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I have noticed that Durham residents who complain about suburban living mostly target Cary rather than Parkwood or Southpoint or Woodcroft or Hillandale or Cole Mile etc. I have noticed that Raleigh residents who complain about suburban living also tend to target Cary rather than the suburban parts of their own city. To me the whole Triangle area is suburban with the exception of the central business districts in both Raleigh and Durham. Is a 1960s neighborhood in Cary really that different from those in Raleigh and Durham? Are there new construction homes on cul-de-sacs in Raleigh and Durham? Personally I think that neighborhoods from the same era have more in common with each other than with their respective town/city.
Totally agree here, most everything is the Triangle is Suburban, except the core parts of the inner cities. To me, most houses inside the beltline are Suburban too.
scorp200 - my apologies. My post was just having a little fun with all the bashing that goes on with Durham and Cary. I'd give you rep points but it says I've done so too recently.
I guess Durham is a great town to live in if you can afford a $200,000+ house in a great neighborhood, but if you're in the $75,000 to $100,000 range, you're basically limited to those 'lesser' neighborhoods where you can't ignore the crime that's going on.
Unfortunately, the Triangle area is fairly short of affordable housing in that range. The first home we purchased was in 2000 in Old West Durham. We bought a darling little mill house for only $126,000. We can't speak highly enough of this part of Durham. The neighbors were friendly, we had exquisite heart pine floors, and we could walk to over 30 restaurants. We made the decision to move just west of Carrboro to have a more rustic lifestyle, to get more living space, and to be closer to my husband's workplace, but under the right circumstances, I would definitely consider Durham again. I believe that Durham's reputation as a "rough" city is extremely exaggerated. Having lived in Richmond, Va, and having spent some time in New Orleans, Durham is fairly tame outside of a few hot spots that are easy to avoid.
I am pretty much either a downtown or middle of the wilderness kind of gal- not much for the in-betweens, but even I find the suburban sections of Durham near Southpoint livable, attractive and affordable. Many of our friends in their early childraising years have settled in Woodcroft, and there are actual, honest-to-God TREES in many of the neighborhoods down there. Penrith is a nice little neighborhood as well. For those looking for affordable starter homes, there is a slightly older neighborhood (sixties or so) called Parkwood that has some decent split level and ranch style homes.
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Is a 1960s neighborhood in Cary really that different from those in Raleigh and Durham?
Not to me. I actually think that a well-kept, safe older suburb is a good choice for a growing family who wants a lot of square footage for the money. Split levels often have the nice features we like in older homes- attention to detail, sturdiness, hardwoods, etc, without the high price attached to a true historic home. They just aren't trendy and "historic" enough right now, but I suspect they will be in the near future. There are some great older suburban neighborhoods in the Triangle area in Durham, Raleigh and Cary where a growing family can pick up a sizeable split level with gleaming hardwood floors and mature trees without spending a fortune.
I think for me, the presence of larger trees and architecture that varies significantly throughout the neighborhood is part of how I view a neighborhood. So many newer subdivisions clear cut the entire neighborhood and I cannot imagine living without trees. Nor can I imagine living in a neighborhood where one is limited to choosing between 1 of 4 designs. That's just me. I realize that tastes differ.
I have to agree with everything Indigo said. Durham is all too often spoken about by people who have only heard things. Sorry, but this kind of thoughtless behavior is irresponsible. If you don't know about a place then say you don't know, don't just form opinions based on rumor. I love living and working in Durham, I like the people here and there is a wonderful feeling of community.
You can compare Durham against the "Top 10 places to live" and it lacks in almost all categories behind the national average except Universities (which is what helps boost it as the "smartest places to live" and on ALL crime there is no contest. The schools are listed as -3.9% reading and -16.9% BEHIND the STATE average so unless you move into a specific school district, like Jordan, you are going against a pretty poor average. Look at the quality of life. The Personal Crime Index is 200, National avergae is 100 and best places to live is 45. Property crime is 252 against 100 and 74 (national and best places). Air Quality is lower, Personal crime per 100,000 is TRIPLE the national average and property crime per 100,000 is over double that of the national average and this is all from 2006.
It's not just people in this forum it's CNNMoney that is "bashing" your city. I am not trying to bash Durham with the above and linked info but to throw out all of those stats, most of which are from Durham based webpages you cannot tell me that the numbers are incorrect. Yeah certain parts of Durham may be nice but certain parts have a certain amount of space and unless that is open you are not getting to take advantage of those nice areas. Still considering Durham but the numbers are the numbers.
Last edited by tluv00; 07-06-2007 at 12:48 PM..
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Where do those appear?
