboard that was actually up on I-5 for a while:
"Will The Last One to Leave Please Turn out the Lights?"
Best of all, everyone who couldn't deal with the growth and got sick of what was happening to these two beautiful cities (that are still beautiful today, BTW), moved to a mountaintop in Idaho.
Growth isn't bad. If you want to be part of the solution and not part of the problem, work to elect officials who will hold the developers' feet to the fire and make sure they take their share of fiscal responsibility for building and maintaining infrastructure. Elect officials who will help direct and channel growth (Chapel Hill has been successful and I once again point you to look in the direction of Portland, OR).
Raleigh was a solid primarily working class city 20 years ago. It doesn't need to morph into a piece of dog waste just so elected officials can have a power trip and developers can make big bucks.
We've discussed this several times. The makeup of workers has not changed much in 20 years. IBM, Nortel, Glaxo, the EPA, the State employees, SAS, and others were all going strong here 20 years ago and still today (well, maybe not Nortel so much, but Cisco has taken its place).
Developers only make money because people want their product. I just don't get calling anyone greedy for trying to make a good living.
Raleigh is no different than the rest of the country over the last 20 years. A move towards larger homes, loss of manufacturing jobs, increase in tech related jobs, etc.
We've discussed this several times. The makeup of workers has not changed much in 20 years. IBM, Nortel, Glaxo, the EPA, the State employees, SAS, and others were all going strong here 20 years ago and still today (well, maybe not Nortel so much, but Cisco has taken its place).
Developers only make money because people want their product. I just don't get calling anyone greedy for trying to make a good living.
Raleigh is no different than the rest of the country over the last 20 years. A move towards larger homes, loss of manufacturing jobs, increase in tech related jobs, etc.
True - North Hills was full of IBMers (1960's). I didn't live here, but my husband tells me stories about the resentment with the newcomers invading the area !!!! North Hills was "out" - and it was practically a day trip to Strickland Road - pass the junk yards and very rural !!! Speaking of junk yards - know that huge senior development springing up at Leadmine and Strickland road? It was a junk yard in the early 70's. My husband said you went "out there" to practice driving, race cars, and pick up spare parts for your car !!! Thats hard to imagine, isn't it??
My parents north raleigh neighborhood (strickland/creedmoor/six forks area) was "out there" when they moved here in 1983 - it was full of transplants working at RTP. These people are likely nearing or at retirement age - they've lived here long enough to almost feel like natives.
The big difference in N. Raleigh is we didn't have these luxury homes - you know - the ones that look like they belong in Beverly Hills.. with fountains in the front? That has been a big change - there were always nice homes - but not the 5000+ foot homes. I remember when Coachman's Trail and Stonebridge and a few others (still really nice) had some of the biggest and nicest homes around..
NC(Johnston County) is really going to have to go up dramatically to beat the $8,000 annual I paid in property tax in a so called "depressed" area of NJ that I lived in as of last year. And my area was considered "cheap".
I think it has become crystal clear what growth has brought to this area and how people feel about it.
The growth has been a good thing for the majority of the people and has raised our standard of living. Almost everyone agrees on that. The growth has created thousands of jobs, which has also helped out everyone who has been here a long time and those just arriving. The growth has created better infrastructure, more choices of entertainment, more housing options and has financially helped many people that would have been left in the dust otherwise.
Then there are a few stragglers left over that things just didn't work out for them due to a variety of reasons, including bad luck, poor choices, laziness or poor attitudes including prejudging other people. No matter where you live, this segment will always exist. There is no place on Earth where every single person is happy. That's just the way it is. Unfortunately, those that are upset are usually the loudest and do the most complaining. The effort put forth to complain about everything would be better used to change their situation for the better.
Bottom line, most people are thrilled to be here which is due to growth, which then leads to more growth. Let's just always make sure we have positive growth.
For me, I do not plan on spending every minute of every day focusing on what I do not like, nor worrying about some ridiculous things that may or may not happen if 37 different scenarios happen at the same time. There is so much to enjoy around us and I for one am thankful for it.
NC(Johnston County) is really going to have to go up dramatically to beat the $8,000 annual I paid in property tax in a so called "depressed" area of NJ that I lived in as of last year. And my area was considered "cheap".
Well, if you itemized your taxes at least you could write it off... that must have helped a little bit..
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In my day ...
