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Could somebody help me understand how the Triad area is laid out. Like where I live in DE, its considered a tri-state area. Philadelphia is right above us (40 minute drive), then New Jersey right past there, MD kind of surrounding areas, etc.
Were interestested in Greensboro possibly and Im trying to understand how greensboro, winston-salem, high point are laid out, so I can better understand the post, especially the ones that use zip codes. Is greensboro a pretty big neighborhood, and in what proximity to the other ones?What are some big attractions of that area, like malls, food chains, stores (super walmarts? Lowes? Home Depot? Grocers...). And not least, what are some ethnicities there, is there a little italy or polish district. Are there Turkish people there. It sounds like NC is hospitable but what were some of your opinions?
Man, you have GOT to get Google Earth, I'm not kidding! I've mentioned in before, but you download it - it's FREE - and you connect to the area using satellite imagery and roads and all kinds of stuff. It's awesome! I'm using it every day right now while I'm looking up properties on the internet. I type in the address and it zooms in. I can check for restaurants, highways, schools. churches, even volcanoes! LOL!
Just go to Google and type in Google Earth in the search box. Someone else was having some problems getting it going, and I guess it happens occasionally like any other program, but I've never had any problems with it (except on my VISTA laptop!)
No significant ethnic areas (except African American)
Most places in the South, including larger cities or towns, were not settled in the manner that cities in the Northeast were settled. The South was mostly rural (and poor) during the large immigration period of the late 1800's and early 1900's, so you didn't have a lot of ethnic groups migrating down South and settling in its cities.
The only "ethnic" areas you generally see in southern cities and towns are those areas populated by African Americans, but that has to do mostly with the segregation laws of the past and other socio-economic or cultural issues that may or may not have dealt with segregation. That's enough for a topic of its own, and one that I don't really have the time to get into.
Greensboro and Winston-Salem went through population booms during the early 1900's and thereafter due to its manufacturing industries, but the growth was mainly by the English/Scots-Irish/Germans (what I call the typical southern mutt) who moved into town from the rural areas and who immigrated to the South long before the Civil War. Again, another long topic that books have been written about.
In reality, the South is seeing a large number of "immigrants" these days, but it is from Americans moving from other parts of the country and settling in the new suburban South, with the key word being "suburban". You see people of different ethnicities due to the growth of the area, but certainly not as much as in a New york or DC. Probably every religion and group is represented in some way in the Triad.
Greensboro and Winston-Salem are cities of 200k+ whose downtown are about 30 miles apart. High Point is about 100k population and is virtually attached to Greensboro these days, but it is still a short drive to W-S. Other towns are in-between the cities (such as Kernersville) or are in outlying areas. I believe the metro population of the Triad is around 1 million. A quick summary -- a few city centers surrounded by subdivisions and still some open farmland.
Could somebody help me understand how the Triad area is laid out. Like where I live in DE, its considered a tri-state area. Philadelphia is right above us (40 minute drive), then New Jersey right past there, MD kind of surrounding areas, etc.
Were interestested in Greensboro possibly and Im trying to understand how greensboro, winston-salem, high point are laid out, so I can better understand the post, especially the ones that use zip codes. Is greensboro a pretty big neighborhood, and in what proximity to the other ones?What are some big attractions of that area, like malls, food chains, stores (super walmarts? Lowes? Home Depot? Grocers...). And not least, what are some ethnicities there, is there a little italy or polish district. Are there Turkish people there. It sounds like NC is hospitable but what were some of your opinions?
The area is developing into a one great big suburban sprawl with GSO/High Point/W-S growing together. New roads have been built to connect the area together thus drawing people away from the downtown cores of each City.
I think the Triad is positioning itself to attract new businesses to these suburban areas thus increasing the sprawl and the Northern Virginia type model of responsible planning. Lets hope the Triad leaders start getting serious on commuter rail betwen the cities now and not wait until its too late when everything is built up and theres no more room to get right of ways to construct more rail links.
The area is developing into a one great big suburban sprawl with GSO/High Point/W-S growing together. New roads have been built to connect the area together thus drawing people away from the downtown cores of each City.
I think the Triad is positioning itself to attract new businesses to these suburban areas thus increasing the sprawl and the Northern Virginia type model of responsible planning. Lets hope the Triad leaders start getting serious on commuter rail betwen the cities now and not wait until its too late when everything is built up and theres no more room to get right of ways to construct more rail links.
I think the Triad appears to be headed in the direction of the Hampton Road area in Virginia , where Newport News, Norfolk, Hampton, Chesapeake and Virginia Beach all seem like one big city. There are already some areas like this with Greensboro and High Point where the city limits touch. You can leave Greensboro, go into High Point and not realize you've left Greensboro if you didnt pay attention to the signs.
Norfolk is building a new light rail system called The Tide. I notice the route goes from the MacArthur Mall downtown to the Scope and the waterfront. I understand there was a plan to build a commuter rail from Va Beach to downtown Norfolk but it was voted down at the polls. Unlike NC, VA has a medieval type of city/county government that promotes hostility between the different jurisdictions. For some reason the Tidewater area is trying very hard to get rail between the various cities as they see no more roads can be built in the swamps that is Tidewater. I'm sure there are people in the Triad who are thinking about the future but like everything it takes money and the Federal Government must also help out.
There aren't really any ethnic neighborhoods, per se. But Greensboro is a fairly diverse city, and there are a few predominantly Latino/Hispanic neighborhoods, Vietnamese and SE Asian neighborhoods (I grew up in a neighborhood which was becoming an Asian neighborhood)
Also, there is a high proportion of Jewish people in the population compared to other cities in the South. (I'm Jewish and Greensboro has a rich Jewish history)
As for Turkish people, I really haven't noticed. But there are Palestinians and a good deal of Bosnians that came after the genocide and conflict ten years ago.
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No significant ethnic areas (except African American)
