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As time goes by, I'm hearing more connections drawn between Raleigh, NC and Austin, TX. Tech jobs, progressive, home to universities (NCSU, UT), becoming more trendy, etc. Do you agree? Or do you believe Raleigh still has a ways to go? I visited the North Hills area of Raleigh the other night, and it reminded me of the day I visited Austin a few years back. 20 years ago or so, it wasn't like this at all. Speaking for the whole Research Triangle metro, do you agree that it's going down an Austin-ish path?
I have lived in Austin a while now. I view the Raleigh-Durham area as a peer city. There is nothing to aspire to. They are different but relatively equal cities. I get the comparisons though with both areas southern(ish), high levels of education, fast growing. I hope the Research Triangle area has managed its growth better than Austin.
I have lived in Austin a while now. I view the Raleigh-Durham area as a peer city. There is nothing to aspire to. They are different but relatively equal cities. I get the comparisons though with both areas southern(ish), high levels of education, fast growing. I hope the Research Triangle area has managed its growth better than Austin.
The question is with all this growth going on in the triangle how are Chapel hill and Durham managing the growth as well. I know its spread evenly across the region but is the region doing well or is it a thing when they all have to compete for funds for projects to keep up with growth. Does the new road formula help these areas as well as Raleigh? Does Austin have the same problem or are the the core city in there respective region?
I have lived in Austin a while now. I view the Raleigh-Durham area as a peer city. There is nothing to aspire to. They are different but relatively equal cities.
My thoughts as well. The only difference is that the Triangle is multinodal whereas Austin is *the* principal city of its metro.
I've heard that Raleigh is about 20 years behind Austin in terms of progress and growth and has been for over 20 years. Will that be changing?
I don't think that's true at all. The dynamic is a bit different because, as I said, Austin is *the* principal city of its metro while the Triangle is multinodal; thus Austin itself has more development than Raleigh and is ahead as a city in some respects (e.g., light rail). In terms of growth, anyone who's familiar with the growth rates of both metros knows it's absolutely ludicrous to say that Raleigh is 20 years behind Austin.
"The question is with all this growth going on in the triangle how are Chapel hill and Durham managing the growth as well. I know its spread evenly across the region but is the region doing well or is it a thing when they all have to compete for funds for projects to keep up with growth. Does the new road formula help these areas as well as Raleigh? Does Austin have the same problem or are the the core city in there respective region?"
This is not actually the case. While the entire area is growing, it has been growing and continues to grow more rapidly in Raleigh and Cary than in Durham and Chapel Hill. 50-60 years ago, Raleigh and Durham were essentially equal in size and Chapel Hill was much larger than Cary (Raleigh's principal suburb). Today, Raleigh is nearly 200,000 people larger than Durham and Cary is nearing three times the size of the Chapel Hill. I would suspect that if one plotted the population center of the Triangle, it would show a steady progression of it moving east toward the center of Raleigh for decades.
"I don't think that's true at all. The dynamic is a bit different because, as I said, Austin is *the* principal city of its metro while the Triangle is multinodal; thus Austin itself has more development than Raleigh and is ahead as a city in some respects (e.g., light rail). In terms of growth, anyone who's familiar with the growth rates of both metros knows it's absolutely ludicrous to say that Raleigh is 20 years behind Austin."
What most probably don't realize is that the Triangle's CSA (Raleigh and Durham anchor adjacent MSAs for some odd reason or another) actually has more people than Austin's MSA (Austin doesn't have a CSA).
While both Austin and Raleigh are built on the same objective foundation of being both a state capital and the host of the state's largest university, perceptions and culture come into play to differentiate them. Arguably, Texas has one of the strongest "brands" of any state (love it or hate it) that evokes a culture. Austin has the same but in tension with Texas' brand. This doesn't exist in Raleigh. That isn't to say that its politics aren't in tension with the rest of the state or that it doesn't have a different culture. It's just that the neither NC nor Raleigh have cultures as polarizing or strong as those in Texas or Austin. Nonetheless, people still come to both NC and Raleigh in droves.
Despite the rapid growth, I think that Raleigh continues to remain under the radar nationally. Not a day goes by here on C-D when someone posts a "meh" or "boring" or "dull" comment about Raleigh despite knowing either very little or nothing about actually being there. Perhaps that's a blessing? I always wonder if these posts come from people who have visited their relatives in Raleigh's burbs over the holidays. That would seem to make sense to me. In the end, it doesn't matter if Raleigh is ever considered the next Austin to me; the city doesn't need any more hype. It's doing very well on its own and continues to rapidly expand its core, especially in housing. I think that you'll also see a push for transit now that the Democrats all but eliminated the Republicans from both the city and county governments in 2014 (I read the other week that Dems control 21 of the 24 key elected positions in the city and county with Republicans holding two and an Independent mayor who basically caucuses with the Dems).
Not a day goes by here on C-D when someone posts a "I want to leave New Jersey, looking at Raleigh" or "Moving out of Long Island, how's Raleigh?" thread.
Honestly, it makes me so curious. Since when is Raleigh the hot spot in the South for northerners to move to? Particularly around New Jersey and New York? I get that it's not too terribly far, but why Raleigh? I guess it all goes back to RTP, and the Research Triangle historically being quite progressive for a southern metro. If Raleigh/Durham had a horrible rep like Birmingham, Alabama, it might be a different story. I don't want Raleigh to lose all of its southern charm, but I guess it can afford to lose a little if it keeps attracting this growth. Still, it seems like some of these northerners choose Raleigh to look at even though they've never been down here or barely know background info! I like to imagine they put flyers up around the area! "Unsatisfied with New Brunswick or Morristown? Well, don't worry! Move to the Research Triangle, North Carolina!" Seriously, it seems like it's the talk of the town up there!
Not a day goes by here on C-D when someone posts a "I want to leave New Jersey, looking at Raleigh" or "Moving out of Long Island, how's Raleigh?" thread.
Honestly, it makes me so curious. Since when is Raleigh the hot spot in the South for northerners to move to? Particularly around New Jersey and New York? I get that it's not too terribly far, but why Raleigh? I guess it all goes back to RTP, and the Research Triangle historically being quite progressive for a southern metro. If Raleigh/Durham had a horrible rep like Birmingham, Alabama, it might be a different story. I don't want Raleigh to lose all of its southern charm, but I guess it can afford to lose a little if it keeps attracting this growth. Still, it seems like some of these northerners choose Raleigh to look at even though they've never been down here or barely know background info! I like to imagine they put flyers up around the area! "Unsatisfied with New Brunswick or Morristown? Well, don't worry! Move to the Research Triangle, North Carolina!" Seriously, it seems like it's the talk of the town up there!
The visibility of Raleigh to the NE really started with IBM's decision to location major operations in RTP. This goes all the way back to the mid 60s. This was followed by Northern Telecom from Toronto doing much of the same but from our Canadian neighbors. I'd suspect that for every "New Yorker" that was transferred, the result was the additional relocation of a few of their family members and/or friends. This set in motion a pipeline from the Northeast to the Triangle that continues to this day.
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