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I may start a thread like this for all the cities of the Triangle, as I'm curious about the pros and cons of each Triangle city. I'm starting with Cary because I have grown grudgingly fond of the town over the years and come to peace with it, having once dismissed it as hopelessly suburban and bland.
Things I like
More cultural and racial diversity than one might initially expect. There are many folks from India, Pakistan and other foreign countries who make Cary their home.
Some great ethnic restaurants. I'm thinking of the variety of Indian restaurants on Chatham St, Sushi Thai and others.
Pleasant and attractive greenways and parks.
Trader Joe's!
Galaxy Cinema... Cary has its own independent theater now!
The area around downtown Cary is rather quaint and has some very nice, older homes in established, tree-filled neighborhoods.
Lazy Daze Arts & Crafts Festival
Relatively safe neighborhoods
Central location makes commuting to just about any part of the Triangle fairly easy. I live in Western Orange County right now, and I find it a royal pain in the rear to visit my Raleigh and Cary friends these days.
Things I don't care for:
Relative lack of economic diversity. Yes, there are folks from all over the world, but they are mostly affluent.
Draconian restrictions and limitations for businesses and residential neighborhoods; i.e., the "taste police".
Examples of such:
Gypsy's Shiny Diner was very controversial. We're just talking a standard "retro" metal quirky little diner, but the owner had to fight to be allowed to build it, and had to actually plant shrubs around it to obscure it's shinyness.
Talbot's was not allowed to have their trademark red door.
A man who built a large, beautiful traditional southern plantation style home with a standing seam red metal roof was sued and forced to alter his home to fit Cary's standards. It is bizarre to me that a home that is built to resemble the traditional style of the state one lives is considered unacceptable.
The neighborhoods tend to run together to me, and so much of the town appears to be monochromatic beiges, tans and taupes.
Cul-de-sacs. Neotraditionalism has not yet taken hold in Cary, though there are neotraditional neighborhoods popping up all over the Triangle area. I realize this is simply a matter of taste, of course.
Occasional snobbery and arrogance by some of Cary's citizens (I have many very nice friends who live in and love Cary, so I by no means am indicting the entire town.) Yes, Cary is relatively affluent. But to display any snobbery about living in Cary is a little silly, as there are other regions in the Triangle that are more affluent than Cary (Chapel Hill and ITB Raleigh, I'm looking at you), and there are far more affluent places in the US in general. Cary is a nice, safe, middle-to-upper middle class town, but there's no reason to be on a high horse about it.
Hopefully, Cary residents won't be offended by this post. There are many attractive things about Cary, and I realize that my list of things I like is actually longer than the list of things I don't like...
Did you mention the insanely high property tax, extra sales tax, and high priced, but barely drinkable tap water? And how about that stinky sewage treatment plant? Or the new one they are planning to force upon the residents of New Hill? And the willy nilly annexations? The "growth at any cost" mentality of the town council? The fights with Holly Springs over ETJ areas?
The traffic. I keep outta Cary as best I can but friends there force me to visit and the traffic is always a nightmare. Just too darn many people there and for what? The higher taxes, eyesore police and wide array of subdivided land everywhere. My list of negatives would FAR outweigh any positives about Cary. Of course, I chose not to live there so my experience is basically from an "outsider" (and proud of it)!
"A man who built a large, beautiful traditional southern plantation style home with a standing seam red metal roof was sued and forced to alter his home to fit Cary's standards. It is bizarre to me that a home that is built to resemble the traditional style of the state one lives is considered unacceptable."
I will never forget that! I felt so incredibly sorry for that guy.
Well, I live in "downtown Cary and my perspective is a little different. There actually IS plenty of economic diversity but you will not see it if you live in almost any of the newer subdivisions outside of the Maynard loop. COme to East Cary and you'll find trailer parks, lower income apartments and some pretty darn run areas. If any one wants a tour of the poorer areas of Cary, just PM me :-). The absolutley do exist. One thing is that Cary doesn't have any government subsidized housing projects, which sort of prevents people on the lower income scale from centrsalizing in just one area, making it harder to figure out where they really are. I rarely run into snobbery but maybe that's because I'm on the "other" side of the tracks. People are a little less affluent over here.
What I like:
quiet residential living, EVEN in the POORER parts of town. They tend to be very quiet as well.
nice green areas
easy commute to almost anywhere in the triangle
lots of diversity
the sheer number of not only ethnic restaurants but also ethnic grocery stores and markets is really pretty amazing for a town this size.
Nice parks in almost every community
town services are very efficient
the planned downtown makeover
the Cary Christmas parade, Cary band day (very, very good) and of course Lazydaze
The Galaxy theater
The Ice House skating rink
The town of Cary classes for kids and adults as well as access to sporting facilities
the farmers market
I actually like the sign rules. It keeps the area from having trashy looking corridors like Capitol Blvd and Eastern Glenwood Ave in Raleigh.
What I don't like:
as of today, the top of my list the "new" intersection at Walnut and US 1. I'm going to have a heart attack over there one day, they made that intersection so much WORSE! ARGH!
I hate the the fact that one side of Cary and the other side of Cary makes it feel like two seperate towns. IMO, west Cary could just as easily be a whole different town to me.
Not enough neat/interesting shops and businesses in downtown Cary. I'd really like to see the downtown flourish a little with more restaurants, shops and even a small grocery market. I'm hoping that with the planned dowtown rennovation, more businesses will find it an attractive location
I'm also REALLY disappointed that locally owned Java Jive is closing and a Little Ceasar's pizza is taking it's place!
The Cary mall is pretty L-A-M-E
I cannot STAND South Hills Mall (except for the Grand Asia Market, but that isn't really in the mall). The whole place needs to be razed to the ground!
Did you mention the insanely high property tax, extra sales tax, and high priced, but barely drinkable tap water? And how about that stinky sewage treatment plant? Or the new one they are planning to force upon the residents of New Hill? And the willy nilly annexations? The "growth at any cost" mentality of the town council? The fights with Holly Springs over ETJ areas?
Insanely high propery taxes compared to where?
I know there is a story in the news today about a screw up where a family got hooked up to the wrong line. But that is an isolated case. I've never had issues with the quality of my water.
Aren't most sewage plants stinky?
The funny thing is that Cary has been pretty good about smart growth lately. They've done things like limit permits in efforts to let infrastructure catch up. They've required builders to provide land for schools.
As a person new to the area; Originallywe decided to stay here and get a rental, so we could check out some areas, apex, north raleigh, wake forest, youngsville, etc. We decided on Cary, because it is very easy to be here when you are new and dont know where things are. You venture into the middle of Cary,and you can find whatever you need, stores, restaurants, etc. My kids ove the "kids together park". You dont feel to out of place, (everyone I meet is from somewhere else!). But I dont think we will be staying in this area. We are looking for somthing a little more rural, for us.
I knew after our first visit that Cary would not be where we would live. We were trying to get out of the cookie cutterish suburban cities...not move back into one. And the building restrictions are over the top. We looked at a few home there, but the neighbors were on top of us. I like the amenities there, but HS is where we live.
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